As we approach, my mom spots us first, and she tugs gently on the coat of my dad’s tux. He looks down at her, and she nods our way. His head swivels and he looks at me, a warm smile curving his face. His eyes flick to Tim, causing me to step in just a little closer to him in solidarity, and oddly… the smile on my father’s face doesn’t dim in the slightest.
His head inclines toward the other men in his group, and I can tell he’s excusing himself from their presence. Then he and my mom are walking toward us.
“Easy, baby,” Tim breathes out beside me. He can feel the tension in the grip of my hand.
My father reaches us, beaming down at me. My mom gives Tim a warm smile, and then gives me an equally bright beam. “You made it.”
“I made it,” I agree, and then immediately rip the Band-Aid off. “Mom… Dad… you remember Tim Davis, right?”
Both of my parents turn to Tim, and then in a move so astounding that my jaw hits the floor, my father sticks his hand out to Tim. “Tim… I’ve been waiting ten years to see you again. Didn’t think it would be tonight, but I’m glad it is.”
Tim politely takes my father’s hand and shakes it. I’m still completely stunned by this turn of events, but I hear Tim say in his deep voice. “Congratulations on your award, Dr. Reynolds.”
My father turns to me, leans over, and kisses my cheek. ‘Think you have a moment you can spare for me? I really need to talk to you, but it would be better in private.”
I nod, not trusting my words. My father turns away, but then says, “Tim… do you mind coming too? You need to hear this as well.”
Tim looks at me with eyebrows raised and I shrug my shoulders, but we both follow along behind my father. My mother, oddly, stays behind.
We walk out of the ballroom, Tim and I holding hands. We silently follow my father through the hotel and right out onto 5th Avenue. I’m surprised that his definition of private is a busy New York City street.
But as we walk a few paces away from the door, I realize the loud hustle and bustle of a New York Saturday night actually provides more privacy than the ballroom. Here… everyone is walking quickly by, not paying attention to us at all.
My father turns, sticks his hands in his pockets, and looks me directly in the eye. “I’m sorry for my actions, Holly.”
I flinch… because his words actually pack a punch. Before I can even process that this is turning into something I never expected, my father turns to Tim. “And Tim… I’m sorry and so very ashamed of myself.”
“I don’t understand,” I manage to croak out, and Tim’s hand comes supportively around my waist.
“You don’t understand that I’m sorry for my actions all those years ago?” my dad asks with a wry smile. “Why ever not? I mean, I never gave you any indication that I was wrong.”
He’s being sarcastic in a completely self-deprecating way.
I appreciate it immensely, and it causes me to award him with a small smile.
My dad takes in a deep breath and looks upward briefly… maybe asking someone above for strength. Blowing it out, he looks back to me and says, “Parents aren’t supposed to learn from their children. It’s supposed to be the other way around. My greatest shame is in knowing that I was not a good role model to you. My greatest pride is in that you taught me something very important.”
“And what’s that?” I ask hesitantly.
“That love is love,” he says quietly. “I didn’t realize it. Not for a long time. I was just as hurt by you cutting me out as you were by what I did to you and Tim. By the time I realized the fool I had been, it seemed too late to make amends. You weren’t having anything to do with me, and I was confident I had lost any right to ever ask for forgiveness.”
“That’s an awful big turnaround,” I say skeptically.
“Not really,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders. “You know this, Holly… but as doctors, we have to be forward thinking. If we weren’t, we would be stuck in the stone ages of medicine. Hell… I was just given an award in part for my innovation. I’m a progressive thinker.”
I can’t help it… I snort, completely disbelieving of what he just said.
“Scoff all you want, but I am. What you heard? What you saw ten years ago? That was nothing more than how I was raised. I was raised by parents who didn’t believe in people of different races mixing. I had no cause to ever question it. It never touched my life… until the day you brought Tim home for us to meet. And you saw nothing but pure, unfiltered beliefs that were handed down to me by my parents. I didn’t stop to think if they were wrong. I just spouted them out and, in the process, I hurt my daughter who I love beyond measure, and I hurt who I’m suspecting is a fine young man.”
I’m so in tune with Tim that I can literally feel the tension melt away from his body. I can tell… by the subtle loosening of his hand in mind and the soft exhale of breath he had been holding, that he has completely accepted my father’s words as true.
My father looks over at Tim, because he must see what I just felt on Tim’s face. “I’m sorry, Tim. I hope you can forgive a foolish man his bigoted beliefs. I can assure you, I’ve let them go. I had to… because of all that I had lost.”
Tim nods his head. “Thank you, Dr. Reynolds. And I do… forgive you, that is.”
My father turns his gaze toward me. Hopeful. Yearning.