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He pinched the bridge of his nose and nodded. “Don’t read it, Aiden.”
“What?”
“Don’t read that letter. Nothing good can come from it. It would only end up hurting you and causing more trauma or hurting your mother and making her feel like she’s less of your mom. No good can come from reading those words. Do you understand me?”
I didn’t reply. I didn’t know what to say. “I need to get some work done,” I told him.
“Yeah…okay. Right. I’m actually staying in a room here tonight. Your mother didn’t want me at home. If you want to talk more, I’m in room fifteen. You have a good night. I’ll talk to you later.”
He headed to his room, leaving me standing there with an odd amount of doubt. Even though I had work to do, I knew I wouldn’t be able to focus if I didn’t first make sure Mom was okay, so I headed over to check in on her. The argument must’ve been worse than Dad made it seem if Mom had him staying at the inn for the evening.
When I showed up, Mom opened the door. She smiled, but I could tell she was hurting. We walked inside and I pulled her into a hug, and she sighed. “Did he tell you about the argument?”
“He did. About Jake.”
“It wasn’t only about Jake…” She sighed and shut her eyes. “Aiden…I told him I wanted a divorce.”
“What?”
“I told him I wanted out of the marriage. The truth is, we haven’t been happy in a long time. I thought that if I ended things, I would be breaking up this family that I’ve prayed for the longest time. But I just can’t keep pretending that I’m happy with him. He’s not the man I thought I married, which is fine. But I just…” She closed her eyes. “I can’t keep lowering my standards in hopes that he will rise to higher ones at some point. I feel like an awful mother for breaking up our family.”
“No,” I scolded her as I led us to the living room to sit on the couch. “You have been nothing but the greatest mother in this world. I don’t want you to ever doubt that. You staying in an unhappy marriage is the last thing I’d ever want you to do. Your happiness has to come first, Mom.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Thank you. I needed to hear that. I just worried that you’d think differently of me.”
“Never.” I squeezed her hand. “Which is why I know Dad was right about the letter.”
“What do you mean?”
“He told me not to read it. That it would harm you too much and make you doubt our relationship. So I’m not going to read it. I don’t need to know who my birth mother is…you’re the only one who truly matters.”
“Aiden.” She took my hands into hers and locked her eyes with mine. “Don’t you dare avoid reading that letter. I need you to go home and read it. I would never feel any kind of way about you knowing what that note says. I know my place in your life. I know our love. I know our strength. So don’t you listen to your father. Promise me the moment you leave here, you’ll open that letter.”
“Mom—”
“Promise me, Aiden.”
I sighed, but I made that promise.
After my visit,I headed back to the inn before hopping into my car to drive over to Hailee’s place. When she opened her door, she could tell something was off.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Do you think you can do a favor with me tonight?”
“Anything. What do you need?”
“Someone to be there beside me as I read the letter from my biological mother.”
Her eyes grew somber, but she was alert and quick to reply. “Of course. I’m here.”
She led me up to her apartment. I felt like an idiot for being so nervous. It was just a letter. Nothing more, nothing less. Still, it felt like the weight of the world was sitting within that envelope. It felt like every key to my past was written in ink.
“Are you ready?” Hailee asked.
I sat down on the couch beside her. “Absolutely not, but I doubt I’ll ever be ready. Here goes.” I opened the envelope and unfolded the letter, unfolded my past. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a long note. It seemed my biological mother wasn’t much of a talker—or writer I guess. My eyes danced across the few paragraphs in a bit of misbelief as I read the words.
“What is it?” Hailee questioned. “What does it say?”
