She had an affair.”
The words hit me like a punch. “What?”
“She cheated on me,” he said, his voice bitter. “When she got pregnant, she begged me to stay.
I agreed, but I couldn’t look at you without seeing what she did to me. So I made up the adoption story.”
My hands trembled. “You lied to me for my entire life?
Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know,” he said, his shoulders slumping. “I was angry. Hurt.
I thought… maybe if you believed you weren’t mine, it would be easier for me to handle. Maybe I wouldn’t hate her so much. It was stupid.
I’m sorry.”
I blinked back tears, my voice shaking with disbelief. “You faked the papers?”
He nodded slowly. “I had a friend who worked in records.
He owed me a favor. It wasn’t hard to make it look real.”
I couldn’t breathe. The teasing, the orphanage visits, the comments about my “real parents” wasn’t about me at all.
It was his way of dealing with his pain.
“I was just a kid,” I whispered. “I didn’t deserve this.”
“I know,” he said, his voice breaking. “I know I failed you.”
I stood up, my legs shaky.
“I can’t do this right now. Be sure that I will take care of you when the time comes. But I can’t stay,” I said, turning to Matt.
“Let’s go.”
Matt nodded, his jaw tight as he glared at my father. “You’re coming with me,” he said softly.
As we walked out the door, my dad called after me. “I’m sorry!
I really am!”
But I didn’t turn around.
Source: amomama
