Serena felt hot tears well up and stream down her cheeks as she stared at the man who had just entered the bedroom.
Her heart seemed to stop for a moment before racing wildly she thought it might burst from her chest.
She blinked rapidly and rubbed her eyes roughly with the backs of her hands. She was convinced they were playing cruel tricks on her, that her mind was conjuring up this impossible vision out of desperate longing.
But no matter how many times she blinked and rubbed, the image before her didn't change or fade away.
The man standing there, looking older and more careworn yet still unmistakable, was her father, Walter Bolting - the same man who had been officially announced dead in a horrific car crash days ago.
"D-Dad?" Serena called out in a trembling, broken voice th
