My parents threw me out at nineteen because I wouldn’t end my pregnancy. Ten years later I drove back with my son and knocked on the same door

5

And there is one more thing I have to put down, because people keep making me sound better than I am.

 

That Saturday was not a coincidence.

 

Leo asked to meet them. That is true.

 

I picked the day.

 

It was the tenth anniversary. I knew there would be people in that house. I knew there would be a table with his photograph on it.

 

I have told myself various things about why. That it was the only weekend I could get off. That it felt right.

 

It was not that.

 

I wanted them to be standing in a room with their son’s photograph on a table when they found out, and I wanted about twenty people to be there when it happened.

 

That is what I actually did.

 

My father came out onto that porch and took hold of my wrist in front of all of them and