And I’ve made my own peace with the father I thought I understood and didn’t. Because here’s what I learned about our dad, too late to tell him: the sternest people are often the most frightened, and the distance I’d read as disapproval was really a man at war with his own love, losing, for decades, and finally — from beyond the grave, in a red suit and a hidden letter — winning.
Eric and I are closer now than we’ve ever been, bonded by the father we both misunderstood, who turned
