Three months after my mother’s funeral, my father married her sister. I tried to convince myself that grief can drive people to make unimaginable choices. But then my brother showed up late to the wedding, drew me aside, and pressed a letter into my hands—one my mother had never intended for me to see.
I thought nothing could be more painful than watching my mother die. I was wrong.
She battled breast cancer for nearly three years. Near the end, she barely had the strength to sit upright, yet she still worried about whether I was eating properly, whether my brother Robert was staying on top of his bills, and whether Dad remembered to take his blood pressure medication.
Even as she was dying, she never stopped being a parent.
After we buried her, the house still carried the scent of antiseptic and her lavender lotion.
People repeated the same consolations over and over.
“She’s not suffering anymore.”
“She was incredibly strong.”
“Time will help. You’ll be okay.”
Time didn’t help. It only made the quiet heavier.
Three months after the funeral, my father asked Robert and me to come by.
“Just to talk,” he said on the phone, his tone unusually cautious.
When we stepped into the living room, nothing had changed. Mom’s coat still hung by the door. Her slippers were tucked beneath the couch. The funeral flowers were gone, but the emptiness they left behind felt permanent.
My aunt Laura was sitting beside my father—Mom’s younger sister. She looked tense, her hands clasped tightly, knees pressed together, eyes red as if she’d cried earlier, though not recently.
I remember thinking, Why is she here?
“I want to be upfront with you both,” Dad finally said. “I don’t want any secrets.”
That should have been my first red flag.
Laura reached for his hand. He didn’t pull away.
“I’ve met someone,” Dad said. “I didn’t expect it. I wasn’t looking for it.”
Robert frowned. “What are you saying?”
Dad hesitated. “Laura and I… we’re together.”
The room seemed to spin. I stared at him, waiting for it to be a joke. It wasn’t.
“You’re… together?”
“We never planned this,” Laura rushed to say. “Please understand. Grief just… changes people.”
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