He left angry.
I waited for him to call.
He waited for me.
Neither of us did.
Two days later, I learned from a mutual acquaintance that he had taken the job and left earlier than planned.
I was furious.
Terrified.
Pregnant.
And proud enough to make a decision that became harder to undo with every passing year.
I never told him.
Iris listened without interrupting.
When I finished, she said, “So he didn’t abandon me.”
I couldn’t lie anymore.
“No.”
Daniel lowered his head.
Iris’s eyes filled with tears.
“You made me believe a man chose not to know me when he didn’t even know I existed.”
“I was scared.”
“For eighteen years?”
The question landed exactly where it should have.
I nodded.
“At first I was angry.
Then too much time had passed.
Then you were happy, and I convinced myself telling you would only hurt you.”
“So you decided for me.”
“Yes.”
That answer surprised her.
Maybe she expected an excuse.
I had run out of them.
Ryan picked up the envelope from the table.
“This is what my dad sent me before he came over.”
Iris looked at it.
“What is it?”
Daniel answered.
“Photographs.
Letters.
Things I kept from when your mother and I were together.”
I stared at him.
“You kept them?”
He gave me a sad look.
“All of them.”
Ryan opened the envelope.
Inside were several old photographs and a folded letter.
He placed the first photograph on the table.
Iris leaned closer.
It showed Daniel and me standing beside a battered car, both laughing, my head against his shoulder.
The second was taken at a county fair.
The third showed us sitting on the floor of my first apartment surrounded by moving boxes.
Iris studied my younger face.
“You look happy.”
“I was.”
Daniel looked at the photographs too.
“So was I.”
Iris touched the edge of one picture but didn’t pick it up.
“Why did you call Ryan tonight?”
Daniel inhaled slowly.
