SHE KNEW SHE PROBABLY WOULDN’T MAKE IT TO GRADUATION
Mary hated admitting that.
She hated thinking about Ethan walking across the stage without her.
But she didn’t want her absence to turn his graduation into another funeral.
She wrote that the red dress had been meant for one of the happiest days of her life.
If she couldn’t wear it—
she didn’t want it locked inside a closet.
Not like some object everyone was afraid to touch.
She wanted the dress there.
She wanted me to see it.
Then came the line that broke me.
Mary wrote:
If there’s only one Bennett twin walking across that stage, I still want Mom to feel like both of us made it.
I pressed the letter against my chest.
A sound came out of me that I didn’t recognize.
Ethan wrapped his arms around me.
And I collapsed against him.
