“Today marks twenty-two years since the first time I held you in my arms. I wanted to finally say, in front of my friends, what I could never bring myself to say when we were alone.”
“What is it?”
He took my hand again.
“That you’re the most beloved girl in my life.”
At that moment, I understood that there was no dark secret behind his words.
There was only a man who had become my father when he had no obligation to do so, had quietly loved me for twenty-two years, and had spent his entire life fearing that I would leave after learning the truth.
But that evening, I didn’t leave.
For the first time, I told him the words he had waited twenty-two years to hear.
“I love you, Dad.”
