“Doing what?”
“Deciding what you could handle without asking you.”
He wiped his cheek.
“Dad got angry.”
“What did he say?”
“He said he was dying and didn’t have time to argue.”
“And you?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“I told him if he wanted you to have your own life so badly, he could start by letting you have your own answers.”
Then Daniel looked down at the pink dress.
“And that’s when everything got worse.”
I waited.
“I told him I loved you, Mom… but I wasn’t giving up my future to manage yours. He asked me to promise anyway.”
“And that’s why you left?”
“I was angry. And I thought if I stayed, he’d keep making me responsible for fixing something he should’ve talked to you about himself.”
I looked toward the chapel door.
Richard had finally noticed me disappearing inside our family.
