“Why didn’t you just tell me you loved me?”
Raymond looked directly at me.
“Because gratitude is a terrible foundation for love.”
I froze.
He explained that if he had revealed everything after the adoption, he would never have known whether I loved him—or simply felt indebted because he had given me Caleb and Noah.
“I wanted you to choose me,” he said quietly, “the same way you chose them.”
For the first time, I looked at the last twenty years differently.
Raymond hadn’t remained single because he couldn’t find
