My daughter slapped me after she got the DNA results. “He’s not my father, so who is?” she screamed. I stayed silent, and that silence only made her rage harder. She dragged my things outside and set them on fire, like burning memories could force an answer out of me. But she had no idea what her real father had been thinking all these years. I finally looked her in the eye and said, Your father actually…?
“…is still your father,” I finished, choosing the sentence that would keep her from bolting before I could explain. “Just…