Instead of reminding him, I said, “I hope you have a beautiful day.”
His shoulders relaxed.
“Thank you for understanding.”
That relief hurt more than his words.
After he left, I took out my blue dress.
I’d paid 48 dollars for it and replaced the buttons with little pearls.
Daniel had seen a photograph of me wearing it.
“You look beautiful, Mom,” he’d written.
I folded the dress away.
Then I opened my dresser drawer and found something I hadn’t looked at in 25 years: an old photograph and a handwritten note.
Jessica’s father was standing beside me in that photograph.
Richard answered my call after a moment of surprised silence.
“Danielle? Is that really you?”
We hadn’t spoken in years.
When I told him Daniel was marrying Jessica, he was delighted.
He’d met my son but hadn’t connected him with the young boy he’d once heard so much about.
Then I explained why I wouldn’t be attending.
