It was 10pm and my dad had not come home. The rain drizzling would have been a perfect excuse but he never stays out late even if the heavens were to fall. I watched my mum dial his number once again but dropped without a response from him. She became worried that something may have happened to him, and waited for the rain to cease before reporting the issue to the cops. She looked at my younger sister who was sleeping and swallowed excessively, "she was too young to be denied a fatherly affection" I heard my mum say in a low voice, she was 3 years old. She was still in her thoughts when my dad dashed in through the door with his clothes all soaked.
His eyebrows were lowered and pulled closer together. She knew something was wrong, he had put the same expression the last time he was bothered about the new policy in his workplace.
"What's wrong?" she asked calmly while pulling off his suit.
He said nothing, it wasn't an issue he could relate to easily without expecting the worse.
"It's nothing," he said, lowering his eyebrows. It was obvious he was lying, it was written in his countenance, but my mum decided not to bother him any further. Just before my dad went to his bedroom, I watched him drop a brown envelope in a small box and hid it under the bed.
The next morning, his expression remained unchanged, The inner corners of his eyebrows were angled up as he left the house. Curious of what he had dropped, I decided to go check it out. I pulled out a letter written on a brown paper, the paper color was rare, it was nothing in our time.
My love
The title of the letter read.
I hope this letter reaches you. I'm sorry I left without a goodbye, but I did that for a reason. When I realized I was two months pregnant for you, I had no choice but to leave in order to save your reputation.
Remember the night in the coffee plantation where we met, you had given me this brown leaves book to signify the genuineness of our communication. It's me Sarah. Our son is 18 years old today and I'm hoping he would meet you soon
I held the letter with shaky hands, dad had never discussed his past life. My jaw went slack. It wasn't going to be easy, I only hope he'd relate it nicely to the woman who believed her husband had been a saint his entire life.