My daughter wasn’t afraid of her father. She was afraid of disappointing him.
I carefully wrapped my arms around Emily.
“Sweetheart, your father doesn’t love you because you’re good at running. He loves you because you’re his daughter.”
When Robert came home and learned the truth, he couldn’t speak for a long time.
Then he knelt in front of Emily.
“My little girl, I’ve spent my entire life teaching children to be strong. But I think I forgot to tell you the most important thing. You don’t have to pretend to be strong in front of me.”
Emily threw her arms around her father and burst into tears.
The following day, all three of us went to her doctor.
We learned that her treatment was progressing as expected and that she needed to continue with regular medical monitoring.
Margaret also apologized for keeping the diagnosis from us.
