"Why is that still there?"
Emily picked it up.
"Because it's my father."
"Emily, we have discussed this."
"I know."
"Then why are you still keeping pictures of him?"
Emily looked at her mother.
"Because I still love him."
Vanessa let out a frustrated breath.
"You are twenty-two years old. You should have outgrown this fantasy."
"It's not a fantasy."
"Your father left us."
"That's what you keep telling me."
Vanessa's eyes narrowed.
"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
Emily placed the photograph carefully into her handbag.
"Nothing, Mom."
Vanessa stared at her for a moment before turning toward the door.
"Let's go. We don't need to be late because of the past."
Emily followed her downstairs.
But as she stepped outside, she quietly checked her phone.
There was one new message.
It was from an unknown number.
I'll be there, sweetheart. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
Emily stopped walking.
Her heart began beating faster.
She read the message again. Then again.
There was no name attached.
But she recognized the way the sentence was written. She had seen those words before, on birthday cards, on little notes tucked inside lunchboxes, and on the last letter she had received from him when she was twelve.
Her eyes filled with tears.
"Mom?"
Vanessa turned around.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Emily quickly put the phone away.
For the first time in ten years, she allowed herself to believe that her father might actually come home.
And she had no idea that the man who had sent that message was already standing outside a small rented room on the other side of town, holding a bouquet of yellow roses and wondering whether his daughter would recognize him.
The rented room where Daniel lived was barely large enough for a bed, a small table, and an old wardrobe. The walls needed painting. The heater made strange noises whenever it turned on, and the window had a crack that Daniel covered with a piece of cardboard during the winter.
But he kept the room clean.
On the table stood a photograph of Emily at age twelve.
He had never replaced it.
He had watched her grow up through the few photographs he could find online, through occasional updates from people who knew the family, and through the memories he carried everywhere.
He knew she had graduated from high school. He knew she had received a university scholarship. He knew she had chosen nursing because she wanted to help people who were frightened and alone.
And he knew she had worked nights at a grocery store to pay for the expenses her scholarship didn't cover.
He knew all of that.
What he didn't know was whether she still wanted him in her life.
Daniel looked down at the yellow roses.
He had purchased them the previous afternoon. They weren't the most expensive flowers in the shop. He couldn't afford a large arrangement wrapped in silk and decorated with ribbons.
But he had chosen each flower carefully.
Yellow roses had always been Emily's favorite.
When she was little, she used to call them sunshine flowers.
"Why yellow, Daddy?" she had once asked.
"Because they look like sunshine even when the sky is cloudy."
She had smiled.
"Then I want yellow flowers forever."
Daniel had remembered.
He remembered everything.
He slipped the flowers into a simple paper wrapper and checked the time.
The ceremony began at two.
He had to leave soon.
Before walking out, he opened the bottom drawer of his wardrobe and removed a small envelope. Inside was a photograph of Emily as a toddler, a hospital bracelet, and a folded piece of paper.
The paper was a letter he had written years ago.
He had never sent it.
He read the first lines.
My beautiful girl,
If you ever wonder why I wasn't standing beside you during the years when you needed me, please don't believe it was because I stopped loving you.
Daniel stopped reading.
His eyes had become wet.
He folded the letter and returned it to the envelope.
Some truths were too painful to carry into a celebration.
Today was supposed to be about Emily.
Not about him.
He put on his faded jacket, picked up the flowers, and stepped into the rain.
He didn't own a car anymore. The old pickup had been sold years ago to pay a debt that wasn't his.
So he walked to the bus stop.
As the bus pulled away from the curb, Daniel held the flowers carefully against his chest.
He looked out at the familiar streets. The town had changed. New buildings had replaced old stores. The bakery where he used to buy Emily's birthday cakes had become a pharmacy. The playground where he had pushed her on the swings had been renovated.
But the university gymnasium remained exactly where it had always been.
Daniel closed his eyes.
He remembered carrying Emily into that building when she was five, attending a school performance where she played a tree.
She had forgotten her lines.
He had been the only person clapping loudly enough to make her smile.
Now she was graduating.
She was becoming a nurse.
And he would finally get to see her wearing a university gown.
He didn't need to be photographed. He didn't need to sit in the front row. He only needed her to know that he had come.
That he had kept his promise.
And that he was proud of her.
Vanessa's journey to the university was considerably more comfortable. She sat in the back of a black luxury sedan, scrolling through messages from friends and relatives.
Her assistant had already sent her the schedule for the ceremony. Several guests had confirmed their attendance. A local business owner had promised to arrive early to reserve seats.
Everything was proceeding exactly as she had planned.
Except for one thing.
Emily was unusually quiet.
"Are you nervous?" Vanessa asked.
"A little."
"Don't be. You've worked hard for this."
Emily looked out the window.