A cold anger settled deep in my chest. Ethan, the man who once promised to love me before humiliating me with another woman, had also abandoned the father who taught him everything about dignity, hard work, and responsibility.
“Don’t get involved because of me,” Richard murmured softly. “You’re not family anymore.”
I looked directly at him.
“A divorce paper doesn’t get to decide that.”
That night I couldn’t sleep. Rain hammered against the roof of my tiny apartment, and all I could think about was our wedding day. Richard holding my hands near the altar and whispering:
“If this idiot ever makes you cry, he’ll answer to me.”
When Ethan betrayed me, Richard had been the one waiting beneath the maple tree in the backyard. He cried beside me. Slipped money into my coat pocket and apologized for the failures of his son.
At sunrise I made homemade chicken soup with herbs and drove back to the nursing facility. I found him outside staring at a lifeless tree. When he opened the thermos, steam clouded his tired eyes.
“No one’s cooked for me like this since you left.”
I fed him slowly because his hands trembled too badly to hold the spoon. One of the nurses smiled and asked if I was his daughter. Richard closed his eyes while waiting for my response.
