Ryan looked up.
“But I will never forgive you for shutting me out like that again.”
He nodded through his tears.
“I understand.”
“No more pretending you’re protecting me by lying.”
“I promise.”
I watched my brother.
His wife.
Their daughter.
And for the first time since our parents had died, something inside me finally loosened.
I kissed Hope gently on the forehead.
Then I stepped back.
The family I had been trying so desperately to hold together wasn’t perfect.
Maybe it never would be.
But now, at least, they were facing the truth together.
And for the first time since Hope entered the world, I believed they might actually be okay.
