Track Pregnancy
At first, she defended herself. She said she had watched me suffer after Daniel disappeared and had wanted to protect me from more heartbreak.
“Protect me from saying goodbye?” I asked.
She looked away.
Then I asked whether Thomas had left anything for me. Her face crumpled, and she disappeared into her bedroom. When she returned, she was holding an envelope with my name written in Daniel’s familiar handwriting.
She had kept it for five years.
Inside, Daniel apologized for running away. He admitted he had been terrified, but he also explained that Thomas had made him understand how deeply his disappearance would hurt Hunter. Near the bottom of the letter, he had written four words:
I’m coming home.
He had intended to explain everything himself.
I sat in my car and cried, grieving not only the husband I had lost but also the goodbye that had been taken from me.
