Chapter 88 #3
“I can’t let her go anymore. She means too much to me… I’m sorry.”
Taking a deep breath, I turned away from her, ready to continue our walk and endure her judgmental stare.
“All this time I didn’t say anything because I was afraid of losing you. But I would have lost you long ago if it weren’t for her.”
Lara was silent. It seemed to be working inside her head.
So I tried to listen to the birds, which seemed unaware of the hell they were in here as they waited for the snow.
Suddenly I felt Lara’s cold hand on my wrist and checked to see if she was wearing a scarf. Of course she was wearing one with colorful autumn leaves. How could it be otherwise?
“Dad, you’ll never lose me, okay?”
Overwhelmed, I stopped and stared at her.
“Okay?”
Slowly, I nodded.
Lara fell into my arms again.
This time, I pulled her close, held her tight, and thanked my merciful fate that, amidst all my missteps and losses, I had never lost her.
I’ll Stay Close
David Buckley, Luke Richards
We continued walking, and I tried desperately to distract myself from the fact that Quill was still somewhere out there. Without me.
“How can you not be mad at Monica?”
I was an idiot. Because why would Lara hold anything against Monica when she couldn’t even bring herself to hold a grudge against me?
“I think part of me always knew. To me, she’d always been my grandmother.”
And I couldn’t take that away from her.
“But Monica…”
Lara grimaced, and the feeling that we were now on better terms than before this walk lifted a huge weight off my shoulders.
“Well… She found out from Tony that you and Quill… She knows.”
My expression darkened.
“I don’t want to know her opinion at all. If that’s why she’s been trying to reach me for days, tell her from me that this doesn’t concern her, nor is it any of her business.”
“I tried to explain it to her.”
She did what?
Baffled, I looked at my daughter.
What had I done to deserve this level of understanding?
“She’s afraid you’ll lose your job. Not just that. She said that if it becomes public, you could lose not only your professorship but also your license to practice law.”
There could be no better fate for me.
If someone took that decision out of my hands, all the better.
There was only one thing I had to lose, and that was the woman thanks to whom I still had things worth fighting for.
“One of the reasons I’m leaving Maplecrest and going to D.C.”
Lara sighed.
“Don’t be mad at me, but I pulled the letter out of your trash can.”
Which…
Realization hit me.
“You should leave Maplecrest and put as much distance as possible between you and this town. Tony will forgive you eventually. I’m sure of it. And Monica will understand. But the people here, Joseph, Arnold...”
She hesitated, probably because she still hadn’t processed the diary entries, and it made new anger toward that old criminal flare up inside me.
Lara pressed her lips together before she continued.
“The press…”
She shook her head, worry in her eyes.
“You two won’t have a future here.”
You two.
Lara wasn’t just trying to understand it, she wasn’t just accepting it… It was as if she wanted to encourage me never to let Quill go again.
Tears found their way back into my vision.
“I want her to have a future.”
I didn’t need to say more, feeling Lara’s gaze on me until she understood.
“She will. As far away from her father as possible. With you.”
I couldn’t even see the path ahead of me clearly until the tears finally fell.
With me.
Even if Lara had chosen against me, against us, my decision would have been clear.
Quill. There was no alternative. Only her.
But knowing that Lara was on our side lifted another weight off my chest.
“Quill is happy with you. And she seems to make you happy. That’s all I need to know.”
Fuck. This was everything I had not expected.
“Dad, you’re going to bring Quill home. She won’t be alone for Christmas.”
“If only I knew where she was…”
It hurt to know she wouldn’t be back before tomorrow, that she was spending the holidays alone, wherever she was, and it sparked new anger toward Joseph in me that I couldn’t take out on the furniture.
“At her old house.”
Next Chapter
Gabriel Albuquerqüe, Renzyx
I stopped and turned to Lara, who looked at me guiltily.
“What?”
Confusion mingled with hope as I grabbed her shoulders.
“What did you just say?”
“Tony tried to get her to sell it back then. But no one has bought it to this day. She still has the keys.”
“Where…”
The hope in my chest sent unexpected surges of adrenaline through my bloodstream.
A place. I had a place. A lead. A chance to bring my feather home.
“Where? Where, Lara?”
I shook her.
“Millers’ End 66”
I didn’t wait any longer, spun around, and started running.
“Dad!” Lara called, and when I forced myself to turn toward her while running, she laughed. “Shower.”
I couldn’t help but grin before I turned back and kept running.
I’m going to bring you home, Feather. Once and for all.
I picked you up and promised you I’d take you home.
But all the while, I was holding my home in my arms.
– Leaking Batteries Diary