Dave, his father, looked like he had stepped out of a Scandinavian travel catalogue. Blond hair, pale complexion, blue eyes.
Genetics do not always follow predictable patterns. Anyone who has spent five minutes reading about heredity understands that.
Patricia understood it too. She simply chose to act as though she did not.
The Comments That Never Stopped
At family dinners, Patricia had a talent for making her observations sound like casual conversation.
She would lean forward just enough for the whole table to hear and say that Sam just did not look like Dave, did he.
Or she would tilt her head and wonder aloud whether anyone was quite sure about the timeline.
The first few times, I laughed it off.
I did it for Dave. He loved his parents deeply, especially his father Robert, who was a quiet and genuinely kind man who stayed out of Patricia’s games as much as he could.
But the comments did not stop. They never let up, not for a single gathering.
Years passed and Patricia found a way to work her doubts into every occasion. Every barbecue. Every Christmas. Every Sunday dinner.
I swallowed my frustration each time and said nothing.
Until the circumstances changed, and suddenly the stakes became much higher than hurt feelings.
When Everything Got Serious
Robert received a terminal diagnosis.
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