Hannah always asked, "Even if you were young, you must have been in love?"
Her dad would always smile the same smile when he replied, "We were, but we didn't listen to our parents and we just ran off and eloped without thinking about the future. Your mum soon felt as if she had missed out on things and working long hours at the diner does not really help to make her feel better." He would then always nudge Hannah playfully on the shoulder, before he continued, "And that is why we should let her have her freedom so she does not feel trapped by all of our love for her."
Hannah frowned. "How can love trap someone?"
His soft green eyes would get a faraway glint and he would say, "When you love someone as much as we love her, you want that person around all the time, but having that person around all the time might make them feel as if they are in a cage. Sometimes you are afraid to let something you love go, even though you know that letting them go will make them happier."
"Why does she not love us as much as we love her?"
"She does, in her own way. Now eat your dinner before it gets completely cold."
They would then change the subject and talk mostly about what she had done at school that day.