Counseling: I Love You

The little girl in the commercial hugged her father, her pigtails flying as she laughed jubilantly. The whole scene was homey and meant to tug at your heartstrings. The father smiled and told her he loved her.

"Hizashi," Elly said suddenly, her face growing very still as she started to tremble. Her voice was shaky and faint, as if coming from a long distance away. "I just realized something."

"What's up, babe?" Hizashi pulled his feet off the coffee table, sensing from the tone of her voice he would need to pay very close attention. He placed his arm around her.

"I'm not sure my father ever actually <i>told</i> me he loved me." Her eyes were wet with tears but she wasn't weeping. She sat up straight with her hands balled into fists on her lap, staring blindly at a spot on the wall. "I don't think he did. He hinted at it playfully when I was super young - you know, when he was kind to me because I was 'cute', but that was it."

"Uh." He shook his head, not really surprised but hating that she kept getting hurt, even now in her older age.

"No. No, all the female relatives and little girls got love. I didn't. I think - I don't know what... maybe it's just my memories. It has to be -"

"You know, princess," Hizashi sighed softly beside her. "The other stories you've told me have bearing on this. He didn't treat you well, so it doesn't surprise me he didn't say he loved you."

"But - but Zashi, I thought he did. He had to, right? This was the one thing I never thought about.  I just... assumed. Made myself believe it? Oh my god." She blinked, so mortified by her realization that no tears came. She simply sat, frozen, repeating herself as she struggled to believe the unbelievable.

"S'okay," he murmured. "I'm thinking none of the guys in yer family did..?"

She shook her head. "I felt love sometimes from my grandpa. I knew he did. But my father and stepfather... no."

He stroked a lock of hair away from her cheek and kissed her tenderly. "I love you, princess," he told her quietly.

"Thanks." She leaned on him, sighing, as he nuzzled into her hair. "I needed that."