Elena’s place in Silas’s life would require more care.
Daniel agreed to contact the family counselor who had worked with them years earlier. Evelyn promised she would not arrange another secret visit.
“I should have told you,” she said to Daniel as she folded clothes into an overnight bag.
“Yes.”
“I thought you would say no.”
“I might have.”
“That’s why I didn’t tell you.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“No.”
Daniel zipped the bag and looked at his mother.
“But it explains it.”
Something softened between them.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But perhaps the beginning of a conversation they had postponed for seven years.
Before we left, Daniel returned to the hidden room to gather the letters. He placed them in order inside a cardboard box while Silas watched.
Near the bottom of the pile, he found a blue envelope.
Unlike the others, it was addressed to Daniel.
