Chapter 26 Still The Same #2
She doesn’t hesitate. I guess she can tell I’m not joking. She turns and storms out of the kitchen, heading for the pool house.
“Oh, and by the way,” I say, causing her to stop. “James said don’t even think about coming back to him.”
She glares at me over her shoulder before she continues out the door. The moment she’s gone, my shoulders drop. I try to fight the tears, but they come anyway.
Ms. Rose steps toward me with her arms out. I don’t even second guess, I immediately go into her arms. She wraps me in a hug that smells like roses and vanilla.
“Shh now. You’re alright.”
“How could she?” I ask.
I won’t lie as if I’m not a little hurt. For the first time, I thought my mother and I were building a relationship, only for her to try to seduce my husband.
“How could she hate me so much? What’s wrong with me?”
Ms. Rose lifts my face, cupping it between her hands. Her soft brown eyes look down at me with kindness and gentleness.
“There is nothing wrong with you, sweet pea. Sometimes, you can be a wonderful gift, but it means nothing if you give the gift to the wrong person. Your mother has her issues. But those are her demons, not yours.”
I swipe my cheeks, wiping away the tears. “You sent me the video, didn’t you?”
She smiles, causing the laugh lines around her eyes to appear.
“Yes. Your husband loves you. In his mind, not telling you what she did was his way of protecting you. I understood his thought process, but I know you are stronger than that. This hurts, but it needs to. Pain makes us stronger and wiser. You needed to see your mother for who she really was. A snake won’t ever change.
It may shed its skin, but it will always be a snake. ”
She’s right. This was another betrayal by my mother, but I needed to see it. I needed to finally close the chapter on Evelyn. Closing doors was painful but always necessary.
Ms. Rose wraps me up in her arms again. I lay on her shoulder and take in all that she has to offer me.
Placing the wine glass to my lips, I lift it, yet the rush of the dry red wine never assails my lips. Pulling the cup back, I realize it’s empty. Reaching for the bottle placed beside me, I poured more in my glass.
I’ve gone through most of my day in a fog. My emotions were all over the place. One moment I was good, and the next I was in my feelings. I’m now sitting out back on the patio staring at the crystal-clear water of the pool as it wavers in the moonlight.
I appreciated Ms. Rose today. She’s done well to help take care of Noah so I could have moments alone, and when I’ve needed a shoulder, she has shown up for that too. The woman needs a raise, and I plan to mention it to my husband.
The sound of the sliding glass door opening catches my attention.
I turn to glance over my shoulder, expecting to see Nico or Ms. Rose.
I’m completely caught off guard when my father steps out onto the patio.
Standing at 6 foot 5, with a bald head and chocolate brown eyes, and a huge smile on his face.
“Daddy,” I shout, jumping to my feet. I’m in his arms before I know it. “How did you get here?”
His all too familiar scent of Davidoff Cool Waters surround me. It hasn’t changed since I was in elementary school.
“Your husband came and got me on a private jet. Told me you needed me. So, I dropped everything and came right away. Now tell me what’s going on?”
Just knowing this man was always going to be in my corner has those tears I thought I was done shedding falling back down my cheeks. I bury my face in his chest as I sob. He pulls my face away and looks down at me. His brow furrowed.
“What’s wrong, Muffin?”
I can’t answer. Lifting on my tiptoes, I wrap my arms around his neck and hug him. He stops asking questions and just hugs me back. This was exactly what I needed.
When I open my eyes, I spot my husband. He’s leaning against the open sliding door. His suit jacket is off, his sleeves are pushed up and his tie is loose. His hands are stuffed down in his front pockets.
I mouthed the words thank you to him. Without ever saying a word to Nico, hell, without even knowing myself what I needed, he gave me exactly what I required. I needed my father at this moment. Only he will understand why what my mother did hurt me so much.
Nico winks at me and then nods before turning and heading back into the house. I pull away from my father and take his hand, leading him to the lounge chair beside mine. I take my seat and face him.
“What’s going on, baby girl? What’s got my muffin so upset her husband had to fuel up a private jet to come get me?”
Taking a deep breath, I tuck my legs under my butt, and then tell my father everything.
