“A very young woman who loved you very much but who couldn’t give you the safe, steady life a baby needs,” I explained as clearly as I could.

“There’s so much more to your beautiful story, and I’m going to tell you every single detail we know, because we should have told you this years ago.”

“Why did you wait till now to tell me, Mom?” he asked, looking down at his hands with a quiet, crushing maturity.

“Why didn’t you tell me before the twins came?”

“Because your dad and I were foolish cowards, Austin,” I admitted, refusing to sugarcoat how badly we had failed.

“We kept telling ourselves we were protecting your feelings, but really we were just being selfish and scared.”