She looked down.
“At first, I thought he was being ridiculous. Then I started imagining you calling another woman Mom. I was afraid too.”
I pushed back my chair. “You decided that for me?”
George was afraid.
Mom reached for my hand. “Claire, we were afraid of losing you.”
“Twenty years, Mom. I could've known my brother.”
Michael looked down. “I got married. Had two children. I wanted you to meet them.”
“You have kids?”
“A son and a daughter. Thirty-two and twenty-nine. And I've already got two grandchildren.”
I was afraid too.
I turned to Mom.
“I have a son of my own, and now I find out he has cousins? And you knew all along?”
“We were protecting our family.”
“You were protecting yourselves.”
Mom started crying.
You knew all along?
“You taught me history matters. Why did you erase mine?”
“I was afraid of losing my daughter.”
