My best friend married my sister, who has Down syndrome — while she was fighting for her life, he gripped my hands and said, “Now it’s time for you to understand why I really married her.”
My sister, Nadia, is a year younger than me. Growing up, some kids avoided her or treated her differently because she has Down syndrome.
But not my best friend, Marcus. Marcus had been in my life since kindergarten, which meant he was always around Nadia too.
He included her in everything. Birthday parties. School trips. Ordinary afternoons when the three of us had nowhere important to be.
In fourth grade, Marcus even promised Nadia that one day he would take her to prom.
Seven years later, he actually showed up at our door in a rented tuxedo with a corsage matching her dress.
For years, everyone assumed Marcus and I would eventually end up together.
We were inseparable. But when we got older, he didn’t ask me to marry him.
He asked Nadia. I cried even harder than she did. My best friend had become my brother, and my little sister had found someone who seemed to love her exactly as she was.
