“Is Leo okay?”
She looked terrified.
“I went to fix his bunny,” she said softly. “The stuffed one he carries everywhere… and never lets anyone touch. It had a rip in the seam. I thought I’d sew it while he was asleep.”
Her voice trembled.
“I found something inside, Ollie. A flash drive. Hidden in the stuffing. I watched what was on it. All of it.”
My heart stopped.
“Leo’s been hiding something from you for years,” she added. “Something about his father. About his past.”
In the kitchen we inserted the flash drive into a laptop.
There was only one file.
When it started playing, Nora appeared on the screen.
“Hi, my sweet boy,” Nora whispered. “If you’re watching this someday, I need you to know the truth. And I need you to forgive me.”
She explained that Leo’s father was alive—but had abandoned them before Leo was born.
“I told everyone he di:ed because I was ashamed.”
Then Nora said something that broke my heart even more.
“I’m sick. The doctors say I don’t have much time left.”
She had recorded the video because she knew she might not live to see Leo grow up.
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