He tensed immediately. His arms around her became stiff.
“I was angry with you,” she said, leaning against him. “I believed that I could have changed Papa’s mind and saved lives if I had talked to him. If you’d warned me before going to the police and I’d talked to him, I was sure Papa would have seen reason because he’d always told me he would’ve done anything for me.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you.” He caressed the top of her head.
“No, I am sorry. It took me a while, but all that thinking made me realise that he wouldn’t have changed his mind, not even for me. It hurts. He taught me all the values I believe in today, yet he disregarded them, and in the end, my opinion didn’t matter to him.”
She relaxed as he kept stroking her hair. “My mother, I think she knew. She must have understood, but why did she leave? Why didn’t she come back? I wonder if he…” She couldn’t finish the sentence. The possibility was too horrible.
“I don’t believe he killed her. When I asked him if he had, he replied no. He sounded honest.”
“Really?” Her mother could be alive. “Where is she then?”
“I don’t know. You should accept the fact your father had a very good heart.” His caresses calmed her uneven pulse. “He was loved and admired by many. That part of him was real. It wasn’t a lie. He meant to help others. He believed in his principles of justice and equality. You shouldn’t take that from him.”
“But he was also a heartless murderer.” It was the first time she’d said it out loud, and it was as if she’d been stabbed.
“Yes.” He held her closer. “His ideas were noble, but his methods were too extreme. He had both light and darknesswithin him, as has everyone. He loved you more than anything else. That love is pure and authentic and all yours. Nothing will ever change that. It’s for you and you only to cherish.”
She shamelessly snuggled closer to him. Unburdening herself made her breathe more easily. “How did you become so wise?”
“I have to thank your father for that. I have precious memories of him, too, and I keep them jealously away from the darkness.”
“That’s wonderful.”
They sat in silence as she sagged against his hard chest and he caressed her back. In a way, they were mourning her father together for the first time, and she didn’t mind.
