“He wants to meet me. I don’t know what to do,” I admitted. I looked at her and hoped she had the answer. All the talk offamily, and there was my long-lost father. It had been years since I even thought of the man. “I wonder how he found me.”
“He used to send your mother letters all the time. When she passed, I found a box with letters from him. There were some pictures there, too. Let’s go inside so I can grab it for you,” she offered.
We grabbed our mugs, and I held the letter tightly. I waited in the living room while Nana went into her bedroom before coming back with a small box.
“You never mentioned this to me.”
“I intended to give it to you before you went to college. When you moved away with Jude, I wanted to give it to you then. Somehow, that didn’t feel right. Then, after Jude died, I didn’t think you needed anything else to add on to your struggling mental. Please don’t be upset that I didn’t give it to you sooner. Something about right now seems like the moment you were supposed to receive it,” Nana said as she left me alone with the box.
I took a deep breath before I explored its contents, as there was no telling what I would find. As I removed the top of the box, I saw a bunch of letters and photos. I smiled as I stared at the old photos of my mother. We looked so much alike; it was like looking at photos of me.
As I dug further into the box, I found a picture of my mom and a man. As I continued to look at the picture, the man looked familiar. I couldn’t initially place him. Then I remembered the older man I saw the day Naya and I went to Moon Café. The longer I stared at the picture, the more confident I was that it was him. The man outside the restaurant was the same man who said he was my father.
When I turned the picture over, it readNicole & John 1990. I studied the picture of my parents. They appeared to be in love; John’s arms wrapped around her pregnant belly. I couldn’t putthe picture down as I continued to study their features. After my mother’s death, I never asked about my father. My mother told me once that he traveled a lot for business. She never fed me stories of meeting him one day. It was simply because he traveled a lot, and we didn’t discuss him.
I lost count of the time I spent going through that box. Old love letters and photos filled the box to the brim. I wondered why my parents wrote to each other. There were a couple of unopened envelopes that I would save for later. It was a lot for one person to digest in one sitting. One minute, I was a parentless child. Then, in the blink of an eye, the man who called himself my father appeared.
I hoped opening the box would tell me what to do. It only filled me with the same questions that had plagued me since childhood. Why didn’t he want to be in my life? Even after my mother died, I always hoped he would come. Eventually, part of me felt like his effort was too late. Too much time had passed for him to make amends.
I decided to give myself a few days to think about his offer. When and if we met, I didn’t want to be overly emotional. I didn’t want to be that little girl who longed for a normal family. If we met, I wanted him to see the woman he decided not to raise. My grandparents gave me all the love, support, and guidance a child could ever need. Would meeting with that man be a betrayal of them? For the second time in my day, I was plagued with more questions than answers. It made my headache reappear.
“Mommy,can we make Violet a gift? I want to do something so she feels better,” Reign suggested.
I smiled at my child. She was so thoughtful. “I think she would love that. Let’s get dressed and head into town,” I replied.
Reign ran from the kitchen table to her room to get dressed. I cleared our breakfast plates from the table. Ten minutes later, Reign reappeared. It was apparent she dressed herself. She wore a pink sweater and blue jeans. It was the purple rain boots that threw off the outfit.
“Nugget, it’s not going to rain today. What made you put on boots?” I asked.
“I thought they were cute. Who made up the rule that you can only wear rain boots in the rain?” she inquired.
I stood there at a loss for words. It was apparent Reign had made up her mind. I decided against her challenging statement and grabbed my bag. If she wanted to wear rain boots, who was I to stop her? We walked toward the car. I opened the door for her, but lately, she had been determined to put on her seatbelt herself. Once Reign was safe in her seat, I got in the car, then we were off to town for a little shopping.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to the craft store.As Reign walked around, I grabbed my phone to text Micah.
Me:
Hey, will you be around in a few?
Mr. Black:
Yeah, Violet and I are just chilling.
Me:
Cool, Reign wants to bring a gift over to Violet. We’re in town now shopping for it.
Mr. Black:
Violet is going to be happy to see her. I’ll see you when you get here.
I put my phone away and gave Reign my undivided attention. “Do you have anything in particular in mind for Violet?” I asked.
“Candy!” she shouted.
“I think we can do better than just candy. Let’s grab a basket,” I told her. As I grabbed the basket, Reign walked beside me. Her eyes widened as we walked through the aisles. I found a medium-sized basket to get us started. Next, I found some filler paper to line it with. I let Reign pick up a couple of different candies.
“Do you think Violet would like a teddy bear?” Reign asked.
