I was there when you took your first breath.
I am your mother.”
He buried his face against my shoulder.
“What’s Dad talking about?”
I looked toward the front of the plane.
For the first time that morning, I wished I could open the door and get off.
But we were already moving.
The plane began taxiing.
And somewhere beyond the locked cockpit door sat the man who had just detonated our family over the public-address system.
The flight lasted one hour and forty-six minutes.
It felt like six years.
Caleb barely spoke.
The toy airplane stayed untouched in his backpack.
The gummy bears remained unopened.
And the drawing for his father stayed folded inside the front pocket.
I replayed Darius’s announcement in my head until every word became unbearable.
Three months ago.
Truth about my family.
Caleb deserves to know who his mother really is.
There were explanations.
