Richard surprises his daughter with a visit to celebrate his eightieth birthday with her, but she answers the door in tears and sends Richard away. Richard guesses something is wrong but doesn’t realize how much trouble his daughter is in until he peeks through her front windows.
Richard grinned widely as the highway took him into the town where his daughter, Deidre, lived. Fall had come early to Minnesota that year, and the trees put on a spectacular display of color as he headed for the neighborhood where Deidre lived.
He tapped his fingers nervously against the steering wheel while he drove. He’d been planning this surprise visit for weeks and couldn’t wait to see the look on Deidre’s face when he appeared on her doorstep.
He hadn’t seen his daughter since his wife’s funeral, four years ago. They spoke on the phone every week, but it wasn’t the same. Nothing was really the same since his wife died. Deidre used to drive through every Thanksgiving, but those visits stopped after the funeral. As the years rolled past, Richard missed his daughter more and more.
At last, he pulled into her driveway. Deidre started a home business the previous year. She rarely divulged any details about her life, answering all his questions with ‘everything’s fine,’ so he was curious to see how well she was doing for himself.
Richard knocked on the door. When Deidre opened the front door, he spread his arms wide and yelled: “Surprise!”
“Dad? What are you doing here?” Tears ran freely down Deidre’s face as she looked at Richard in horror.
For illustration purposes only | Source: Pexels
“I came to celebrate my birthday with you…it’s the big eight-oh, and I wanted to spend it with my daughter.” Richard reached out to take Deidre’s hand. “What’s going on, honey? Why are you crying?”
“It’s nothing; everything’s fine.” Deidre quickly wiped her eyes and smiled a little. “I just… I wasn’t expecting you and this isn’t really a good time.”
“I know you’re probably busy, but I can wait.” Richard leaned sideways to catch Deidre’s eye as she glanced over her shoulder. “I’ll quietly camp on your couch and watch TV—”
“No, you can’t come in.” Deidre closed the door until only half her face was visible. “Sorry, Dad, but I…uh, need to focus. On my work. We’ll have dinner later, okay?”