Chapter 9 - The Letter to His Son
On Noah’s third birthday, Ryan gave him a small wooden box.
Inside was a letter.
Noah could not read it yet, so Ryan read it aloud.
Dear Noah,
I was not there when you were born.
That is the greatest regret of my life.
I cannot change the first three days I missed. I cannot change the pain I caused your mother. But I can tell you the truth when you are old enough to ask.
I was selfish. I made choices that hurt the people I loved. Then your mother gave me the chance to become better by allowing me to be your father.
You never have to forgive my mistakes.
But I promise to spend my life making sure you never doubt that you are loved.
Love,
Dad
The room was quiet when he finished.
Noah climbed into Ryan’s lap.
“Daddy sad?”
Ryan smiled through tears.
“No,” he said. “Daddy is grateful.”
I looked at them together.
There was still a part of me that remembered the empty hospital chair.
The unanswered calls.
The photo from Naples.
The black album on the kitchen table.
But there was also this.
May you like
A father holding his son.
A man who had finally stopped treating love as something that would wait for him no matter what he did.
