“If you ever want to find your birth parents, I’ll be right beside you.”
But saying those words was easier than living with them.
Because what if they found someone better?
What if they found the parents who gave them life?
Would they still need the man who only gave them a home?
I never told them those fears.
I carried them quietly.
Then came their eighteenth birthday.
I woke up early and made breakfast.
The same pancakes I had made every birthday since they were little.
When they came downstairs, they were smiling.
Too much.
That was the first thing I noticed.
They looked nervous.
“Dad,” Lily said.
“Can we talk?”
My heart sank.
Those words always sound terrifying when your children say them.
“Of course.”
They looked at each other.
Then Rose said:
“We need you to sit down.”
I laughed nervously.
“Am I in trouble?”
Neither of them laughed.
That scared me.
I sat at the kitchen table.
The same table where we had done homework.
Where we had celebrated birthdays.
Where we had eaten thousands of meals together.
Then they both stood.
“We’ll be right back.”
They walked upstairs.
I sat there alone.
My mind racing.
A few minutes later…
I heard footsteps.
Then they appeared.
And the second I saw what they were holding…
I stopped breathing.
Two towels.
The same towels.
The white one.
The faded pink one.
The towels I had wrapped around them eighteen years ago.
My hands started shaking.
“Where did you get those?”
Neither girl answered immediately.
Then Lily sat beside me.
“Dad…”
Her voice cracked.
“Please don’t hate us.”
Those words destroyed me.
“Hate you?”
I stood up.
“Why would I ever hate you?”
Rose’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because we didn’t tell you everything.”
My stomach tightened.
For eighteen years, those towels represented the beginning of our family.
Now they were back.
And I suddenly felt afraid.
“I thought you found your birth mother,” I whispered.
Lily looked confused.
“No.”
“No?”
She shook her head.
“This isn’t about leaving you.”
I looked at both of them.
“Then what is it about?”
Rose slowly placed the pink towel on the table.
“We found something.”
“What?”
She reached inside the towel.
And pulled out an envelope.
