“I know.”
It didn’t fix anything.
But it stopped the lie.
I wiped my face.
Then he turned back to Shirley.
“I let you take Kathy out of our house because I didn’t want to face how much I missed her. But you don’t get to punish my daughter for looking like her.”
Shirley stared at him. “You’ll regret this.”
Parenting
“No,” he said. “I already regret waiting this long.”
Mrs. Chen stepped to the microphone. “Shirley, this is a student event. You used it to hurt a grieving student. You need to leave.”
“You’ll regret this.”
Shirley looked around.
“Are you out of your minds?” she snapped.
Gary still had the microphone.
“No,” he said. “We just know who really made the dress.”
Dresses
Shirley stormed off the stage. Dad followed only far enough to make sure she left.
Mrs. Chen came to me gently. “Delilah, do you want to go home?”
“Are you out of your minds?”
For a second, I did.
Then I looked at Mom’s photo on the screen and heard her voice again.
“I didn’t sew this for you to disappear.”
I straightened.
“No. My mom made this dress for prom. I’m staying at prom.”
Pregnancy & Maternity
Gary exhaled. “Good. Because I still don’t know how to dance.”
“I’m staying at prom.”
“Neither do I.”
I took his hand.
I stayed, and I let them see me.
Later, Dad put Mom’s photo back in the hallway.
Photographic & Digital Arts
