Not perfectly.
Not for long.
But they were standing.
Lily leaned against my left side.
Rose leaned against my right.
And I held them both like I was holding the whole world.
“Dad?” Lily asked quietly.
“Yeah?”
“Are you mad?”
I looked at her.
“Mad?”
She nodded.
“For keeping the secret.”
I laughed, but tears were still falling.
“No,” I whispered. “Never.”
Rose looked up at me.
“We just wanted to give something back to you.”
I shook my head.
“You already did.”
They hugged me tighter.
For a long time, none of us said anything.
Then Rose whispered something I will remember for the rest of my life.
“You spent twelve years trying to help us stand again.”
She smiled through her tears.
“So we spent a few years trying to help you stand too.”
As the sun disappeared beyond the trees, I finally understood something.
The greatest Father’s Day gift wasn’t the red velvet box.
It wasn’t the key.
It wasn’t even the rehabilitation center with our name on it.
The greatest gift was knowing that after all the pain, all the sacrifice, all the nights I thought I couldn’t keep going…
I had raised two daughters whose hearts were stronger than anything life had taken from them.
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