She stood outside with tears streaming down her face.
Then she opened the front door.
Behind her stood a woman I hadn’t seen in ten years.
Emily.
I collapsed before I even realized my knees had given out.
“It’s me, Dad.”
I pulled her into my arms.
“I never stopped loving you.”
She cried harder.
“They told me you didn’t want me anymore.”
Emily finally explained everything.
After our argument, she had called her grandparents.
They picked her up and convinced her she should stay with them overnight.
The next morning they lied.
They claimed the search had become so big that returning would only make everyone hate her.
