Constant love helped.
And Ethan helped more than I can say.
He never asked him to understand his family again.
He never asked me to forgive so that the meetings would be less uncomfortable.
He never used the word exaggeration.
At every doctor’s appointment, at every review, every night Lily woke up crying, he was there.
My dad too.
Sometimes he came in with food, others with diapers, sometimes just silently.
One day, weeks later, he found the little red truck in a bag of evidence that was returned to us.
He looked at him for a while.
Then he said, “How little does a toy cost. How expensive it is to know who people are.”
I had no answer.
I just nodded.
Because that’s what happened.
A plastic toy had revealed a whole family.
Vanessa’s envy.
Mark’s cowardice.
Diane’s coldness.
Robert’s control.
And also the truth of Ethan.
