“I should have told you,” Dad said. “I almost did.”
“Get me an appointment Monday.”
Dad paused.
“Already done.”
I stopped breathing for a second.
“What?”
He had contacted a specialist the week before.
The appointment was Monday morning.
I closed my eyes.
“Dad.”
“I know.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
There was no excuse in his voice.
He simply agreed.
Then I said,
“But you didn’t hide it because you didn’t love me.”
“No.”
“You thought you were protecting me.”
“Yes.”
Then Dad said something I have never forgotten.
“My reason came from love. My method was still wrong.”
He told me I had deserved the truth.
I had deserved the right to make my own decisions.
He apologized.
For thirteen years, two men had hidden enormous truths from me because they believed they were protecting me.
Both loved me.
Both were wrong.
Monday morning, Lily was tested.
