The day my brother, Dominic, arrived at the orphanage
to claim me, my boyfriend, Ethan, coldly spat a warning:
“If you acknowledge them, we’re over!” I knew his pride
ran deep, his inability to accept class disparities
profound. For him, I bravely. abandoned the family
reunion just within reach. For decades thereafter, I
toiled relentlessly, saving every penny to propel him to
success. Before I reached fifty, I lay dying in a hospital
bed, ravaged by years of overwork. On the television,
Ethan, freshly crowned with the highest research award,
tearfully thanked another woman: “For years, I felt
unworthy, as if I could never measure up to Ms. Felicity
Sterling. Today, with this award, I can finally begin to
articulate a love decades overdue.”
