“Hi! Long time no see! What made you decide to add me after all these years?”
I typed. Deleted. Typed again. Finally, I sent voice messages.
“Hi, Daphne. It’s Merrick. I found your letter. I never received it back then. I wrote. I called your parents. I didn’t know they lied. I thought about you every Christmas. I never stopped wondering.”
“I never meant to disappear. I was waiting too. I would have waited forever if I’d known.”
She didn’t reply that night.Family games
I barely slept.
The next morning, one message came through:
“We need to meet.”
That was enough.
She lived just under four hours away. We chose a small café halfway between us—neutral ground.
I told Rhys and Clover everything. Rhys laughed and said, “Dad, that’s the most romantic thing I’ve ever heard. Go.” Clover warned, “Just be careful. People change.”
“Maybe,” I said. “But maybe we changed the right way.”
I drove that Saturday with my heart pounding.
She walked in five minutes after I arrived—navy coat, hair pulled back—and smiled like no time had passed.Name history book
We hugged. Awkward at first. Then familiar. Like home.
Coffee—mine black, hers with cream and cinnamon. Exactly the same.
We started with the letter.
“I think Tatum found it and hid it,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“I believe you,” Daphne said. “My parents told me you didn’t want me. It broke me.”
“They wanted Thomas,” I said. “Said I was just a dreamer.”
She stared out the window.
“I married him,” she said softly. “We had a daughter—Emily. She’s twenty-five. We divorced after twelve years.”
I nodded.
“I married again after that,” she added. “Four years. He was kind, but I was done trying.”Memory box creation
“What about you?” she asked.
“Tatum. Rhys and Clover. Good kids. The marriage worked until it didn’t.”
“Christmas was always the hardest,” I said.
“Me too,” she whispered.
I reached for her hand.
“The man in your profile picture?”
She laughed. “My cousin Evan. He’s married to Leo.”
Relief washed over me, and I laughed too.
“Daphne,” I said, leaning closer. “Would you consider trying again? Even now. Especially now.”
She studied me for a long moment.Letter writing kit
“I thought you’d never ask.”
She invited me for Christmas Eve. I met Emily. Months later, she met Rhys and Clover. Everyone fit as if they always had.
This past year has felt like stepping back into a life I thought was lost—only steadier, wiser, better.
We hike every Saturday morning, coffee in thermoses, talking about everything—lost years, children, scars, dreams.
Sometimes she stops, looks at me, and says, “Can you believe we found each other again?”
Every time I answer, “I never stopped believing.”
This spring, we’re getting married.
A small ceremony. Family. Close friends. She’ll wear blue. I’ll wear gray.Family games
Because sometimes life doesn’t forget what we’re meant to finish.
It just waits until we’re ready.