Father, Where are you? (Completed)

Epilogue

Life has been going pretty great so far I would say. I wake up in the morning with a gleaming smile on my face and sleep with the urge of tomorrow.

I was also able to find my passion which was painting and couldn’t be any more thrilled about it. I still do it with my father and he hasn’t lost his touch and in fact, gets better after a few more paintings. So I had decided I wasn’t going to leave my family and instead apply where I’m currently at.

And the craziest thing happened to me. I was able to get in contact with my old teacher from kindergarten. I found her account on Snapchat. It came to me as a request and had the chance to even go and visit her.

I was surprised that she remembered me and I even went with Susan and Stacy. All of us had such an amazing time and she didn’t change one bit. And every now and then I do text her asking how she's doing. So I’m glad I was able to do so.

Eventually, we did have to tell father about Maria. That part he was confused about because he wasn’t ever able to meet Maria. He was really down and upset when he did find out. When we went and met the Johnsons, again, their reaction was just the same as all of us.

I had only wished that the way father was alive in the end that Maria would be too. But I’m sure she is also in a much better place now. And the biggest blessing for Mr. and Mrs. Johnson was that they got another baby girl. They had surprised us when they invited us to their gender reveal party and may I say, I loved that very much. Even their son William was over the moon when he first found out about his new sibling. After the loss of Maria, he too was not only depressed, he just wasn’t the same as he used to be. And it was especially difficult for them when they found out that it was Mr. Flynn who did it. They blamed everything on him. And here I thought that it was my fault that they had lost Maria. Had I not began to investigate my father’s case, had Maria still lived. I blamed myself for her death. But Mister and Mrs. Johnsons told me over and over again, that it wasn’t my fault and were glad that dad was back.

They named their new daughter Stella, since Maria in Latin, meant star of the sea. So Stella meant Star and that in a way would be in the loving name of our dear Maria.

We would visit their house and help them with anything they needed for the baby or in general for 4-5 days a week. Stella was a healthy baby, very jolly as well. Any small thing would make her laugh. And she would just play around all day.

And as for my family well…..our life was as perfect as ever. I spent all of my free time with them. Sometimes painting with my father, or helping him in the kitchen. Aunt Brittany would have competitions with him yet again.

But there was still something missing…….my uncles. Even though I have Uncle Kevin in my life, I couldn’t help but think about them as well. After all, when father wasn’t there they were. But then it would remind me, that they were the reason he wasn’t.

Today was a day….where we thought of going and visiting them. The four of us friends, Isla, father, mother, and I, all went to see them in prison. There were just some things we wanted to ask them that I couldn’t brush off. And I was very nervous about it.

When we had reached, I had to compose myself and keep strong. It all was still something I hadn’t recovered from but I had to do this in order to let it go.

As they came to see us in their prison outfits, I didn’t know how to feel about all of it. First, dad and I went to meet Mr. David, while mom and Isla went to see Mr. Flynn.

Uncle David: “Why did you come here? To see me being miserable?”

Bella: “There was something that I wanted to know….”