Sabrina melted into tears after seeing the video. She ran to her dad as everybody gave a standing ovation to him.
She hugged him and cried, “Thank you so much, dad! I’m sorry.”
Pete wiped her tears away and enjoyed the rest of the evening. On their way home, Sabrina recalled Pete talking about her late mother.
His words worried her.
“Dad, why did you say mom would be proud if she were at the grad party? She’s long gone, and how will she attend if she’s dead?”
Pete looked at Sabrina and laughed. “Your mother is not dead, honey.
She is alive and lives in this town!”
Sabrina was shocked because she was told her mother had died. But it was a lie, and Pete never wanted his daughter to know the truth about her mother until she came of age.
“WHAT? MOM’S ALIVE?
Dad, why didn’t you tell me?”
Pete realized it was time to make the biggest confession of his life.
“Because your mom never wanted you. She told me that your birth father had died. She told me it was up to me to decide if I wanted to raise or leave you in the shelter.”
It turned out that Pete and his wife Emma had divorced when Sabrina was little.
Before moving on, Emma told Pete their daughter was not his. Pete was heartbroken and decided to raise the girl as his own.
“I could not see you as someone else’s child. You were my world, and you are my everything today,” Pete cried.
Hearing this, Sabrina threw herself in Pete’s arms and cried on his shoulder.
“You’re not my real father??”
Pete hugged her back. “Darling, I may not be your birth father, but I don’t love you any less. Forget what I just told you.
You are always MY DAUGHTER regardless of anything and everything.”
“I’m sorry, dad. I feel ashamed of myself for hurting you. I called you ‘dirty’ and ‘smelly’ without knowing about your sacrifices for me.
What would have happened to me if you didn’t step up for me and raised me? Please forgive me.”
Pete wiped away Sabrina’s tears, and they rode home, where he invited all his friends and neighbors to celebrate his daughter’s graduation.
Pete and Sabrina never talked about their past again. Surprisingly enough, Sabrina was not ashamed of her dad anymore.
She was proud of him and realized he was not a shame but a great man who raised her with love and care when her mother abandoned her.
What can we learn from this story?
Source: amomama
