“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
She lowered her eyes. “I was ashamed. I wanted to find out what I could do before telling you.”
Then she explained why she’d wanted my mother’s box. She was writing me a letter and wanted to place my mother’s photograph beside it, hoping it would help her understand how deeply she’d hurt me before my wedding.
“You could have asked,” I said. “I would’ve been happy you were getting better. But you could have fallen. You needed help doing this safely.”
I turned to Ben and reassured him he’d done nothing wrong. Then I told Diane never to ask my son to keep secrets from me again.
When Nathan arrived, he was shocked to discover his mother’s progress. I handed him the notebook and asked when he’d last changed her sheets. He had no answer.
