Return to sender.
Some never returned at all.
Nobody knew whether Elena had read them.
Their father kept every one.
He never threw anything away.
Even the drawings.
Especially the drawings.
Fifteen years passed.
Then Chloe got engaged.
And three months before the wedding, Elena contacted her.
The message was simple.
I heard you’re getting married.
I would like to come.
Chloe stared at it for almost an hour.
Then she called her father.
He answered on the second ring.
“Everything okay?”
“Mom wants to come.”
There was a long silence.
Finally, he said:
“What do you want?”
That was always how he answered difficult questions.
Not what should happen.
Not what he wanted.
What do you want?
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to decide tonight.”
“What would you do?”
He exhaled.
“It isn’t my wedding.”
“Dad.”
“I mean it.”
She heard him sit down.
