He didn’t offer money or legal victories.
He simply sat beside me.
“Do you want to talk?”
I nodded.
“I think I’ve been waiting my whole life for her to love me.”
David took my hand.
“I know.”
“And I don’t think she ever will in the way I need.”
He squeezed my fingers.
I leaned against his shoulder.
“That’s the part that hurts.”
“I know.”
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Then I wiped my cheeks.
“I want you to promise me something.”
“Anything I can honestly promise.”
I looked at him.
“Never hide the truth from me again because you think you’re protecting me.”
His expression grew serious.
“I promise to be honest, even when the truth makes things difficult.”
I nodded.
“That’s a beginning.”
Over the following days, life narrowed to the space surrounding Leo’s hospital bed.
I learned the rhythm of the ventilator and the names of medications I had never imagined needing to understand.
