Chapter 42. Love by a Father

Before picking me up and placing me on his lap, my dad walks over to the chair I was sitting in and takes a seat there himself. "I'm afraid, dad." I need some time to regain my composure, so please excuse me while I go get it.

"I know." While he does so, he rubs his fingers in a circular motion all over my back. It is beyond my ability to fathom how anything like that could ever be comforting, but it is.

"I love him." I would suggest standing up and walking over to where he is sleeping as soon as possible.

"You do?" My dad asks. "At what point did you grasp the significance of that?" As he gets up from his seat, he requests that I take it so that he can have more space.

"After the wedding, there followed a brief period of time. Maybe even far earlier than that" I recite it to myself while putting on an act of embarrassment by dropping my head.

"Is he aware that this is happening?" In the midst of him kneeling in front of me, he poses the question. I can