Chapter 38 - harrison died without making nora promise to stay close
Dad died four months later.
At home.
Quietly.
Claire was there.
I was there.
Nora made it back from college the night before.
He recognized her.
Thank God.
She sat beside him.
He asked:
“School?”
She laughed through tears.
“Seriously?”
“Answer.”
“Good.”
“You staying?”
She understood the question.
At college.
In her program.
In her own life.
“Yes.”
Dad smiled.
“Good.”
No:
Come home.
No:
Take care of your father.
No:
Keep family together.
He had spent his last years learning love did not need emergency to stay important.
Nora whispered:
“I’m going to miss you.”
Dad answered:
“Obviously.”
She laughed.
Then cried.
He died the next morning.
For months afterward Nora kept expecting the phone call she used to make when something felt wrong.
Grandpa.
Then she slowly learned another truth.
May you like
A safe person can die without safety dying with them.
Some of what Harrison gave her had become internal.
