Her dad is silent. I think he’s too shocked to say anything else.
Tara steps forward to take her father’s hand.
“Dad, I’ll never truly understand what you went through. I grew up without a mother, so I don’t know any different, but you lost the love of your life. And I know that must have hurt you so much. I know it still hurts you to this day. But that’s why you can’t ask me to stay away from Nate. Because he is to me who mom was to you. I love him so much. I’ll never feel this way again, I know it. Please, Dad, try to understand…wouldn’t mom want you to open up your heart?”
I can see the pain in my friend’s eyes. Tara is right, he’s lost a lot. But she’s also right that he can’t keep holding her back. Every young girl has to fly the nest at some point and Tara was ready to leave her’s long ago.
There are tears in her dad’s eyes. I can see how broken this is making him feel, and it hurts to see him this way. But when he raises his eyes to meet mine, I can see that he’s beginning to soften. He’s beginning to let go of the anger.
He lets out a long breath and asks, “You love her too?”
I nod. “I love her more than words can say. I never want to leave her side again. You know I wouldn’t lie about that.”
He nods in return.
He knows us both so well. He knows that we mean what we say. Maybe that’s why this is so hard for him. He can’t pretend like this isn’t real when he knows it is. And maybe that’s a nightmare for him…but if he accepts this, he’ll make all of his daughter’s dreams come true.
“Dad?” Tara whispers, squeezing his hand. He closes his eyes for a moment, his face pinched.
“I just…I’m having trouble getting my head around it,” he says in a choked voice.
“I know. We don’t need you to like it right away. But…but I want your blessing. Because that’s the one thing in the world I’m missing now. Everything else in my life has fallen into place, and I’m so happy…I just want you to be a part of it too.”
Tara’s father finally looks at her and I hold my breath. He waits a moment before he pulls her in for a hug.
“I love you, sweetheart. And I know I can be overbearing and I’m sorry. I know I’ve tried to keep your feet too firmly on the ground. I never let you off the leash so to speak I put you on…and I’m sorry. I was just trying to protect you.”
“I know, Dad. I know,” Tara says softly and she does understand.
“But…but you’re right. It’s time that I let you go,” he whispers back.
Tara sniffs.
“You’re not letting me go. I’m still right here. I always will be.”
When they hug again, I let out a breath of relief. While this is only the beginning, I know now that everything is going to be okay. The thing that scared us the most has been wiped clean. We have a chance to start over again as a family. We have a chance to all be happy together, in our strange, messy way.
Our family will be far from ordinary, but it’ll be happy now.
And that’s all I care about.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Tara
Arriving at Nate’s house feels like breathing a sigh of relief. I’ve never been here before, but it’s going to be my new home. We decided that it made sense for us to live together now that we’re a couple and that we’re expecting a child. I even managed to get my dad’s reluctant blessing, and he’s going to visit in a few days.
It’s been a week since I arrived home from the cruise, and I feel like I’ve been holding my breath this entire time, waiting for everything to blow up in my face.
Things have been a little strange with my dad, who is still coming to terms with all of this. I guess I was nervous that he’d change his mind about everything and eventually decide not to support my wishes after all.
But a week has passed and he hasn’t said anything negative. I know he’s struggling, that it’s hard to see his daughter leaving home, especially with the man he calls his best friend. I guess it’s a twist of fate that he never saw coming. But still, he’s put on a brave face and is trying his best to support me. For that, I’ll always be grateful to him.
I know this isn’t what he wanted, but I’m never going to leave Nate, and he’s never going to leave me. We’re committed to one another for life, even if we’ve never said that explicitly out loud.