Chapter 42
Forty Two
Ezra
Afew hours later, everyone is sitting at the dining table.
Digging into my food, I contribute to the chatter when required.
“How long have you been playing in the NHL, Ezra?” Peter inquires from where he sits at the head of the table, taking a sip of water from his glass.
“5 years now. Got drafted right out of college,” I answer.
Impressed, he nods. “Our Roman here got drafted in college, too,” he raves about his son, patting his back as he sits on the left side of him.
“That’s great,” I give a cursory smile.
Janice speaks as she sits on Peter’s right side, “Kaeli doesn’t have an athletic bone in her body. We never had any expectations from her to go into the sports field.”
Peter chuckles, “Not for our lack of trying. We got her enrolled in various sports, but she always came back running and crying.”
My spoon stills midair, unable to believe that these words are leaving their mouth. I glance between her parents, dumbfounded, hoping that maybe they’d realize their mistake.
When they don’t, my gaze snaps to a tense Kaeli beside me, as she shifts her food on her plate, not really eating anything.
When I’m about to give them a piece of my mind, I find Kaeli’s hand clutching onto my thigh in a death grip. She gives the slightest shake of her head, her eyes pleading with me to stay quiet.
How can I?
My insides boil at the thought of letting someone hurt her, even if they’re her parents. Despite my insides raging a war to call them out, I curl my fingers around her, trying to keep myself tethered to the calm she offers me.
Her muscles loosen a little, and I hate that she can’t even have her dinner in peace.
Roman diverts the conversation to a recent movie he watched, and everyone continues as if nothing had happened. As if they didn’t almost bring tears to the eyes of my woman.
“So, Kaeli, how’s everything at your job after that debacle of an interview you gave? I’m sure the management would’ve been so disappointed with your unnecessary outburst,” Janice touches the sore topic. “What were you thinking?”
“I am so disappointed in you, Kaeli,” Peter expresses, shaking his head.
Then I see the first tear roll down Kaeli’s face, and I lose it. Slapping my spoon on the table, I growl, “Enough!” Kaeli flinches.
I lean down closer to her and wipe away the tear with the pad of my thumb, but a fresh wave follows. “I’m sorry, Feather. I tried.” I hope she can see the truth in my eyes.
The silence that ensues is the loudest I’ve heard in a while. Every pair of eyes gawking at me with their mouth agape and bodies still as a statue.
“Is anything wrong, Ezra?” Janice asks in a hesitant voice.
A hollow laughter escapes me at that. “Anything wrong? Are you fucking kidding me?”
I look at each of their faces to emphasize my point. “From the moment I stepped into this house, all you both have done is ridicule her, demean her, humiliate her, and compare her to Roman. And the worst part is that I don’t think you both even realize it.”
I shake my head at them. Then my gaze suddenly snaps to Roman, and all I find is a little smile on his face. Is he insane? Whatever, I’ll handle him later.
“Every inch of this house holds a memorabilia of your son. Every picture on that wall holds what she had to grow up with. In the shadow of her brother that cast so long, even her parents couldn’t see her.”
Janice and Peter look at each other and then at the objects and frames around them as if surprised that they had never noticed them before.
“Stop it, Ezra. That’s enough,” Kaeli begs me between her sniffles, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
I grab her hands in mine, dropping to my knees in front of her.
“Don’t cry, Feather. I know it all hurts.
But I need your family to understand that they’re hurting you with every word out of their mouth.
And it makes me want to tear down everything in my path,” my voice softens for her, and my hold tightens as my body vibrates with pent-up fury.
Cupping her face and wiping away all the tears, I kiss her forehead as she breathes it in. Standing in front of her, I face her parents and fix them with a glare.
I scoff when the two of them don’t say a fucking thing or apologize.
“I pity you.” Their gazes snap to me, perplexed.
“You have such an incredible daughter, and you have no idea. You have no idea how smart she is. The entire team is in awe of her creativity and market analysis. She works as hard as the players there, if not more. On top of that, she still finds it in her heart to be gentle, caring, and understanding of everyone around her. Every room lights up the moment she walks in. God! She’s fucking magnetic. ”
Kaeli sobs behind me. Infuriated, I rake my hand through my hair, gripping the back of the chair with the other to hold myself in before I start smashing things. “I can’t help but look at her when she’s anywhere near me. And you don’t look at her once, no matter how close she’s standing,” I grit.
When they show no sign of movement, I make my decision. “It’s you I’m disappointed in. You should be ashamed to call yourself her parents.” I can’t even hear myself over the blood pounding in my ears.
“And you?” I glare at Roman. “What kind of an older brother are you? How can you stand what they do to her? How have you never protected her, stood up for her?”
Janice attempts to speak. I raise my hand to silence her. “You have to acknowledge how poorly you have treated your daughter all these years. You have to decide if you want to see her again.”
I hear Janice gasp, and Peter’s spoon finally clatters to the floor. “What do you mean?” he asks, his voice heavy.
“If you ever want to see your daughter again, you’ll have to be careful of how you behave with her. You can’t humiliate her at every turn. You need to apologize to her,” I lay it out for them as I feel Kaeli grab my shirt from behind, her body still shaking.
For the first time since my outburst, Roman speaks in an even voice. “What gives you the right to talk on her behalf and make such huge claims and decisions of whether or not her own family can see her or talk to her?”
I feel the vein in my forehead nearly pop at his ridiculous question. Biting my tongue, I try to hold back my bubbling anger.
“Tell me, Ezra. Why?” he taunts, his face tilting to the side.
“Because I love her, damnit!” I slam my fist on the table, while the bastard suddenly smiles.
Immediately, the realization of my proclamation has my eyes widening and then scrunching shut. It was not supposed to be like this. Honestly, before this moment, I don’t think I even acknowledged the vastness of my feelings for her.
Despite the circumstances, the truth resonates with every beat of my wildly thumping heart.
The second I turn around and find my beautiful Kaeli staring at me with wide eyes and a teary face, I know for as long as I breathe, I’ll only ever feel this way about her.
I love Kaeli Reed as surely as the sun rises from the east.