Mark’s sister was the one who picked up the cease-and-desist letter. She read it aloud. When she finished, she set it down in the middle of the table and said nothing.
I stood up and told the guests everything.
Several guests turned to look at Brenda. But nobody spoke. Brenda was staring at the dark television screen, looking smaller than I’d ever seen her.
Someone at the far end of the table whispered, “She didn’t know about Lily?”
Mark’s brother shook his head slowly. “We all knew about Lily. We just didn’t know Leo was growing his hair for her.”
Brenda’s voice came out as a whisper. “I… I didn’t know.”
After dinner, the guests began leaving quietly, stopping to hug me on the way out. Mark’s sister squeezed my hand and held on.
“She didn’t know about Lily?”
I excused myself and stepped outside for some air because I couldn’t sit at that table anymore.
Not long after, we decided it was time to leave. Mark and I were walking toward the car with the kids when the front door opened behind us.
Brenda hurried after us. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. About the promise. About the hair. I didn’t know any of it.”
Mark turned to her. “But that’s not really the point, Mom.”
“We’re not the ones who decide whether to forgive you, Brenda,” I said. “You need to talk to the kids.”
Brenda found Leo and Lily standing beside the car.
“We’re not the ones who decide whether to forgive you.”
Lily was upset, clutching Terry against her chest. Leo stood next to her, his hand wrapped around hers.
Brenda stopped a few steps away, her voice shaking. “I’m so sorry, sweethearts.”
Lily nodded slowly, the way children do when they’ve been through enough to understand that holding things inside is heavy.
Leo looked up at Brenda. “It’s okay, Grandma. My hair will grow back. I just don’t want you to be sad.”
Brenda broke down completely.
“My hair will grow back. I just don’t want you to be sad.”
***
This morning, she showed up at our house wearing a scarf tied at the back of her neck.
Brenda is not a scarf person.
Mark and I exchanged a look as she reached up and untied it.
Her head was completely shaved. Clean and smooth, her ears looking very exposed, making her seem somehow younger all at once.
“If Lily has to be brave enough to lose her hair,” Brenda said, “I can learn a little of what that feels like.”
Her head was completely shaved.
