But once David was gone, the silence in that house became unbearable.
Daniel came to see me two weeks later. Emily was with him, one hand wrapped around a coffee mug, coral nails perfect as ever. Daniel smiled that careful smile he had used since boyhood whenever he wanted to ask me for something.
“Mom,” he said, sitting at my kitchen table, “Emily and I are looking for a bigger house for the kids, but prices are impossible right now.”
Emily nodded and ran her fingertip around the rim of her mug.
“The down payment for the house we want is sixty-eight thousand. We’ve been saving, but we only have half.”
They did not need to say more.
“How much do you need?” I asked.
Daniel looked down.
“If you sold this house, Mom, you could come live with us. You wouldn’t be alone. The kids adore you.”
Emily smiled then, warm and polished.
“It would be perfect, Mother-in-law. You help with the children. We take care of you. A real family.”
That word did it. Family.
I signed the sale papers three weeks later.