Chapter 11 - GRACE CAME TO PENNSYLVANIAGrace finally agreed to meet me three months later.
She came alone.
Tall.
Dark hair.
My eyes.
That nearly broke me.
We met at Mom’s house.
Grace hugged Mom first.
Then looked at me.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
Terrible beginning.
Perfectly real.
We walked outside.
For an hour, she asked questions.
Why did Laura and I break up?
Did I ever wonder what happened to her?
Did I want children?
Did I have others?
No.
She was my only child.
That fact made the lost years feel even larger.
Then she asked:
“If Grandpa hadn’t stopped the letters, would you have stayed?”
“I don’t know.”
She appreciated that answer.
“I can’t promise the person I was at twenty-one would’ve handled everything well.”
“But?”
“I would have wanted the chance.”
She looked toward the lake in the distance.
“So would Mom.”
I nodded.
Laura had died six years earlier from an aneurysm.
Another chance gone.
Grace and I would have to build from what remained.
No fantasy.
May you like
No pretending we could recover childhood.
Just now.
