Chapter 7 - I CALLED MY DAUGHTERI had Grace’s number for two days before I used it.
Cowardice?
Maybe.
Shock?
Definitely.
How do you call a twenty-two-year-old stranger and say:
Hi, I’m the father you thought didn’t want you?
Finally, I dialed.
She answered.
“Hello?”
My throat closed.
“Grace?”
“Yes?”
“This is Andrew Callahan.”
Silence.
Then:
“I know.”
Of course she did.
Mom must have warned her.
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s a weird opening.”
I almost laughed.
She sounded guarded.
Smart.
“You thought I knew about you.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t.”
Silence.
Then:
“That’s what Grandma says.”
Grandma.
Mom had a relationship with her.
For years.
Another hidden life.
“Do you believe her?”
“I don’t know.”
Fair.
“What do you want from me?”
The question hurt.
“Nothing.”
“Then why call?”
“Because you’re my daughter.”
“You don’t know me.”
“No.”
A pause.
“But I’d like to.”
She didn’t answer immediately.
Then:
“I need time.”
“You can have it.”
“All of it?”
“As much as you want.”
She exhaled.
“Okay.”
Then she hung up.
That was our first conversation.
May you like
Forty-three seconds.
It felt enormous.
