I walked up to him, and I stopped just inches away, close enough that only he could hear what I said next.

“I didn’t survive for my own sake, Brandon,” I told him quietly.

“By the time I understood what you were, I’m not sure I had enough left in me to fight just for that.

I survived because your son refused to let his greedy father win.

He kept moving, down there in the cold, every time I was ready to give up.

He wouldn’t quit.