His thumb traced the engraving over and over, as if his fingers already knew every letter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat was your son\u2019s name?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old man smiled sadly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDaniel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The watch slipped slightly in the younger man\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy name is Daniel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The salesman stepped back without saying a word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old man stared at him, searching his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same scar above the eyebrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same nervous habit of rubbing his thumb across the watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy mother\u2026\u201d Daniel whispered. \u201cShe told me my father died before I could remember him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old man closed his eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey told me you died in the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Silence swallowed the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Years of grief collided in a single heartbeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old man reached into his pocket and unfolded a faded photograph wrapped in plastic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It showed a smiling young father holding a laughing little boy wearing the very same watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel looked from the picture\u2026 to the old man\u2026 and back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His voice broke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou came here to sell it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The old man shook his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He smiled through tears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI came because I couldn\u2019t remember your face anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Daniel\u2019s knees weakened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He stepped around the counter, not caring who was watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The watch fell gently onto the velvet display.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then father and son embraced for the first time in decades, while the rain continued to fall outside the glass\u2014washing away the years they had lost, but not the love that had waited for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
His thumb traced the engraving over and over, as if his fingers already knew every letter. \u201cWhat was your son\u2019s name?\u201d he asked. The old man smiled sadly. \u201cDaniel.\u201d The watch slipped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10986,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n