“What? You… lied to me?”
“Liza left you with me. Her boyfriend didn’t want the baby, and she was struggling. She asked me to watch you for one night so she could meet him and talk things through.” He paused. “She never came back. He disappeared that same night. I always assumed they ran away together.”
“I tried to come back!” Liza cried.
Who was telling the truth?
Then a voice rose from the stands. “I remember them.”
Everyone turned.
One of the older teachers from the school was walking down the steps toward us.
“You graduated here 18 years ago with a baby in your arms.” She gestured toward Dad. Then she nodded at the woman. “And you, Liza, lived next door to him. You dropped out before graduation. You disappeared that summer. Along with your boyfriend.”
The murmuring grew louder.
And suddenly the story began to shift.
I turned back toward my dad.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I asked.
Dad swallowed hard. “Because I was 17. I didn’t know what I was doing, and I didn’t understand how anyone could walk away from a baby. I thought if you believed at least one parent chose to keep you, it might hurt less.”
A broken sob escaped me. I wrapped my arms around myself.
“And later?” I whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me when I was older?”
“After a while, I didn’t know how to tell you something that might make you feel unwanted.” He looked back at me. “In my heart, you were mine the moment I carried you through that graduation.”
“Stop this! You’re making me look bad on purpose,” Liza reached for me again, panic in her eyes, “but nothing can change the fact that she doesn’t belong to you.”
I stepped behind Dad.
“Stop this, Liza! You’re scaring her. Why are you even here?” Dad asked.
Liza’s eyes widened. For a moment she looked nervous. Then she turned to face the crowd, raising her voice.
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