Chapter Thirty-Two

THE NURSES GOT DAD STABILIZED and sedated while the four of us waited down the hall. Mom, Martha, me, and Winston. I had a thousand questions running through my mind, but for the first time in my life, I felt whole. And for the first time ever, I felt a closeness to Dad. He said I was perfect. I broke down and wept like a grief-stricken mother mourning the death of her child. My God! I was Charlie’s son. Why hadn’t someone told me? Quivering uncontrollably, I sat there in front of the three of them and bawled. They cried, too. Even Winston.

It felt so good, so liberating—like I’d been used my whole life to mop the floor and someone had finally rinsed me clean and wrung me out.

Dad had certainly given me a lot to think about. He may technically be my uncle, but on that day, he was my dad. And all at once, I wanted him to live. For the first time I understood him and wanted to know the rest of the story