“Sarah:
I know I have no right to write to you. I also know that no word could justify what I did.
But I was the one who arranged this whole trip.
Your father only agreed to help me because he knew you would refuse the money if you knew the truth.
Everything was darkened before my eyes.
I remembered the day the doctor first pronounced the word “cancer.”
Mike had been with us in the hospital that day. I was sitting next to me, but when the doctor started talking about prolonged treatment, possible complications and huge medical expenses, Mike’s expression changed.
When we returned home, he locked himself in the bedroom.
The next morning, I saw his suitcase next to the door principal.
“Where are you going?” I asked.
He couldn’t even look me in the eye.
I can’t stand all this.
What can you not bear? That your daughter is sick?
“I’m not ready to spend every day in hospitals, Sarah. I can’t see her…
He didn’t finish the sentence.
So you’re going to abandon us?
Mike took his suitcase quietly and left.
Emily was standing at the top of the stairs. He was only three years old, but he stared at the door for a long time and kept asking:
When will Dad come home?
I never told him the truth. I explained that her father lived far away and that she was not yet prepared to visit her.
Actually, Mike hadn’t called a single time in three years.
I kept reading the card.
“The day I left, I became convinced that I had simply been afraid. But the truth is much worse. I was selfish and weak.
I thought if I walked away, I wouldn’t have to see her suffer. I didn’t understand that, by abandoning her, I was adding another kind of pain to everything she was already enduring.
I kept myself informed about Emily’s treatment through your father. For a long time, George refused to even talk to me. And he had every right to do it.
When I heard about Emily’s wish, I begged her to let me do at least one good thing for her.
I paid for the plane tickets, the hotel, the nurse’s expenses and everything else. But I asked them not to mention my name because I knew you would never accept the money.”
I immediately called my father.
He responded to the first tone.
“Did you know?” I asked without even greeting him.
There was a long silence on the other side of the line.
“Yes.
