The knocking persisted.
Aaron didn't like to answer the door - he wasn't sure yet that his new environment was safe.
Another knock.
"Dad?"
At first he stood, unable to move, overcome by emotion, but then he ran to the door and flung it open. His daughters stood outside, looking at their father, a shadow of his former self, shaking in the doorway.
For a moment they stood like this, father and daughters, a gulf of hurt dividing the love that once bound them so close.
Liesel said, "Can we come in?" There was tenderness in her voice, the promise of enduring love, of forgiveness, of healing and redemption.
