I continued.
“I hope you are not angry that I found out more about Lantern Bridge than you intended to tell me.
In my defense, you have never been as mysterious as you think you are.”
That made Ethan laugh.
“Accurate,” he said.
I gave him a look and kept reading.
“I have always been proud of your service.
But I want you to understand something more important.
I am proud of the way you serve, not the title attached to it.”
My voice slowed.
Mom wrote about Mrs. Alvarez.
About the letters.
About how one small act of attention could travel farther than the person who performed it would ever know.
Then the letter shifted.
“I also know our family has developed a bad habit.
We have confused being proud of one another with comparing one another.
Your father does it most loudly, but the rest of us have learned our own quieter versions.”
