I became the father of nine daughters after my first love passed away – the things they kept secret for years left me speechless.

I stared at them.

“She never sent them,” Mia explained. “We didn’t understand why at first… but when we got older, we read them. We thought they’d help us know her better.”

“Mom wrote them about you.”

I swallowed hard. “And what did they say?”

Mia didn’t hesitate. “That you were the love of her life.”

All those years thinking she’d moved on. All those unanswered questions.

And finally this.

“There’s one we didn’t read,” my daughter said. She stepped forward and handed me a single envelope.

It was sealed. Untouched.

“And what did they say?”

“That one felt different,” Mia said. “Like it wasn’t meant for us. Also, the envelope is addressed to you.”

I took it slowly.

“Dad… you should read it,” she added.

The weight of it sat heavily in my hands.

“You’ve had it all these years?”

“We didn’t know how to give it to you. We weren’t sure what her last words to you were, and we worried they might be bad news for us. Maybe she was asking you to stay far away and find a life of your own,” Kira said.

“Dad… you should read it.”

“And then… time just kept passing,” I finished.