I knew that if I left those babies in your arms, you’d never let them go.
Emma’s voice broke.
“Dad?”.
I folded the letter carefully.
Grace was crying openly now.
Sophie looked terrified.
“There were people who would have given us a ride,” she whispered.
“You could have gone to Chicago,” Emma added.
Suddenly he stood up.
His chair squeaked loudly against the floor.
“You lost your whole life because of us.”
The gaze.
“No”.
“But you could have had it all.”
“What exactly is ‘everything’?”
Silence.
I took my keys.
“Come on.”
Grace wiped her face.
“Where are we going?”
“I need the three of you to see something.”
***
The old apartment was smaller than I remembered.
I pointed towards the window upstairs.
“Three cribs wouldn’t fit in the bedroom, so I slept in the living room.”
Sophie covered her mouth.
“You never told us that.”
“They never asked.”
