The Mother's Letter
Sara spoke haltingly, choked by tears. "Mom... Elizabeth... wrote that when she discovered she was pregnant, she wasn't sure... who the father was. She was terrified to gamble, afraid to hurt Robert. So she left secretly... with me growing inside her." She closed her eyes in anguish. "Later, she knew. Robert was my father. But she was gravely ill by then. Robert had moved on... married your mother. She didn't want to disrupt his life. She kept the secret... until the end. She wrote the truth in a letter for Grandma. Grandma gave it to me... just before she passed away years ago."
The Recognition
Sara wiped her face fiercely, trying to compose herself, but her voice remained fractured. "After reading the letter, learning Robert was my father... I couldn't tell you. I was terrified you couldn't accept it... terrified he wouldn't want me." Fresh tears spilled. "But I couldn't help it. I needed to see him. I went secretly. Our first meeting... he was horrified. He didn't know Mom was pregnant when she left. Didn't know I existed. He saw Mom's letter, Grandma's copy of my birth certificate... before he believed me." Hence the shattered coffee mug—world-shattering shock!
The Cologne Explained
"The perfume..." I managed, my throat raw. "Father's Day was coming..." Sara looked down, twisting her fingers. "I just wanted... to give him a gift. As a daughter. Express something... anything. It was expensive, I know. But I felt... I owed him. All those years lost..." She looked up, tear-filled eyes pleading. "I didn't dare write 'Dad.' Afraid it would wound him. 'Dear Robert'... seemed safer. When you saw... I just didn't know how to explain." A belated, hesitant daughter's offering. "But why did he keep trying to break us up? Why...?" My voice caught, the terrible word stuck.
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