Chapter 6 - THE GIRLS WHO MET MY SON
Isabella agreed to meet me again.
This time, at a public park near Lake Michigan.
She brought the girls.
I brought Ethan.
He was deeply unimpressed by the idea.
“Four girls?” he asked as we approached.
“Yes.”
“Why four?”
“Because that's how many there are.”
He sighed.
“Great.”
Then Grace spotted him.
“Is that your son?”
I nodded.
“This is Ethan.”
Grace smiled.
“Hi!”
Ethan looked at her.
“Hi.”
Emma stepped forward.
“Do you like dinosaurs?”
Ethan blinked.
“Yes.”
“What's your favorite?”
“Ankylosaurus.”
Emma gasped.
“Mine too!”
That was the beginning.
Within fifteen minutes, Ethan was explaining prehistoric ecosystems while Emma asked increasingly complicated questions.
Olivia challenged him to a race.
Sophie organized everyone into teams.
Grace insisted he help her build a snow fort.
I watched from a bench beside Isabella.
“They seem happy,” she said.
I nodded.
“Ethan hasn't played like that in a long time.”
She looked at me.
“Since his mother?”
“Yes.”
Silence settled between us.
Then Isabella whispered:
“Sometimes I worry the girls are forgetting Thomas.”
I looked at her.
“They won't.”
She smiled sadly.
“How can you know?”
I watched Ethan laughing as Grace threw a snowball at him.
“Because children don't stop loving someone just because they learn to be happy again.”
Isabella turned toward me.
For a moment, neither spoke.
May you like
Then she looked away.
And I realized I wanted to see her smile again.
