Daniel rubbed his face.
“He said he couldn’t remember the last time he’d asked what you wanted without already giving you choices.”
I stood.
“Your father was dying. He didn’t need to spend his last months inventing reasons to feel guilty.”
“He wasn’t asking me to make him feel better.”
“Then what did he want?”
Daniel took a breath.Book Grief Counseling
“He wanted me to give you the dress after he died.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
His eyes filled.
“He wanted me to turn down my new job, move back here after he was gone, and make sure you didn’t spend the rest of your life caring for everyone except yourself.”
I stared at him.Clothing
“He asked you to give up your future?”
“He wanted me to call every day. Make sure you ate. Choose where you traveled. Decide when you’d helped other people enough.”
My knees hit the carpet before I realized I had moved.
Daniel dropped beside me.
“That’s why we fought, Mom.”
He told me Richard had been certain I would organize the funeral, feed everyone afterward, answer every phone call, clean the house, and make myself useful until nobody noticed I was falling apart.
I thought about the sympathy-card box I’d nearly carried out of the room.Explore Stargazing Apps
“But why leave?” I asked.
“Because he kept saying, ‘Somebody has to make sure your mother is okay.’”
“And you?”
“I told him, ‘Why don’t you tell Mom this yourself?’”
Daniel looked at me.
“He said you were carrying enough.”
I closed my eyes.Start Baby Registry
Richard had said those words hundreds of times.
“Don’t tell Mom yet. She’s carrying enough.”
“I’ll handle it. Tisha has enough going on.”
“Let her sleep. She carries enough.”
Once, I had thought those words were love.
Maybe they were.
But suddenly I heard something else inside them too.Find Grief Counseling
A decision.
Made for me.
Daniel wiped his cheek.
“I told him he was doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Deciding what you could handle without asking you.”
He said Richard got angry.
“He said he was dying and didn’t have time to argue.”Book Grief Counseling
“And you?”
“I told him if he wanted you to have your own life so badly, he could start by letting you have your own answers.”
