“I know that in my heart, but I did not want you looking at me and remembering the old trailer, the empty pantry, and how hard things used to be,” she wept softly.

Chad stood barefoot on the sharp gravel in his plush bathrobe, completely overwhelmed.

“Remember what?” Wayne asked me quietly from the porch, deeply moved by the scene.

Dad walked over from the garden holding his metal bucket and stopped near the gravel path.

“Hello, Evelyn,” Dad greeted her gently.

“There is no need to apologize for anything.”

Chad stared at my father in disbelief.

“You know my mother?”