He Missed the Race, the Ribbon, the Science Olympiad, and Every Birthday, Then Tried to Buy It All Back With a Laptop Left on the Porch — My Son Carried It Back Outside Still Sealed and Said an Expensive Gift Doesn’t Return a Childhood

I thought I had married him.

And the truth was that Marcus had never fully belonged to either of us — he had simply divided himself into the two roles he liked best, the adored savior over here and the admired provider over there, and had spent eighteen years making sure that neither of us ever saw the whole man at once.

“He never stopped loving you,” I repeated.

“Maybe.