“That’s what I’m here to find out, Dad.”
We finally sat in their living room, the four of us.
My mother’s face changed the moment she saw Ben.
I asked my mother directly. “Tell me about the third baby… my brother.”
Her hands pressed flat against her knees. She looked at my father. He looked at the floor.
Then she finally began her story.
My parents had been expecting triplets. When I arrived, and then Daniel arrived, everything was going as planned.
Then Ben was born. He had a defect in his right leg, a condition doctors warned would likely leave him with a permanent limp and require ongoing medical care.
“Tell me about the third baby… my brother.”
My father’s voice, when he finally spoke, was so quiet I had to lean forward to hear it. “We were already stretched thin. We were scared. We told ourselves he’d have a better life with a family that could give him what he needed.”
I looked at Ben. His jaw was set, and his hands were resting on his knees, completely still. Then he looked directly at my mother and asked the question I hadn’t gotten to yet.
“What happened the night of the fire?”
My mother put her face in her hands.
“We were already stretched thin. We were scared.”
