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 one year younger than me. Growing up, she was often treated differently because she has Down syndrome.
Some kids avoided her. Others assumed she couldn’t do the same things they could.
But my best friend Marcus never treated her that way. He included Nadia in everything.
Birthday parties. School trips. Ordinary afternoons. When we were kids, Marcus even promised that if nobody asked Nadia to prom someday, he would.
Seven years later, he showed up at our door wearing a rented tuxedo and carrying a corsage that perfectly matched her dress.
He kept his promise. For years, everyone assumed Marcus and I would eventually become a couple.
We’d been best friends since kindergarten. But when we became adults, Marcus didn’t ask me to marry him.
He asked Nadia. And I couldn’t have been happier for them. Then, at their wedding reception, Nadia announced she was pregnant with twins.
