“I made you feel like you weren’t really my parents, and I’m… I’m so sorry,” I say. “I shouldn’t have done that.”
“Where are you now?” she asks.
“Really? I thought you moved to Colorado?” she asks in shock.
“For the first few years. Then Casey’s job brought him back here.”
She goes silent for a moment. I feel the tension even from the other side of the phone.
“Are you happy?” she asks. “Are the two of you happy together?”
Now comes the hard part. I take a deep breath. “Is Daddy around?”
“Oh, of course. Hold on… Ben! Pick up the extension!” she says in the background. “Yes, now!”
A second later, I hear a click. “Nat?” he says to my mother. “What’s this about?”
I’m so nervous that my voice comes out in a pipsqueak. “Hi, Daddy.”
“Dear Lord!” he gasps. “Is that my Willow Tree?”
Tear
