The word “this” hurt me.
But I didn’t raise my voice.
“Part of my property will be distributed among all my children.
“Everybody?”
“Yes. Sylvia, you and Emilia.
He smiled bitterly.
“So that’s it. You really chose her over us.
I didn’t choose anyone in front of anyone.
“Chose.”
Todor stood up.
“Michael, your mother does not owe you with an inheritance.
Don’t talk about my mother.
Don’t talk about her daughter as a thing.
Michael turned to him.
“You come out of nowhere after fifty years and decide you’ll teach us a family?”
Todor didn’t flinch.
“No. I know what it’s like to be late for a family. That’s why I don’t want to see you lose it the same way.
Mikhail left.
I thought he might never come back then.
But sometimes people need to hit the bottom of their own pride before they see what they’ve lost.
A year later, on Emilia’s first birthday, he came.
He was standing outside the door with a small cake in his hand.
“I didn’t know what to buy,” he said.
Cake is a good start.
He smiled awkwardly.
He’s gone in.
Emilia was already walking, holding on to the furniture. He saw it and laughed.
Michael stood still.
Then he squatted.
She held out her hands to him.
He took it.
And for the first time, I saw my son not like an angry man who was afraid to lose money.
As a brother.
As someone who may have finally understood that love is not diminished when you share it.
Todor died when Emilia was three years old.
His heart just can’t stand it.
