“You made it. That’s all that matters,” Betty says kindly. “Besides, there’s nothing to be sorry for. You didn’t know.”

James shakes his head. “I can’t imagine what that must have been like. What a shock.”

I shrug, uncomfortable. “Well, it was probably pretty similar to what you experienced. I only have a few days on you. My mom wasn’t just keeping secrets from me. She was keeping secrets from everyone.”

“Well, for my part, I need to say I’m sorry. To both of you, but especially to James.” Betty’s eyes take on a sheen behind her bifocals, and she reaches for James’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “I was so unsure of whether or not we would ever meet Meg, but that’s nothing but an excuse. I should have told you regardless. It could have made all the difference for you to know a part of Drew lived on, somewhere in the world.”

James swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing. He clears his throat before admitting, “Maybe it would have. Or maybe it would have made it worse. I don’t know. I have to trust Meg’s mom in this. She did what she thought was best. It can’t have been easy to be a teen mother all alone.”

“Maybe if she had come clean, she wouldn’t have had to be alone,” I say, squirming in my seat as something that feels suspiciously like guilt crawls up my esophagus.

“Oh, but she didn’t know us,” Betty says, defending my mom. “She didn’t really even know Drew. To be honest, I don’t know how Drew would have handled things had he lived.”

James straightens in his seat. “That’s true. I worshipped my big brother, and I want to say he would have done the honorable thing. But he was young and selfish, too. I’m not sure what kind of dad he might’ve been. And I was a teenager, younger than your mom, living with my grandmother.”

“So, you think this was all for the best?” I try to keep my voice casual. Curious. But I can feel my insides start to churn at the implication that my mom might have been right to lie to me.

Betty’s tone is soothing. “Of course not. At most, it was the best given a difficult situation.”