Later, as Marcus gathered their coats, he stopped beside me.
“Mom, thank you for not giving up on me.”
I hugged him.
“I love you. I always will.”
He held on longer than usual.
I still wish Victoria had knocked on our door instead of taking the children.
What she did was frightening and wrong.
But the letters she left forced us to face something we’d been avoiding.
Emily wasn’t entirely happy.
She was a person who had been hurt, who had tried to make a difficult decision, and whose life ended before she could carry it out.
Marcus will always be the children’s father, and Emily will always be their mother.
We don’t have to pretend their marriage was perfect to honor the love they both had for Lily, Noah, and Sophie.
That’s what I hope my grandchildren understand when they’re older.
Their mother wanted a different future for herself.
