For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then he said, “You have your mother’s eyes.”
I sat down.
“Everyone says that.”
He looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Then tell me the truth.”
He lowered his head.
“I was twenty-eight when Margaret told me she was pregnant. I was frightened. I had debts, no stable job, and no idea how to raise a child. I convinced myself that leaving was the only way I could avoid ruining both your lives.”
“So you chose to disappear.”
“Yes.”
“And when you heard she died?”
His face crumpled.
“Your uncle contacted me. He told me Margaret had died and that you had been adopted. I told myself you would be better off without me.”
I stared at him.
“You had no right to decide that.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t just abandon Margaret. You abandoned me before I even had a chance to know you.”
