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“It’s not fair,” she said. 
“It rarely is.”
She walked back toward home. He waited awhile and followed, keeping her just within sight, far enough away so that she did not have to feel him there at all.

In this quotation, which occurs at the end of Chapter 161, Patch speaks to Charlotte a little while before Misty’s death. Charlotte has just confirmed that she knows Patch is her biological father, but claims that she will never accept him, bemoaning the unfairness of having wanted a father all her life and then not wanting the one she has. Patch shows little emotion here; his acceptance of her anger demonstrates both resignation and understanding. He himself grew up without a father, and though he loved his mother, she was a troubled woman who did little to take care of him.

Patch doesn’t believe himself worthy to be Misty’s father. The end of this quotation displays his selflessness alongside his true love for her: he will not ask her for anything, will not force himself into the role of her father when she is clearly unwilling, but will still be there for her as a protector. Keeping Charlotte within sight but far away is how their relationship begins, and by the end of the story it flips—he rarely sees her, but at that point they both know that he is very much there for her, and their love for each other remains.

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