Seven Years Abroad: Now He Wants Us Back

Micah Jackman's heart churned with a hundred conflicting emotions. No matter how much he'd speculated before coming here, he never imagined his daughter Anna Jackman's attitude would be so resolute.

What he didn't know was that Anna and I had already given him countless chances, yet he remained completely unmoved.

During the five years we were married, he had endless opportunities to be honest with us about his identity, to tell us he was actually the eldest son of the Jackman family. Yet he remained silent the entire time.

Whenever Anna said she wanted to play piano for him, he would always brush her off by pretending to be poor.

"Alright, but I don't have enough money right now. When I earn more money, I'll buy you a big piano."

For five years, I took Anna to the plaza every day to perform and earn money.

He just watched coldly. He watched for five whole years.

Every time we packed up and came home, Anna would ask me hopefully, "Mommy, did we earn enough money to buy a piano yet? I want to play a lullaby for Daddy. It's the first piano piece I've learned!"

Whenever this happened, I would count the money in our bag and shake my head at her.

"We're still a little short. We'll save more tomorrow, and we'll have enough soon."

Finally, one month before Anna's birthday, I counted the bag of loose change and discovered with delight that we had enough to buy the cheapest piano.

But when I took Anna's hand and arrived at the piano store, I spotted Micah on the second floor immediately. He was holding his first love's daughter while they looked at pianos together.

My hand trembled as I pointed at the piano they were examining and asked the salesperson, "How much does that piano cost?"

The salesperson gave a standard professional smile. "That Steinway piano was reserved by that gentleman a long time ago. The entire instrument was handcrafted by masters. The price is 800 thousand dollars."

Eight hundred thousand dollars. In an instant, all the blood in my body froze.

People had told me before that Micah's background was unusual, but looking at our drafty house and shabby furniture, I would never have believed that Micah was actually wealthy.

Thinking about it now, I suppose it really must have been hard on him, to be willing to endure living in that dilapidated house for five years.

Seeing my silence, Anna asked me curiously, "Mommy, does Daddy have a lot of money? Did he order that piano for me?"

Anna was still too young to understand the relationship between the people on the second floor. Looking at her dress that had been washed until it faded, I opened my mouth but couldn't find the words.