My eyes filled with tears.
He continued.
“I thought I was protecting you. I thought that if I taught you to be careful, people would never have a reason to hurt you.”
He paused.
“Perhaps I became so concerned about protecting you from other people’s judgment that I forgot to ask what you needed from me.”
I couldn’t speak.
My father wasn’t a man who apologized easily. Hearing him admit that he might have been wrong felt almost unreal.
He reached for my hand.
“I need you to understand something, Layla. I will not always agree with your choices. I am your father, and I will worry about you. But I don’t want you to believe that you have to hide everything from me.”
A tear slipped down my cheek.
“I wish I had believed that sooner.”
“So do I.”
He pulled me into an embrace.
For the first time since the night of the marriage meeting, I felt that our relationship might survive what had happened.
