“No,” I said honestly. “I think I’ve already spent enough years being upset over things I didn’t understand.”
“I thought you’d be more shocked.”
By then, we were all sitting around the kitchen table when I added, “At the end of the day, nothing important has changed.” They exchanged glances.
“What do you mean?” Mia asked.
“I raised nine daughters. I showed up every day and made those choices because I wanted to—not because I had to. Finding out you’re mine… that doesn’t add anything new. It just explains why it always felt right.”
“What do you mean?”
Mia’s expression softened. “Dad, you’re the best.”
For the first time that night, the tension in the room faded.
Dina spoke quietly. “We were scared. We didn’t want things to change.”
They didn’t. If anything, something had finally fallen into place.
After dinner, we moved into the living room.
But everything felt different then—lighter. Like something that had been waiting quietly in the background had finally been spoken aloud. Mia sat beside me. Not across the room. Not at a distance. Beside me.
“We were scared.”
She rested her head gently against my shoulder, the way she used to when she was little.
For a moment, it caught me off guard. Then I let myself relax into it.
“Do you ever wonder what would’ve happened if she told you back then?” she asked.
I thought about it. “Yeah, I used to.”
“And now?”
“Now I think… we ended up exactly where we were meant to be.”
Mia stayed quiet for a moment, then smiled. “I like that answer.”
Later, Lacy brought out dessert—something they’d picked up on the way.
“You didn’t think we’d show up empty-handed, did you?” she said.
“Wouldn’t put it past you,” I teased.
