I unfolded it.
I can’t raise them by myself.
You’re better than me.
Please make sure they’re okay.
I had spent twenty-two years trying to make sure they were.
Yet I still carried one private fear.
That no matter what I did, biology would win.
That the girls secretly wished Eric had raised them.
That I was the man who stayed only because the man they really wanted had disappeared.
It was stupid.
Probably.
But fathers are allowed to be afraid too.
I folded the letter and walked inside.
The graduation hall was packed.
Parents waved balloons.
Grandparents carried flowers.
Somebody behind me was already crying before the ceremony started.
I had my phone ready to record.
When Lily’s name was called, I stood up.
She walked across the stage with perfect posture until she spotted me.
Then she blew me a kiss.
I nearly dropped my phone.
