Abandoned By My Father, Saved By A Stranger

Synopsis

That winter, the army drafted both my father and my uncle. Only my uncle came back. Mother told me Father had gone to a very, very faraway place. I was only nine, but I knew what that meant. Going to a faraway place meant he would never come back. Then, one night, I overheard my grandmother and uncle talking in hushed tones. That was how I learned the truth: the cold, distant man living in the room across, the man I called "Uncle", was actually my "dead" father. When I told my mother what I'd heard, she held me close and cried for a long time. Then, wiping her tears, she asked softly, "Lily... would it be alright if I found you a new father?" I nodded hard. "Yes," I said.