Two Sons, A Mother's Divided Heart

ne Jack

in an old hotel downtown. That night, the apartment felt too big,

om, meticulously cleaning and bandaging the small scrape on my knee from where I had knelt in the princi

ust curled up on the window seat, hugging his knees to his chest, and star

draped it around him. "You

"Are they going to take you away from me?" he whispered,

a lightness into my voice that I didn't

. "You're good. And that man... he looked like he ow

ney, I am not something people like t

"Before you came, Dad and I... we were just two quiet people in a quiet house. It was okay. But then you ca

boy, Iggy... and his father... they're not good people. They

ampton's verdict. I was a mistake, a disgrace, a blemish on his p

steel, Josephine," he'd told me once, tracing the line of my back. "And a heart as so

it too. He saw through the worn clothes and th

s thought he was just shy, but now I saw it for what it was: a brilliant mind, watching, listening, understanding ev

You're going to do great things one day, Cal

omised. "I'll get a good job and make a lot of money, and I'll

. I don't need a big house. I just need you t

s. He wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Okay. But you ha

hispered, pullin

pinky finger. "

ger around his.

r embrace. In that moment, holding my son-my chosen son-I felt a profound truth settle in my soul