Daddy

As the embrace with my mother lingered, she finally pulled back, wiping the tears from her face and trying to compose herself. She took a shaky breath and gently held my hands, her expression turning serious.

"There's... there's something else you need to know," she said, her voice quivering. "Something important."

The way she looked at me made my heart stop. Aunt Helen placed a steadying hand on my shoulder, and I braced myself for whatever was coming.

"It's about your daddy," my mother continued. As a boy, I would have never called him "daddy", too girly, but I found it too natural that mom had said that.

Her eyes filled with a mixture of sorrow and something I couldn't quite place—relief, perhaps. "He's gone, Heather. He died in an accident a few weeks ago."

The world seemed to tilt beneath me. My legs felt weak, and I stumbled slightly, Aunt Helen's grip tightening to keep me upright. The words rang in my ears, echoing over and over. My father was dead. The man who had caused so much pain, the reason I had to hide, the man I feared... Daddy was gone.

My mother's voice cut through the haze. "Before he passed, he... he spoke to me," she said, her eyes shimmering with fresh tears. "He told me he regretted everything he had done. He said he was sorry for how he treated me, and how he hurt you." She choked on a sob, and I felt my own tears spill over. "And all the money he had, everything... he left it to me. To us."

I couldn't process it all. The man I had feared, who had controlled so much of my life even from a distance, was gone. I was free. We were free. And yet, there was a strange, hollow feeling in my chest—grief, perhaps not for the man he was, but for the father I had never had.

My mother squeezed my hands, her eyes searching mine. "Heather," she whispered, "I know this is a lot. But I need you to know that you don't have to hide anymore. You're free to choose who you want to be. John or Heather, or whoever makes you happy. I love you, no matter what."

Her words pierced through the confusion, and I felt a rush of emotions—grief, relief, hope. The shadow of my father no longer loomed over me, and for the first time in a long while, I could see a future where I was free to decide who I wanted to be.