but I was too tired. We argued. I collapsed. I woke up in a hospital. My mother told me the surgery had gone well — but it hadn’t been just a surgery. It was a heart transplant. I was stunned. “How did they find a donor so fast?”

She broke down and whispered, “Your father gave you his heart.” He had sacrificed his life for mine — the man I hated, the one I thought didn’t care. His final act gave me a second chance. I texted Ernie a single line: We’re done. He hadn’t shown up when it mattered.Later, my mother handed me a letter he left behind. One line will live with me forever:M“I was a bad father all your life, so now I want to finally be a real one and save you. I love you. — Your Dad.”