That shut me up.
“He’s nearly grown now.He’s a smart kid.And he can make amature decision,” Lee said.
“He’s sixteen,” I pointed out.
“You got pregnant with him at sixteen, decided to keep himand…” he looked around, and really needed to say no more.
Yes, I had Darius’s help, but even if I hadn’t, we’d havebeen just fine.
Because I’d made my decision determined to be a good mommaand give my son a good life.
And with the help of loving family and friends, I’d donethat.
But I’d decided it at sixteen.
“I’ve already asked him if he wants to meet his dad,” I toldthem.
“When?”Eddie asked.
I bit my lip.
Eddie sighed and quietly urged, “Ask him again.”
I opened my mouth.
But Eddie beat me to it.
“He won’t forgive himself.For the decisions he made.Thethings he’s done.He’s buried deep under that shit.He left that life behind,and it wasn’t easy, extricating himself from all that.But he did it.Though,he’s still mired in it.He needs forgiveness.He needs redemption.”
“He needs to be reminded that he was always who his fatherraised him to be,” Lee put in.“He made some shit decisions and did some shadythings.But he’s always been Darius.”
He’s always been Darius.
I held no hope for me.I was thirty-three years old, and I’dgiven the last seventeen years of my life to a ghost.
But I was also a mother.
And if I could give my boy what he deserved to have in thislife, I was going to do it.
“I’ll talk to Liam.”
Eddie’s dimple popped out.
Lee smiled the famous Lee Nightingale smile.
Chapter Eight
You Killed It.Dead.
Now…
We’d been informed we could go in and see him.
And we were right outside his hospital room door.
I was anxious to get in there.
I was anxious about a lot of things.How Liam was going toreact.Dorothea’s new knowledge, sixteen years late.If there was going to beany lasting effects of Darius’s head trauma.
