The silver-haired man on my porch was Thomas, my estranged father.
Twelve years ago, when I told him I was marrying Caroline, he warned me she was opportunistic and selfish. I was too stubborn to listen. In my anger, I cut him off entirely. When the accident happened and Caroline left, pride kept me from begging him for help. Instead, I sold everything I owned—including the gold watch he had passed down to me—just to afford the girls’ first medical bills.
“Dad,” Lily whispered from the dining table, her voice trembling. “Please let him in.”
Thomas looked at me, his eyes shining with a vulnerability I had never seen in him before. He slowly opened the red velvet box he was holding. Inside, resting on a cushion of silk, was my father’s watch.
“I spent five years tracking this down after you sold it, son,” Thomas said, his voice thick with emotion. “I never stopped looking for you. But I didn’t know where you went until your daughters found me.”
To find out how the girls secretly uncovered the family truth, continue to Part 3 below.
