For Years I Resented the Homeless Boy My Mother Fed. After Her Funeral, He Revealed the Secret She Had Kept From Me.

Before leaving, Gabriel placed the repaired wooden bird on the mantel.

He had strengthened the wing but left the chipped beak as it was.

“Why didn’t you make it perfect?” I asked.

“It’s the same bird,” he said.

“It has a history.”

After he left, Ben asked if he could hold it.