“And when she refused?”
“I stayed away.”
His answer made me turn around.
“So you chose her.”
“No. I was afraid of destroying what little relationship you still had with her.”
“We barely had one.”
“I know that now.”
After Dorian’s business became successful, he began quietly helping Mom. He paid off the remaining mortgage and covered repairs to the house. When her health started failing, he hired someone to check on her twice a week.
Mom made him promise never to tell me.
She was ashamed of having given him away. She was also ashamed that fear had kept her silent for so long.
“Why weren’t you at the hospital?” I asked.
“I was.”
My chest tightened.
“I sat with her the night before you arrived. When the nurse called to say you were coming, she made me leave.”
“Why?”
“She wanted to tell you herself.”
