Chapter 14 - THE FIRST TIME ETHAN CHOSE THE WORD HIMSELF
Months passed.
Ethan’s school held a family breakfast.
Ryan expected to attend alone.
Robert came too.
Linda brought muffins.
Ethan had three adults around him before class even started.
His teacher asked students to make name tags for their guests.
Ethan wrote:
DAD — RYAN
GRANDPA — ROBERT
GRANDMA — LINDA
Then stopped.
Ryan watched from across the table.
There was a fourth blank tag.
Ethan picked it up.
“Can I make one for Mom?”
Ryan’s heart tightened.
“Emily?”
Ethan nodded.
“She can’t come.”
“No.”
“But can she still have one?”
Ryan smiled.
“Absolutely.”
Ethan wrote:
MOM — EMILY
Then placed it beside her photograph on his classroom memory board.
No one corrected him.
No one cried loudly.
No one made it a ceremony.
Ryan finally understood.
Emily did not need to be protected from the future.
Her place existed because Ethan loved her.
Not because everyone prevented anyone else from using one word.
After breakfast Ethan asked:
“If you marry somebody someday, can I decide what I call her?”
Ryan crouched beside him.
“Yes.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“What if she wants something else?”
“Then she can have feelings about it.”
Ethan smiled.
“But I decide?”
May you like
“You decide.”
For the first time, the word Mom belonged to Ethan.
