Leo stood beside me, holding the strap of his backpack with both hands. He looked from my face to theirs, trying to understand why one name had made three adults look like they had seen a ghost.
“Noah?” my mother finally whispered.
I nodded.
“No,” my father said, but there was no strength in it. “Noah died.”
“I know.”
“He died before you left.”
“I know that too.”
My father stared at Leo then, really stared. His eyes moved over my son’s face—the blue eyes, the soft brown hair, the dimple that appeared only when he was trying not to smile.
Noah’s dimple.
My mother made a small sound and covered her mouth.
Leo moved closer to me.
“Mom?” he asked quietly.
I placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay.”
But nothing about that moment felt okay.
My father looked older than I remembered. His hair had thinned, and deep lines framed his mouth. My mother seemed smaller, as if ten years of regret had quietly folded her inward. Yet standing there, I was nineteen again, clutching a duffel bag while they watched me leave.
“Why didn’t you tell us?” my mother asked.
I almost laughed, not because it was funny, but because the question hurt in a place I thought had healed.
“I tried,” I said. “You wouldn’t listen.”
My father looked away.
“I said it would affect all of us. I said one day you’d understand. But you were so angry that you decided my silence meant guilt.”
My mother’s eyes filled with tears. “Emma…”
