Patricia was twisting her cloth napkin between both hands, her composure fully cracked now. “Thomas, please, let us explain. We’ve been under so much stress with the business lately, and we only wanted to protect Jessica, and we made horrible, horrible judgments about you.”
“You made assumptions,” I said, gently interrupting, “based on what you could see. Most people do. But here’s what you couldn’t see.”
I leaned forward slightly, wanting them to really hear this part.
“Michael is the most honest, hardworking, generous man I know. He rebuilt his entire life from absolute nothing, starting at twenty-three with a bankruptcy filing and a broken heart over his mother. He volunteers every single weekend without telling anyone about it. He saved for two full years to buy Jessica’s engagement ring instead of ever once asking me for money he didn’t even know I had. That’s the man your daughter is marrying. And that’s worth more than any figure sitting in any bank account.”
