Chapter 9 - THE NEXT REUNION
Two years after the reunion we skipped, Mom proposed another one.
This time she called me before booking anything.
“I want to ask something.”
“Okay.”
“Would the three of you like to come?”
Three.
Not Hannah and Michael.
Not family plus Sophie.
Three.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Then:
“I am not assigning rooms until everyone confirms.”
Progress.
The reunion was held near Lake Michigan.
Five children.
Three siblings.
Spouses.
Mom and Dad.
Erin’s parents even joined us for one afternoon because Sophie asked.
Nobody treated that as strange.
Why should love compete?
At the aquarium, Sophie ran toward the stingray touch tank.
Two years late.
She plunged her hand into the water and screamed when one brushed beneath her fingers.
“It’s slimy!”
Madison laughed.
They spent the next hour together.
Lauren stood beside me.
“Can I say something?”
“Yes.”
“I almost cost her this.”
I looked at Sophie.
“No.”
“You cost yourself two years of being part of her life.”
Lauren absorbed that.
Different consequence.
Then she asked:
“Do you trust me around her now?”
“More than before.”
Not full.
Honest.
She nodded.
“I’ll take it.”
That evening, our entire family sat beside the lake.
Dad toasted marshmallows badly.
Mom forgot where she put the graham crackers.
I did not solve it.
Kevin found them.
Another miracle.
Then Dad raised his drink.
“To family.”
Lauren laughed nervously.
“Define it carefully.”
Dad smiled.
“No.”
“That’s the point.”
Sophie leaned against me.
“Mom?”
I still felt something every time she said that.
“Yes?”
“Can we come next year?”
I kissed her hair.
“If we want.”
Not obligation.
May you like
Choice.
That distinction had saved us.
