“She never told me that,” I murmured.
“She always said she was happy raising me alone.
She never talked about you, not even once.”
Jackson looked up, guilt shadowing his face. “I think she wanted to protect you from… me. I didn’t fight for her the way I should have.
And when I saw you yesterday, all I could think about was Julia.
I was afraid of how she’d react, afraid of failing as a father again.”
Julia, who had been sitting quietly in the corner, stepped forward.
“You didn’t fail me, Dad,” she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. “And maybe this is a chance to make things right.
For all of us.”
I reached into my bag, pulling out an old journal I’d found in the attic.
“I found this,” I said, holding it out to Jackson. “It’s my mom’s diary.
I think you should read it.”
His hands trembled slightly as he opened the worn book.
“What does it say?”
I swallowed hard. “She wrote about why she left. She said she loved you, but she was scared.
She’d just found out she was pregnant, and she thought… she thought you’d feel trapped.
That you’d never follow your dream. I think she let you go because she loved you.”
“She couldn’t have been more wrong.
She was my dream,” he whispered.
The room fell silent, the weight of unspoken years pressing down on all of us. Finally, Jackson looked at me.
“I can’t change the past,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
“But if you’ll let me, I’d like to be part of your life now.”
That evening, we sat down for a simple dinner.
The food didn’t matter. It was the warmth around the table that I’d been missing for so long. As Julia cracked a joke and Jackson smiled for the first time, I felt something shift inside me.
For the first time in my life, I didn’t feel alone.
I had found my family.
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