Chapter 12 – The Little Girl Who Asked About Fathers
Hope was four when the question finally came.
They were baking cookies together.
Flour covered the kitchen counter.
"So..."
Hope tilted her head.
"Do I have a daddy?"
Lucy stopped stirring.
She had rehearsed this conversation a thousand times.
"You do."
"Where is he?"
"He lives somewhere else."
"Does he not like me?"
The question struck harder than any accusation ever could.
Lucy immediately knelt beside her.
"No."
"He doesn't know how to be the father you deserve."
Hope considered that with surprising seriousness.
"Like when I don't know how to tie my shoes?"
Lucy smiled through tears.
"Something like that."
Hope wrapped tiny arms around her neck.
"I already have you."
"And Grandma Emma."
"And Uncle Mark."
Lucy laughed.
"You certainly do."
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To Hope, family had never depended on biology.
Only on love.
