Marcus grinned around a spoonful of cereal.
“Eddie helped. I needed the whole town to hear it, Dad. Not just you.”
I shook my head.
“Why do it like that? Why invite Danny at all?”
“Because you’d never have let me say it any other way.”
I looked at him for a moment.
Then nodded.
—
The MVP trophy now sat on the shelf beside the framed adoption papers.
Two pieces of the same truth.
“Drive safely, kid,” I told Marcus.
“Love you, Dad.”
“I love you more, son.”
The door clicked shut behind him.
And standing there alone, I realized the little boy I’d raised had become exactly the kind of young man I’d always hoped he would be.
