Page 85 of The Betrayal
My eyes are watering and there is an ache in my chest that runs so deep I am worried I won’t be able to rub it out even if I wanted to.
“I’m just…” I pause because I don’t even know what I want to say to him, I just feel so overwhelmed by the conversation and a mix of emotions flood me, water cascading over me until I am unable to keep my head above the surface.
“I know… and I went about all of this in the wrong way, and I know that, I never planned to tell anyone before I told you, but then Kaleb took me to the bar and I don’t know, it all just went in a different direction. I was nervous about you finding out and I had it all planned out on how I was going to tell you. But everyone was there apart from you and I don’t know why, but I just… I suppose, I panicked.”
I nod, a tear rolling down my cheek.
“I know you can’t just forgive me, but I will be waiting for you when you’re ready.”
“Dad…” I pause for a moment and suck in a deep breath. The thing is, I have so much that I need to tell him too, but I am not ready for that conversation yet and honestly, I don’t know when I will be. It’s not just that I married Keaton and it was both of our ideas and not a drunken mistake. It’s the fact that I have dropped out of med school, I am soon to become a manager for the gentleman’s club I work for and lastly, I am pregnant with a baby and I am not sure who the dad is, so yeah. Now honestly is not the time for my truths just yet.
I stand up just as he does and this time, I do throw myself into him, waiting for his arms to fold around me and keep me close so I can listen to the sound of his steady heartbeat, only it is not steady. It is racing under his skin and it makes me smile knowing that he is no doubt feeling as nervous as I am.
We break away and I sit back down, my dad sitting a little closer to me.
“How’s work?”
I swallow.
“Going well.”
“I’m assuming you passed your exams?” he is smiling so wide and my stomach knots.
“With flying colors.”
“Just like I knew you would,” and the pride is seeping out of him, and guilt crushes me whole. I was such a bad daughter.
“Just put me out my misery… was your marriage a black out drunk moment?” I could say yes and make it easier for him. But I don’t.
“No; we were drunk, but we planned it before we got drunk and well, you know what I am like and you know what Keaton is like, neither of us wanted to back down and well the rest is history.”
“Oh god,” he places his face into his hands and scrubs his face.
“Look, you can’t judge, you married your client and got her pregnant so…”
“Fair.” He smirks and silence fills the room, and we just stare at each other. Somehow fixing the broken parts of our hearts, letting them sew themselves back together.
“We good?” he asks.
“Yeah dad, we’re good.” I smile at him before we lose ourselves in easy conversation as we catch up on each other’s life over the last three months that we have both missed out on.
We both stand, it’s late afternoon and I am just seeing him out the door.
“Thank you for coming by,” I lean against the front door as he steps out into the cold winter’s breeze.
“You can thank your…”
“Husband,” I wink.
“Keaton,” for that, “he threw me the keys and told me that you were at home.”
“Of course, he did.”
“Hey, it was the least he could do, plus I did plant a fist to his jaw just before I walked out…” and my eyes widen at my dad.
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did, it was the right thing to do,” he smiles too proudly for my liking, stepping closer to me and giving me a kiss on the top of the head. “You’re my baby, he overstepped the mark.”