He sat beside me through difficult anniversaries.
When Lily became a teenager, he was the one person who could somehow talk to her without turning every conversation into a battle.
He helped me raise her.
Not figuratively.
Actually.
For thirteen years.
What I did not know was that during all thirteen of those years, Dad was carrying a secret.
Lily’s eighteenth birthday fell on a Saturday.
We held a family party.
Friends came.
Relatives came.
My brother and his wife came.
Dad came.
Lily had grown into exactly the kind of young woman she had always seemed destined to become.
Careful.
Observant.
Thoughtful.
She listened before speaking.
She watched before acting.
And somewhere over the years, she developed Emily’s laugh.
Not intentionally.
It simply emerged.
Whenever Lily laughed without holding back, I heard her sister.
Sometimes it comforted me.
Sometimes it hurt.
Usually both.
The party ended around ten.
