All We Ever Wanted(98)

She finishes, thanking everyone again. As the crowd applauds, I feel my eyes welling up and risk a glance to my left. I’m surprised to see tears streaming down Finch’s face.

Still watching Nina, he whispers, “I’m sorry. I’m just so sorry….”

Then he tilts his chin down and looks right into my eyes, and in that instant, for the first time, I forgive him. Or maybe I don’t. I’m not sure how I’ll feel later, after the emotion of the evening has worn off.

   I can sense that he wants to say more to me, but this is not the time. So before he can speak, I say, “They are amazing…aren’t they?”

“Yes, they are,” he says, as we both gaze back up at Nina and my dad. His hand is on her back again, protective, so proud.

“She saved me,” I say, putting it into words for the first time.

“I know,” he says again, his tears still flowing.

Maybe he’s thinking about his younger self—and what Nina saved me from all those years ago. But maybe, I hope, he’s simply thinking about his mother—and how she somehow managed to save him, too.