Anna had no intention of telling her father what had happened, but when she knocked on his study door to say good night, as she did every night, he pulled her into his lap. He asked about her visit with her grandmother and Anna, not wanting to lie to his face, buried her face in her father’s shirt and said it was fine and how much she liked her truffle French fries, which was the only thing she had enjoyed about the visit.

Knowing his daughter well, he pressed her for details, and reluctantly, Anna told him everything her grandmother had said. Emboldened as she went along, Anna showed him the faint pink mark that remained from her grandmother’s pinch. Anna’s father’s face went stone cold as he listened to her story. He then told her, using a tone of voice that he promised wasn’t because of her, that he was displeased with his mother; her views, he said, were from another time and place. What he didn’t share with Anna was that it was his mother’s old-fashioned thinking that had caused her to have a terrible relationship with her own daughter. His mother and his younger sister Jules hadn’t spoken in years and had left him stuck in the middle of an unflinching standoff.

“You, my lovely daughter, are not expendable. You’re the most precious thing I have in the world, and I’m never giving you up to another family. All your accomplishments will be for your own name when you grow up.” He then kissed her head and finished by saying: “But for now, you’re mine, and mine alone!”

Anna giggled, happy to hear her father’s words match everything she had thought herself. “Does that mean you’ll never let me marry?” she asked, half teasing and half serious because some of this talk was a little over her head.

Her father laughed, not a sound she often heard. He told her no, but she should know that he’d never allow her to marry someone who wasn’t worthy of her. And so far in all his years on the planet, he had never met a person who fit that description.

Anna threw her arms around her father’s neck and declared she loved him best. No one made her feel as safe and loved as he did. She knew she was lucky to have him for a father, so she told him she would always make sure she was a good girl he could be proud of.

“You’ll soon find that doing the right thing is rarely the easy choice. But I promise you’ll sleep better at night because of it.” And with that, he kissed his favorite child good night and sent her to bed.