CHAPTER 6: THE REUNION
I met Harold at a small café near the lake.
He was older than I remembered. Grayer. Thinner.
But his eyes were the same. The same shade of blue as mine.
"Charlotte," he said. "I've waited so long to see you."
"Why did you wait?"
"Your father—your stepfather, I mean—he made me leave. He threatened me. He said if I ever came back, he'd make sure you never knew the truth."
"And you believed him?"
"I was afraid. And I was broken. I didn't think I deserved to be part of your life."
"But you're my father."
"Yes. And I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."
I looked at him.
The man who should have been my father.
The man who had been kept from me my entire life.
"I don't know if I can forgive you," I said. "But I want to try."
"That's more than I deserve."
We talked for hours.
About the past. About the future. About everything.
And I started to heal.
Because I had finally found a part of myself that had been missing.
My real father.
May you like
My real family.
And I was going to build something new with them.
