“For Emily’s sixteenth birthday.”
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“When Emily starts college.”
“When you fall in love for the first time.”
And then I saw the last envelope.
“When he graduates.”
I couldn’t talk.s.
Why didn’t my father have these letters?
The woman replied:
“Your mother was afraid it would be too painful for him. He asked us to keep them.
I looked at Professor Hayes.
“Then why did it make me stay after every class?”
He smiled sadly.
“Because the first time I saw you, I wasn’t sure you were really her daughter. Then I confirmed it. But I couldn’t just get close to you and say, “I have letters from your mother, who died years ago.”
I sat down.
My hands were shaking.
Then he opened one of the drawers from his desk and pulled another envelope.
“This was for me.
He opened it and read only one line out loud:
“If Emily ever ends up in one of your classes, please don’t tell her right away. First make sure she’s ready.”
I started crying.
The man I had feared for weeks was really just trying to fulfill a promise I had made to my mother almost twenty years ago.
But the biggest surprise was yet to come.
At the bottom of the box was a small car key.
I looked at them.
