亲情故事:一个恪守一生的承诺 A Promise Kept

　　Early the next morning, as my dad left our house, I 6)sneaked out to the car and slipped my letter into one of his bags.
　　第二天早上，我趁父亲走出房子的时候，偷偷溜到小汽车里，把这封信放进他其中的一个背包里。

　　Two weeks went by with hardly a word from my father. Then, one afternoon, I came home from school to find my mom sitting at the dining room table waiting to talk to me. I could see in her eyes that she had been crying. She told me that Dad had been there and that they had talked for a long time. They decided that there were things that the both of them could and would change and that their marriage was worth saving. Mom then turned her focus to my eyes.
　　两个星期过去了，父亲几乎音信全无。然后，一天下午，我放学回家后看到母亲坐在饭厅的餐桌旁，等着跟我谈一谈。我从她的眼睛可以看出她刚哭过。她告诉我父亲曾经来过，还和她谈了好久。他们认为，他们之间有很多地方可以改善，并且在将来也会得到改善，而且他们的婚姻值得挽救。然后妈妈把目光转过来，望着我的眼睛。

　　“Kristi, Dad told me that you wrote him a letter. Can I ask what you wrote to him?”
　　“克莉丝汀，你爸告诉我说你给他写了一封信。我可以知道你写了些什么吗？”

　　I found it hard to share with my mom what I had written from my heart to my dad. I 7)mumbled a few words and 8)shrugged.
　　我所写的都是想对父亲说的肺腑之言，这些言语我很难向母亲启齿。所以我只是含糊地说了几句，然后耸耸肩。

　　Mom said, “Well, Dad said that when he read your letter, it made him cry. It meant a lot to him and I have hardly ever seen your dad cry. After he read your letter, he called to ask if he could come over to talk. Whatever you said really made a difference to your dad.”
　　母亲说：“嗯，你爸说，他读你的信读到哭了。这封信对他很有意义，而我几乎没见过你爸哭。他读完你的信之后，打电话来问我可不可以谈一谈。你的话真的对他影响很大。”

　　A few days later my dad was back, this time to stay. We never talked about the letter, my dad and I. I guess I always figured that it was something that was a secret between us.
　　几天后，父亲回家了，这次他不走了。父亲和我之后再没提起过这封信。我想我一直把这封信当作了我们两人之间的秘密。