Unbroken

The Undiscovered Father

"Mom, I can hear you crying. Please mom, tell me why is it."

Mom swept her eyes. "Dear, I'm absolutely fine. No need to worry about me."

"I am sorry, mom! I didn't mean to hurt you. I just lost control upon me that time. Please don't cry?"

Mom stood up and hugged her, "How dare I cry when I have such a good daughter?"

Henrietta smiled. "Mom, please read the letter to me."

They proceeded towards the house. The letter was kept on Henrietta's table till now. Mom picked it up and sat on the couch. Henrietta was sitting on her bed.

Mom disclosed the envelope.

"Well, dear. Its a pink paper with an off white envelope. The letter is written in cursive font using black ink. Okay, so I shall start reading it."

Mom paused for a second. Then, she started reading it with all of her affection poured into that.

Daughter,

I know you are mad at me. I apologize for that, though I know you are not going to forgive me for the grave sin of leaving you only because you can't see with your eyes. Yes, that's what your mom told you. Because, I told her to do so! Do you know why? Well, because I was trapped in a criminal case that was committed by anyone else. They brought out arrest warrants for me. I had to escape. Otherwise, I would have been hung by this.

I didn't tell you these things before. Because, when you were little, you couldn't understand this. When you grew up a bit, you could have understood, but what if you miss considered me as the criminal? Well, my life would shatter.

I am currently living at a small town of Alaska where no one knows me. I can't come back to you dear! Please forgive me. I hope now you understand why today I'm not with you.

PS: look, talking about myself, I forgot to congratulate you on your special success of starting to go to highschool. I can't believe my tiny daughter has become that big to go to school.

PSS: I will write you letters. Do the same. Kiss and hug.

Yours sinful dad.

Henrietta was frozen. She was white as ash. It seemed that thunder has strucked her. Tears rolled down her rosy cheeks. She leaped on her pillow to stop the unending waterfall flowing from her eyes. She was sobbing. She was at fault of blaming her father for the long of eight years of living them.

Father was innocent. All he did was only to protect himself. He didn't do any sin. This world was cruel enough to sever the string of love between a father and a daughter, the most sacred relation of the world.

And, Henrietta was stupid enough to misunderstand her dad although being with him for seven years. How could she?

Mom came towards her but didn't say anything. She let Henrietta handle herself. After few minutes, mom stretched her hands towards Henrietta and pulled her up.

"Please, Henrietta, don't cry. It hurts me."

"Mom, I can't but. How could I blame him for a thing that never happened? He didn't leave me intentionally, he had to. Oh no! What have I done! I have misunderstood him."

"Because, I told you so. You have no fault. Now get up and clean your face. You can now be happy. Isn't it splendid to know that dad left you for some other reason? Not because, he didn't want you?"

"Yes, mom. Its splendid. And, yeah. I think I have gathered the courage to go on. I have cared about the world and its people because, I believed that my own dad left me because of being blind! That was wrong. Now, I don't care about the world. Let them say what they wish to. "

Then, shifting her blind eyes towards the windows, which could be guessed by her with the cool breeze, which has reached the infinity, she said, "Thank you dad for encouraging me by letting me know that you don't hate me."

Mom smiled. She was happy to see Henrietta happy and courageous. It was very significant to rise up her self confidence and strength only by removing the feeling of being left, being abandoned.

But, what didn't Henrietta know, obviously, mom knew. And, it was something that should be kept secret. Mom picked up the letter carefully as if Henrietta didn't know. She looked at the paper. It was neither a pink paper, nor in a white envelope as mom told Henrietta how it happened to be.

It was blank. Nothing was written on it. Because, dad hasn't written the letter, nor the things falsely written in the letter was true in a single portion. Mom made up all the thing to let Henrietta get rid of all sorrows and guilt of separating her mom and dad. Mom lied to her to make her feel that the reason of dad's leaving home wasn't she, it was something else.

Mom whispered, "As Shakespeare said, I have to be cruel only to be kind, likewise I am saying, I have to lie only to love."