But there wasn’t any joy in his voice.
None.
I’d waited thirty-eight years to hear those words, and the man saying them sounded like he was at a funeral.
My stomach twisted.
They kept the bandages on for two days. Dr. Osei said my eyes needed time to rest. Nigel stayed with me the whole time. He slept in the chair beside my bed. He fed me Jell-O with a plastic spoon. Rose came and held my hand and talked nonstop about what she was going to wear when I could see her. Ethan drove in from college and sat at the foot of the bed and didn’t say much, but he rubbed my feet through the blanket like he used to do when he was a little boy.
And every time I reached for Nigel, I felt him flinch, just a little, before he took my hand.
