I, Maria Campbell, was walking toward my own home with newfound courage, courage given to me by the loving warmth of the hand that was holding my own.
When my magic powers had appeared, my mother had started leaving the house less and less. It was Lady Katarina’s visit during the academy’s summer vacation that had convinced her to break out from her hermitage. Thanks to her, on that day, I was able to have a proper conversation with my mother. This helped us mend our relationship, and now our bond was as strong as it ever was.
As things between us improved, my mother even started working at a bakery. She only did so a few days per week initially, but she gradually increased them and was now working almost every day.
One day, coming back home from her job, she had told me with a smile how fun and fulfilling it was for her. Moreover, she was able to make friends in the workplace, and on her days off she would even go out into town with them.
My mother had changed a lot in the span of a couple years, but my father had still not come back. He would occasionally send money to help us with our expenses, but he never showed up in person. I had thought that my father hated me. I was sure that he did not want to see me. But the letter I recently received from my mother made me think that maybe this was not the case.
Truth be told, I had already had my suspicions before that. Now that my mother had started working, neither she nor I were subject to as many nasty rumors as before. At first, they would blame her for giving birth to a magic-wielding child, saying that she had been unfaithful to my father. Now, instead, many people had come to sympathize with us, blaming the man who would get drunk and then cause trouble at the tavern or pass out on the streets—my father.
He used to hate liquor. Why had he started drinking so much? Was it because of the rumors? Or was it something else…?
So far, I had never tried to find a definite answer to those questions. However, recently, I had received a letter from my mother in which she told me about how a friend of hers had seen my father. He had apparently come home while my mother was away to leave some money there. As he did so, he had a newspaper cutting in his hands. The article he had cut was the one mentioning my enrollment at the Ministry.
Did my father not hate me? Did he actually care about me? I could not help but wonder. At the same time, I feared that, if I asked him, he would tell me that he did indeed hate me. This thought had kept me from facing the truth for so long…but I did not want to cower any longer. I had found the courage I needed, thanks to seeing Dewey and his brother clear up their misunderstandings and to the things that Lady Katarina had told me.
Today was the same day of the month as the one on which my father had been seen delivering the money to our house. He had probably done so during his lunch break from work, which was probably around this time of day.
I could not be certain that he would come. Maybe last time he had just happened to pass by. Of course, I could just go to his workplace and be sure to find him, but I had never been there and definitely lacked the courage to go.
If he does come…
Once I reached home, I saw him there. It was as if fate had chosen this day for me to talk to him. I called out to him from a distance.
“Dad.”
He turned around, and I saw that he looked much older than I remembered. After all, it had been more than a decade since I had last seen him.
“Maria…” was all that he said. He then stared at me with his mouth open in surprise. He probably wasn’t expecting to see me there.
“What are you doing?” I asked him, and his face twitched as he struggled to come up with an answer.
“I was just passing by. See you then,” he replied, already trying to leave.
I cannot let him go. I barely talked to him.
Without thinking about it, I strengthened my grip around Lady Katarina’s hand, and she did the same in return. I looked at her, and she nodded at me as if to say, “You can do it.”
I can. If she is with me, I can do anything.
“Wait, dad!”
He stopped, and I walked toward him by myself. I was no longer holding my friend’s hand, but the courage she had given me was still with me, and I needed it to look my father straight in the eye.
“I thought you never came back home because you did not want to see me,” I told him, and he seemed surprised to hear this.
“O-Of course not…” he stuttered.
My fear that he really did hate me disappeared, and relief took its place.
“I heard that the people in town have started blaming you instead of me and mom. Are you doing this on purpose? Are you pretending to get drunk and pass out on the streets to deflect the gossips’ attention from the two of us?” I asked him.
I had been considering that possibility since I had first heard about the situation from my mother. My father was never a drinker, and in fact, a sip of liquor was enough to make him fall asleep. I could not imagine him drunkenly causing trouble at the tavern. Furthermore, despite this supposedly debauched lifestyle of his, he was still managing to deliver us money every month. None of it made any sense.
As my mother started working again, I was able to find out more about what was actually happening, and I immediately suspected that things were not as they appeared. I believed that my father was just putting on an act so that the ill rumors would focus on him instead of mom and me.
Hearing my question, he first looked surprised, and then somewhat dejected. Looking at his face confirmed my suspicions, and I took his hand.
“Dad, you don’t need to do that anymore. Mom and I both have friends that trust and understand us now.”
My mother’s new friends knew what kind of person she was, and they found the rumors about her alleged affair with a nobleman ridiculous and infuriating. She had told me that now she finally felt understood, unlike back when some people had started avoiding her when those rumors began circulating.
I, too, had many wonderful friends—including, first and foremost, Lady Katarina. I glanced at her, and so did my father. She greeted him with a nod, and he did the same. I could tell just how relieved he felt. Before attending the Academy of Magic, I had always been alone. I was happy to finally be able to introduce a friend of mine to my father.
“And we are both stronger now,” I proudly told him.
My mother and I no longer feared rumors. No matter what people said, we were ready to go on with our lives.
“So, please…come back home, dad,” I pleaded, firmly gripping his hand.
He stared at me silently for a moment. “I will,” he answered as he gripped mine with his big, strong hands.