“Selfish?”
“He was terrified, Rosalie.” Her voice cracked. “He told me — I remember it exactly — ‘Every time she laughs, I hear Miley. Every time she runs toward the street, I stop breathing. I can’t survive burying another daughter.’”
Something in my chest ached in a way I didn’t have a name for.
“He promised me he’d stay. He told me he’d never leave.”
“He made that promise after he sat in this kitchen until sunrise,” Caroline said softly. “He kept telling me he wasn’t strong enough to love another child. That loving you would be the thing that finally broke him.”
“What did you say to him?”
“I told him not to run from loving you out of fear. I told him to stay, because he already did love you — he just hadn’t let himself say it yet.”
A sound came out of me that wasn’t quite a sob.
