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I squeezed his hand. He was right. I was ready. I could do this.
Then, my dad walked into the room. He looked as if he had aged significantly in the six years that he had been here. His hair had thinned and grayed. His skin was pale. His eyes were deep set. He carried himself as if he had a weight on his shoulders. And that weight was about to bury him.
I gasped slightly at the sight of him. I might have noticed all of that at once, but what I saw next was just…Dad. My dad. The man I had sworn I would never see again. The man I’d sworn I would never forgive. The man…who I was giving a second chance.
His eyes scanned the room in confusion. I wondered if he had ever had a visitor in the six years he had been here.
Then, he saw me.
And the world stopped.
His mouth opened, and tears welled in his eyes. A hand went to his chest. I thought he was going to collapse.
I hurried forward with Landon on my heels. My dad stared in awe. His lips quivered, and then real tears fell down his cheeks.
“Heidi?” he whispered. “It’s really you?”
“Yeah, Dad. It’s really me.”
He moved slowly and touched the sleeve of my jacket. When he discovered that I was real, he tugged me against him and held me. I wrapped my arms around him as he sobbed.
“I thought you would never come. I’d given up hope.”
“I know,” I whispered. “But we read your letters, and…I decided that it was time.”
“I’m so glad,” he said.
He hesitantly released me and then seemed to realize that I had someone with me.
“Dad, this is my boyfriend, Landon Wright.”
My dad furrowed his brows, as if he were trying to reconcile Landon Wright being with his daughter. Then, he stuck his hand out, and Landon shook it.
“Good to see you again, son.”
“Pleasure to meet you again, sir.”
“You taking care of my girl?”
“Dad,” I whispered. It had only been a few minutes, and already, he was interrogating my boyfriend.
“She’s the most important thing in my life. I’ll take care of her until the end of time.”
My dad nodded, and they seemed to have an understanding. “As it should be.”
Landon wrapped his arm back around my shoulders and kissed my forehead as my dad moved us to a table.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“Meant every word. You are and always will be the most important thing in my life. Don’t ever forget that.”
As we turned to go and sit with my dad for the first time in six years, I knew that I wouldn’t forget that. Not ever.
Because, when you found a love that was inescapable, you held on and never let go.
Epilogue
Landon
