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Love,
Your daughter,
Zoey
“How long do you want to wait?”
Zoey pushed the swing with the toe of her sandal as she wound her arm around the chain. She placed her cheek on her arm as she studied him instead of the house he was staring at.
“How long did it take you to read all my letters?”
“About two hours.”
“The box was delivered an hour ago. We’ll wait two more, and then leave.”
“I wish you would have let the FBI handle this. They could have contacted your parents, and you wouldn’t have to put yourself through this torture.”
“I need to see her face… if she wants to meet me.”
“Baby, she’s going to meet you.”
“You think so?”
“I know so. I showed you the newspaper articles. She never gave up hope that you would be found.”
“I’m not a baby anymore. I have a brother and sisters. She could be worried about their reactions.” Her doubts flashed through her mind one after the other.
“Zoey….” Stump placed his hand on her arm that was on the swing.
At his expression, she turned her head toward the house. In fear, she watched the door being flung open, and then a boy and two teenage girls came running outside. They were followed by a crying woman who was still holding a letter in her hand, and a man who was just as emotional as they were but was trying to put on a brave face. The tears coursing down her fathers cheeks soothed the part of her soul that the man she thought was her father had tried to destroy. He had failed the family running toward the swing set where she sat, had somehow given her the strength to survive.
Holding back her own tears, Zoey slowly rose, afraid to take the final step toward the family who was waiting to meet her.
“Zoey…”
She looked at her husband who was rising to stand next to her, as he always would.
“It’s okay, Zoey. Go. Don’t keep them waiting. They’ve waited long enough.”
Zoey flew, feeling like she was running on air.
If she had let the authorities contact her mother, she would have had to wait in agony for yet another reply, one that would end her last hope of having the relationship she wanted with her mother. The one she wanted with the rest of her family that she had instinctively known was just out of her reach. She had needed to see her mother’s face, to see that she was wanted. What she saw on all their faces was so much more.
It was love.