Then she asked:
“Are you sad you got me?”
I felt as though someone had punched me in the chest.
“No.”
She looked at Daniel.
He was already crying.
Then he did something I never expected.
He told her about the hospital.
Not every painful detail, but enough.
He told her that when she was little, fear had made him believe he wasn’t strong enough to be her father.
Sophie listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she asked:
“So you almost left me?”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I loved you so much that I was terrified of how badly it would hurt if I lost you.”
Sophie frowned in the thoughtful way she always did.
Then she said:
“That doesn’t make sense, Dad.”
Daniel laughed through his tears.
“No. It doesn’t.”
She leaned against him.
“I’m glad you got smarter.”
That was Sophie.
She could make us cry and laugh within the same minute.
