Winifred slowly picked up her phone and turned around, leaning gently against the tombstone.
There were no stars tonight, only a solitary moon hanging in the sky. Winifred opened her phone and saw the audio file Leland had sent her. She clicked on it, and intermittent static filled her ears. After a moment, a familiar yet strange voice emerged.
The familiarity came from recognizing Gregory’s voice immediately; the strangeness was because she had never heard his voice so weak and hoarse before. In the background of the audio, his heavy breathing was accompanied by the sounds of hospital machines.
“Beep-beep-” Each beep made her heart tighten.
“Cough, cough…” Gregory’s coughing made Winifred’s heart feel like it was being twisted. She forced herself to keep listening without turning off the phone.
“Have you still not found Winifred? So many days have passed, where did she go? She has never traveled far… What if she gets deceived by bad people outside?”
Gregory, gravely ill, muttered to himself, perhaps not even aware of what he was saying.
“I miss her, I want to see her… Can you help me find her? I left money for her and a house. When she’s tired of playing, she can come back to rest… Does Winifred hate me? Does she think I’ve neglected her all these years?”
“I know she resents me for not spending enough time with her. That’s why she ran away from home in anger. I watched her grow up with great difficulty… Call her and tell her not to be angry with Dad anymore… I won’t look for other women outside anymore. I’ll give her a sense of security and whatever she wants…”
“Will she still refuse to come back? If I had known I wouldn’t live long, I would have stayed home to accompany her more. I missed so much of her growing up. On her eighteenth birthday, I wasn’t even there…”
“I kind of miss that glass of milk she used to bring me every night…”
“If she doesn’t want to come back, then let it be. If she’s wronged outside, tell her the lights at home are always on for her. Don’t refuse to come back because you’re afraid of the dark. I’m gone now; all that’s left for her is this. Let her be happy… In the future, Dad won’t be here anymore…”
By this point, Gregory’s voice had become intermittent and gradually inaudible. In the last few seconds of the recording, Winifred heard him say one final sentence.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” Who was he apologizing to?
Winifred clutched the phone tightly and pressed it against her ear. So close, it felt as if Gregory was right beside her.
The last five seconds.
“I’m sorry… I couldn’t watch our daughter get married…”
In Winifred’s mind, a final image of Gregory appeared: lying on his hospital bed, his face pale and bloodless, his pupils devoid of light as he stared emptily at the ceiling. He seemed to be thinking about something with a face full of regret, murmuring “I’m sorry…” over and over again. Reflecting on everything in his life-the people he loved, those he let down, those he ignored-ultimately it was his daughter he worried about until his dying breath.
He took one last long breath and moved his fingers as if trying to grasp something. He didn’t live to see Winifred return; it was medical staff and Leland who stayed by his bedside.
He never knew that Leland would torment his daughter so cruelly after entrusting everything to him. Nor did he know that the glass of milk he longed for every night was actually the poison that killed him.
He knew nothing as he died with regret, half-closing his eyes…
Winifred gripped the phone tightly; her breathing trembled uncontrollably as tears streamed down without her realizing it. She bit her lower lip; a knot in her throat made it hard to breathe as if a rope was tightening around her neck. She felt suffocated and patted her chest to alleviate the pain.
How could this happen…
How did things turn out this way?
Winifred had always thought Gregory didn’t love her as a father should; that he didn’t care about her as much as Mr. Hamilton did. How many times did he come back when she was sick? Just a few phone calls with perfunctory words of comfort.
Winifred also believed she didn’t have much affection for Gregory; otherwise, she wouldn’t have left for Midlands without looking back.
Everything she believed in collapsed now. She cried uncontrollably; never did she expect to shed tears for Gregory or that he would think of her constantly before dying, asking when she’d come back.
He feared she wasn’t doing well and left an inheritance for her out of concern she’d be bullied outside. He bought properties in various places under her name so she’d always have somewhere to return when tired; this place would forever be her safe haven.
Now that she’s tired and returned here, there’s no home left for her.
She put down the phone and looked at the photo on the tombstone, trembling as she spoke: “Dad… I’m back…”