“Can I hug you now?”
I wrapped my arms tightly around him.
He gently kissed my forehead.
And in that moment, I finally understood why he had wanted to bring me there.
Six months have passed since that day.
I keep Catherine’s ring in a special jewelry box.
And I love Margaret more than ever.
One afternoon, I asked her:
“Mom, why were you so frightened when you found out Dad had taken me into the forest?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because I thought that once you learned the truth, you’d never call me Mom again.”
I hugged her.
“You’ve given me nineteen years of a mother’s love. No truth could ever change that.”
That evening, the three of us returned to the forest.
My father stopped beside the old bench.
I took his hand.
“Dad, remember how frightened I was when you told me to come closer so you could kiss me?”
He lowered his head.
“Yes. And I’m deeply sorry that I scared you like that.”
I smiled.
“Now I understand why you were so emotional.”
That day, when my father grabbed my hand in the forest and said, “Finally, we’re alone. Come here, let me kiss you,” I was terrified. I thought his strange behavior was hiding something unforgivable.
But the truth was that he wanted to give me a kiss from the mother who never got the chance to watch me grow up.
And now I have not one, but two mothers.
One gave me life.
The other raised me and loved me throughout my entire life.
And my father finally fulfilled the most important promise he had made nineteen years earlier. ❤️
