Chapter 8 - MIA FINALLY SAW HER FATHER AGAINNearly a year passed before Mia agreed to a supervised visit.
Jason looked thinner.
Older.
He sat across from her in a family-services room.
Rachel watched through glass.
Mia held her stuffed rabbit.
Jason smiled.
“Hi, princess.”
Mia didn’t smile.
He swallowed.
“I’ve missed you.”
She looked at him.
“Why did you hit me?”
No adult could have asked a harder question.
Jason’s face broke.
He tried:
“I was angry.”
Mia stared.
“That’s not my fault.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
The therapist had helped her learn those words.
But hearing Mia say them herself meant something different.
Jason nodded.
“No.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“Did I make you mad?”
“Yes.”
Then he corrected himself.
“But you did not make me hit you.”
Mia looked at him carefully.
“You chose that.”
Jason cried.
“Yes.”
For the first time, he took responsibility without adding a reason.
Mia didn’t hug him.
Not that day.
But when the visit ended, she said:
“Bye, Dad.”
May you like
Jason cried harder.
Sometimes forgiveness begins with a goodbye instead of an embrace.
