Skip to content There was something powerful about those two words.
She wasn’t saying I couldn’t do it.
She was reminding me that I didn’t have to.
So I let her help.
Derek arrived the following evening looking furious.
“My mother called me,” he said when I opened the door. “She wanted to visit you and the boys. I had to tell her you weren’t home.”
“And?”
“She asked why.”
“What did you tell her?”
“The truth, apparently.”
That surprised me.
Derek glanced toward the living room.
“She asked whether I had been helping you since you broke your arm.”
“And?”
“I told her you stay home with the boys while I work all day.”
I waited.
He rubbed the back of his neck.
“Then she asked why you had to leave your own house just to find someone willing to help you.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“Why?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because I knew how it sounded.”
Before I could respond, Miles began crying.
Derek automatically looked toward me.
“Hope?”
I didn’t move.
“You’ve got him.”