“Of losing you.”
I shook my head.
“For four years, you kept this from me because you were afraid of what I’d do?”
“At first, Emily said she could raise Lily herself. I convinced myself that staying away would be better.”
“And later?”
“Then time passed. The longer I waited, the harder it became to explain.”
I looked at the little girl’s photograph.
“She didn’t deserve that.”
“I know.”
“You knew what it felt like for me to grow up without my father. You watched me struggle with those memories.”
Tony lowered his head.
“I never meant to become like him.”
“But you made the same choices.”
He wiped his eyes.
“I know.”
Dakota spoke quietly.
“After Emily died, I contacted Tony. I told him Lily needed stability and deserved to know her father.”
I turned toward her.
“Is that why you moved across the street?”
She nodded.
