Gemotions

"I never knew him like this," she whispered, her voice barely audible. The photo showed her father, a gruff, distant man, dancing with a woman who wasn't her mother. The woman was laughing, her face open and expressive. Her father looked relaxed, his features softened by joy.

His daughter had always felt like an outsider to him, even in the family. He always held her at arms length. He rarely spoke and never shared. This picture revealed a side of him she’d never glimpsed, a part that seemed to exclude her.

Tears welled in her eyes, blurring the image. She felt a deep ache inside, a hollow space where a connection should have been. The photo was a wound, fresh and bleeding.