The husband did not let his wife into the barn for 35 years. After the funeral, she decided to come in and fainted when she saw it…

Two days after finding the suitcase, Sarah faced her hardest moments since the funeral. She couldn’t find peace, scouring the internet for any trace of Lydia, but found nothing.

She’d just finished breakfast and was about to resume her search when someone knocked. She’d forgotten that David’s younger brother, Michael, had called a week earlier. He was a soldier.

He’d been on a military assignment during David’s death and couldn’t attend the funeral. Michael wanted Sarah to take him to the grave and support her in her grief. It was indeed Michael at the door.

He hugged her tightly and offered condolences. “Thank you. David mentioned you in his final days.

He said he missed you,” Sarah replied, leading him to the living room. On the table lay Lydia’s letter and a photo Sarah had found in one of the envelopes.

Michael noticed the photo, and his expression shifted. “He told you?” he asked quietly.

Sarah looked at him, stunned. She hadn’t realized anyone else knew about David’s past. But how could his brother not know about the first marriage or suspect he had a niece? Michael had kept David’s secret all these years.

“You know? You know about Lydia? And you stayed silent all this time?” she asked, incredulous. “David didn’t tell you, then?” Michael realized. Sarah recounted finding the suitcase, sharing her emotions and frustration that Michael had kept quiet.

Most importantly, he hadn’t convinced David that abandoning a child was wrong, even after a failed relationship with the child’s mother. “It’s a complicated, messy situation,” Michael said. “For a long time, David didn’t even believe Lydia was his daughter.

He and Natalie divorced because of her infidelity.” “But the child isn’t to blame,” Sarah replied, her voice thick with hurt. “Have you read her letters? The pain and desperation in every line?” “I don’t need to read them to know how much Lydia wanted to see her dad.

I’ve met her,” Michael said, lowering his head. That revelation floored Sarah. Michael explained that during his last leave, Lydia had visited him.

He didn’t know how she found his address or timed her visit so perfectly, but she was determined to meet her father. “Do you still talk to her?” Sarah asked, hearing his story.

“Yes, I have her number, unless she changed it,” Michael said, pulling out his phone to check. He offered to help arrange a meeting. Sarah didn’t hesitate.

It was unclear how Lydia would react to her father’s wife showing up unannounced. Lydia agreed to meet. Sarah had one last question for Michael.

“Did you tell her David’s gone?” she asked. “I couldn’t. She dreamed of reconnecting with him,” he replied.

“So I’m the bearer of bad news,” Sarah said, nodding. “Can you at least explain why he refused to talk to her, not even answering her letters?” David didn’t share much with me. But I think it started with Natalie’s betrayal and his doubts about Lydia’s paternity, and ended with guilt.

By evening, when the meeting with Lydia was set, Sarah grew increasingly nervous. Her hands shook, her legs trembled, and her heart raced. She began to doubt the idea.

Why meet Lydia? What did she want to say? But it was too late to back out. Thirty minutes remained. Sarah arrived at the café first.

She took a table, rehearsing conversation starters. Then Lydia appeared in the doorway. She recognized Sarah immediately, confirming her letter’s claim that she’d once seen David and Sarah together.

Otherwise, how could she pick Sarah out so quickly? “Hello. Why are you alone? Is Dad hiding from me again?” Lydia asked right away. “Call him.

Tell him I’m not mad. I forgave him years ago.” “Lydia, I’m sorry, but we can’t call your dad.”

Sarah spoke softly, uncertainly. She didn’t know how to break the news, how it might shatter Lydia’s hopes. But Lydia wasn’t a child anymore.

She understood. Tears streamed from her eyes. In an instant, Sarah was beside her, holding her tightly.

Lydia hugged her back, pressing her cheek against Sarah’s stomach, sobbing. In that moment, Sarah felt how much Lydia craved a parent’s love and warmth.

What else could explain such trust in a stranger? “This is what I feared most—that we’d never talk. That Dad would never know I forgave him,” Lydia whispered…