Chapter 9 #2
“Well, she shouldn’t have been there, slumming it with that tattooed animal!” He shouts in reply, making their mother cringe at his tone. “Sleep with dogs, you catch fleas. I simply will not have it for my daughter. Once she understands what he is, she will feel the same.”
“Don’t say that about him,” Minnie finds her voice, upset and hurt.
She can’t believe he did this, all in an effort to get Gage out of the picture.
Her father has a lot of pull in town, makes a lot of donations, and has friendships with the police.
But to interfere with her relationship? That’s a new level of My Father Is An Important Man for Reginald.
All he had to do was see Gage once, just that one time-
“Why shouldn’t I?” Her father says, flustered, his face red with his emotions.
“You’re my precious first born. I’ve been with you for your entire life.
I watched you grow up from a baby to a beautiful, smart young woman.
I was there to pick up the pieces after what happened to you.
I was the one who sat with you when you cried at night, afraid to fall asleep.
I was the one who battled the press to stay away from you.
I kept you sheltered from it all while you healed.
Not him. In fact, he-” He stops himself, chuckling bitterly.
Her father shakes his head, dismissing whatever he was about to say.
“Your ‘boyfriend’ is just a problem, passing through.”
Minnie feels her lower lip tremble, even as she glares at him.
Ariel snuggles her closer, whispering for her not to cry.
It’s hard to argue with him, because he’s right.
Her father has always been there for her, especially back then.
But she didn’t know Gage then, so, it isn’t a fair comparison.
“You say this as though you don’t believe he will be the one to take care of me now.
You can’t take care of me forever, Daddy. ”
He’s pacing again, his night slippers stomping the fine pale carpet. “Watch me try.”
“Reginald,” their mother says calmly in her oh-so soothing tone. Always attempting to be the voice of reason, even-tempered. “What in particular has you so concerned about this…this tattooed gentleman friend of Minnie’s?”
Minnie can’t stop the groan of misery that claws up her throat.
A bitter chuckle, angry in nature, slips from his lips. “Oh. Isn’t that just the thing? What isn’t there to be concerned about? Aside from the fact that he’s a felon."
“So?” Minnie speaks up, trying to hold her ground, wanting to defend Gage.
“Believe me, I was concerned about that when I met him. When I got to know him, as a person, I realized it doesn’t matter what he did in the past. It’s who he’s working so hard to become that matters now.
” And, it does matter. Gage works hard, and she sees it every day.
She sees the way he goes off to hard labor and then how he studies for class afterward.
He wants a new career. He wants a new life.
Gage told her a bit about his past, how he and his pals would always be scheming up some trouble.
Usually out of boredom or disenfranchisement.
Getting money, spending it, and getting more had been his focus.
He’d never had a father to set him on a path, barely even a mother.
He’d only lived the way he knew how. Prison had changed his outlook, had given him tough consequences.
He didn’t want to go back, not for anything.
He knew he could change and the prison social worker had given him a solid plan to become a better citizen this time around. Gage intended to make it work.
Her father is still as a stone, looking at her as if she’s said something truly appalling.
“It doesn’t matter what he did? Is that what you think?
” His voice is dangerously quiet, a shadow crossing his gaze.
“You still don’t understand who he is? Allow me to enlighten you, my dear.
” With angry motions, he pulls out an old folder from his fancy filing cabinet.
From there, he lays out what looks to be quite an old newspaper.
It’s yellowed a bit, certainly, but Minnie can tell he’s kept it in mint condition.
There’s a ringing sound in her ears when she sees the date.
The black and white photos display the mugshots of four men, taken in for multiple armed robberies and other violent crimes. He points a finger at one face. “There’s your boyfriend. Tell me, does it matter to you now?”
Minnie puts her teacup down and leans forward to get a closer look at what he has placed on the table, feeling dread building within her.
When she looks down at where his finger is pointing, the blood drains from her face, and a soft, heartbroken whimper slips from her mouth.
If she had been standing, her knees surely would have given out, leaving her on the floor like a puppet with no strings.
Ariel is leaning forward as well, her face pale with horror. “Oh, my God. That’s…that’s...” Her mouth moves, but no sound continues to spill forth.
Gage stares outward from the black and white photo, younger, but still Gage. Eyes dark and menacing, empty of life. A hard set to his mouth, belaying his distaste for the law. This version of Gage is feral, absent of the kindness that Minnie has come to know.
Beneath the pictures, it states the men were caught for multiple armed robberies committed over several years, including the brief yet violent armed hostage-taking of fifteen-year-old Minerva Fray from Uptown Gold.