My jaw dropped. That was the first time he’d ever said that to me.
“I’m proud of the woman you’ve become. You have handled everything life has thrown at you in a way not many could, and I’m thankful you didn’t let certain things ruin your life the way I let them do mine. You have a great family, I couldn’t be happier with your choice in Brandon. It’s obvious how much he loves you and Liam, and if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here now.” He looked over at Brandon, “Thank you son, for everything.”
Brandon simply nodded and continued making lazy circles on my upper arm. Shifting Liam over to Brandon’s lap, I shakily stood up and walked toward Sir. He stood and stiffened momentarily when I wrapped my arms around his waist, before awkwardly placing his own around me.
“I love you too.” I said through the lump in my throat.
“Oh Harper,” his own voice was gruff with emotion, “will you ever forgive me?”
A laugh that sounded more like a sob escaped my throat and I stepped back, “This family is all about second chances, you don’t even have to ask.”
He hesitated a bit, but wrapped his arms around me again and hugged me tight, “I have missed you so much. Nothing was the same after you left.”
I had no idea what to say. This conversation has been so unlike anything I’ve ever had with Sir, and it changes everything that’s happened over the last twenty years, especially the last two. I couldn’t miss my life with the old Sir, but if the man that just explained his actions throughout my life were to leave, I would miss him greatly. We stepped away from each other after minutes of holding each other, “Would you, uh, would you like to meet your grandson?”
Sir’s eyes filled with tears again as Brandon brought Liam over to us.
“This is your grandpa, little man.” Brandon said as he held Liam’s squirming body to his chest. “Can you say ‘hi’ to Grandpa?”
“Go bye bye!” Liam said with a toothy, scrunched-up nose grin. Didn’t matter if we were saying hello or goodbye, it was always go bye bye with him.
Sir didn’t respond, his jaw was slack and the corners of his mouth were twitching up.
Liam looked at me and patted Sir’s chest. I nodded and said “Grandpa” again.
Looking back at Sir, Liam patted his chest again and said, “Go bye bye Grapa!”
“He’s waiting for you to say ‘hi’ back to him.” I explained.
“Oh!” Sir huffed, “Hi Liam. It’s good to finally meet you.”
“He wants you to hold him,” Brandon said awkwardly, “is that okay with you?”
“Of course, uh –” he held his arms like he was going to cradle him and I laughed.
“Sir, you can hold him differently, he’s not an infant anymore, just hold him like this.” I demonstrated without actually taking Liam.
Sir carefully took him from Brandon and a large smile crossed his face when Liam started talking non-sense a mile a minute and looking at Sir like he was speaking English and carrying on a well thought out conversation. My heart warmed and squeezed watching Sir hold him. I never thought I would see this, never thought I would introduce Liam to my cold, distant father, and definitely never thought I’d see Sir act like this. I didn’t know he even had the capability of smiling, hugging or crying. And now all of the above had happened within twenty minutes. I couldn’t be more dumb-founded, or happier.
Figuring Mom was more annoyed than I had been that Brandon went behind our backs, I left the three men in the house and went out back to explain everything that had just been said inside. Like I knew they would, because my family was just amazing like that, everyone agreed happily to make Sir feel like he was welcome. As the people I loved started heading back inside, I grabbed Dad’s arm and made him stay back for a second. When we were alone I hugged him tight and didn’t let go.
“You will always be my dad. You may not have raised me, but then again neither did Sir. You and Mom have shown me love like I never knew, and took me in as another daughter without question. Because of that, you are my dad.”
“Oh baby girl.” He laughed once and kissed the top of my head, “You really are precious to us. I love you.”
“Love you too.” I squeezed him once more and let go to walk back inside.
“Was my jealousy that obvious?” He mock whispered. “That why you’re giving your old man some peace of mind?”
I winked at him, “Not at all.” Yes it was. “Just wanted you to know how I felt before you could start to have any doubts.”
***
“What a day.” I said with a sigh as I curled into Brandon’s side that night.
“I second that.”
Just throwing a birthday party for my little monster was hard work, but having Sir show up had taken me on an emotional ride that left me feeling drained yet strangely alive. The whole family stayed well past midnight and after hours of just talking with everyone, I think Sir was finally feeling a little more comfortable with them. His tense shoulders had shown his worry about their judgments of him, but holding and playing with Liam all night, and my family’s ability to love everyone, had him relaxing and laughing as the night wore on. He was sleeping in our guest room now, and we were going to talk in the morning about the possibility of him moving here. Apparently he had retired from the Marine Corps a few months ago after twenty two years of service, and with how the day had gone, wanted to be closer to us. I still couldn’t believe that this wasn’t a dream.