Eli opened it and handed me the letter.
I read the first few lines.
Then I had to sit down.
Maya had known there was a chance she wouldn’t make it to graduation.
She had also known exactly what that day would do to me.
She wrote that she couldn’t stand the thought of me sitting in an auditorium staring at the empty space where one of my children should have been.
So she had asked Eli for one final favor.
If she died before graduation, she wanted him to wear her red dress beneath his graduation gown.
And when his name was called, she wanted him to take off the gown and walk across the stage wearing it.
Not because she wanted attention.
Not because she wanted people to feel sorry for her.