I tell him about how I went to stay with Evelyn for a short time because of a disagreement with Nico, and then I tell him about her showing up here.
I gave him the full recap until the moment she walked out of my kitchen today.
My father leans forward and swipes the tears off my face.
“I know I shouldn’t be crying over her. And I’m not, it’s just…”
“Hey, don’t do that,” he says, scooting to the edge of his seat closer to me. “Don’t tell yourself how you’re supposed to feel. She hurt you. No matter how much we know Evelyn will never change, it doesn’t lessen what she did and how you should feel about what she did.”
See, that’s what I needed to hear. Look, I get it. My mother was never really a mother, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt realizing that she will never be the woman I need her to be. And even though I am a twenty-eight-year-old grown ass woman, I still wanted that mother/daughter relationship.
“I think it hurts more this time because we were getting along.”
He sighs. “That’s Evelyn for you. I fault myself for this.”
“What? Daddy…”
“No, I’m at fault,” he says holding up a hand.
“I kept trying to push you to establish a relationship with your mama. Even though I’ve always known how she was.
Evelyn has always been a bit entitled, selfish, and manipulative.
I was so enamored with her when we were younger that I overlooked all those things. Your grandparents tried to warn me.”
He shakes his head and scrubs a hand down his face.
“But trying to convince a bullheaded teenager that’s in love to leave a girl alone is like trying to roll a boulder up a hill.”
He and I both chuckle.
“I knew even before your mother left us I wasn’t going to be able to keep her happy. Everyone told me when my basketball career was over that she wouldn’t stick around, but I thought they were wrong. I thought my love for her would override her issues.”
He goes quiet, staring down at his hands. I don’t interrupt or rush him. This is the most my father and I have ever spoken about my mother.
“It had become a game for her. I’d come home from work, and she wouldn’t speak to me, or would barely even sit in the same room as me. I’d go out of my way to make her happy. Catering to her and bringing her flowers. She would forgive me, we’d make up, and then the cycle would repeat.”
He shakes his head, looking disgusted at himself.
“Then the rumors of her with other men started circulating. I’d chase her all over town, at bars, fighting with random men. Just like with the other stuff, she would fall back in line after I acted out only to repeat the cycle.”
“Daddy, that’s not okay. She was manipulating you.” The more I hear about this, the angrier I get. Seeing the shit my mother put him through just for attention pisses me off.
“I know. Which is why, two days before she left, I was over it all.”
“What happened?”
He runs a hand over his bald head. “I was at work when I got the phone call she was seen getting out of a car near a hotel with another man. It was shaping up to be just like the other times, only this time there was something different. She wasn’t alone; she had you with her.
I’ve never in my life even raised my voice at Evelyn, but that day I saw red.
“That day, she had done something that I couldn’t get over. Playing her games was one thing, but bringing my baby into it was another. It wasn’t that she was with another man; I think I had grown immune to that. No, my anger was because she had you out there with her.
“I jumped in my car and drove over to that hotel. I waited until they came back out. She had the usual smile on her face when she spotted me. She was ready for me to act a fool for her like I’d always done, but I didn’t.
I snatched you out of her hands and grabbed her by the neck.
I swear, baby girl, I could’ve killed her that day. ”
He goes silent once more. “I told her right then, I didn’t give a shit what she did, but if she ever took you around some other man, I’d kill her.”
I gasp. I had no idea about any of this. My father is such a gentle, easygoing guy, he never even spanked me as a kid. But I guess even the kindest person has a breaking point.
“Two days later, she left you with a neighbor, wrote that letter, and was gone. It wasn’t until you were about eight that she resurfaced.
I always felt guilty about her leaving, like maybe if I hadn’t put my hands on her that day she might’ve stayed around longer.
At least might’ve tried to have a relationship with you.
Because of my guilt, I kept pushing for you to reach out more to her. ”
I shake my head, reaching across the small space separating us to hold his hands.
“It’s not your fault. Evelyn is who she is.
Even if you’d done everything differently, the outcome would’ve been the same.
We couldn’t make her happy. Not if we wanted to be sane.
Even now, even with all the money and men she’s had over the years, none of them has made her happy. ”