Then, on his eighteenth birthday, there was a knock.
When I opened the door, I couldn’t breathe. There he was — taller, older, broader in the shoulders — but with the same gentle eyes. He stepped inside and immediately broke down crying. I thought he simply missed me and came for a short visit.
But then he hugged me tightly and whispered, “You will always be my favorite person in the world — the one I love and respect.”
