Page 102 of The Charade

Ava

Dr. Aarden—Brendon—mydadcame into the room a few minutes later.

"Hi," he said, ducking his head down nervously as he looked at Elyse and me. "It's, uh, it's good to meet you two again." He seemed to study both my sister and me, like he was trying to figure out how to tell us apart. "I remember your names, but you may need to forgive me for not knowing who is who right away. Which one of you is Ava? And which is Elyse?"

"I'm Ava." I stepped forward. Not knowing what else to do, I held out my hand for him to shake.

He looked at it for a second before taking it in his and saying, "It's very good to meet you again, Ava." And when our hands touched, I felt an immediate sense of calm come over me.

It could have all been in my head because since when did shaking hands with a forty-year-old guy make me feel anything? But it did feel almost like the energy of the universe was trying to tell me this guy was really my dad. This guy standing in front of me was the person I'd been wondering about my entire life.

He felt like home.

He narrowed his eyes and looked down at our hands, and it made me wonder if he felt it, too. The rightness of this moment. Like the universe had actually been conspiring for things to turn out exactly the way they had.

Afterwards, he shook Elyse's hand next, seeming to study her with curiosity as well as she introduced herself. Then we all just stood there staring at each other for a long time, taking everything in. Mack's dad—mydad—suggested we sit down and talk.

I shook my head as Elyse and I sat together, realizing it was going to take some time to adjust to calling this near stranger our dad.

Dr. Aarden sat on the leather chair across from us since my mom had moved to a chair in the corner—letting us have our moment with him while still being there for support if we needed her.

He cleared his throat and looked at us with his golden-brown eyes that matched mine and Elyse's almost exactly—so perfectly that I probably should have noticed the similarity the first time we'd met.

His hair was slightly lighter than mine but had the same texture, fine but thick. And from how tall he seemed when we'd stood in front of him a second ago, I knew that I must have gotten my tall genetics from this man because he was at least six-foot six, maybe a little taller even.

I was sure I'd be spending a lot of time over the next weeks, months, and years studying this man, trying to decipher all the similarities between myself and him. But for now, I would try to focus on being present in the moment and getting to know a little more about him.

He cleared his throat to speak first, leaning slightly forward over his long legs. "So, I'm not exactly sure how to maneuver this new situation that we're all finding ourselves in, but before we get very far into our conversation tonight, I first want to apologize for not being there for you two for the past seventeen and a half years." He cleared his throat again. "Not being there for you three, actually."

He glanced briefly at my mom. "And I guess your mom probably told you about everything that was going on back when she was pregnant and…" He tugged on the collar of his white polo shirt. "I just want you to know how sorry I am that I failed you all back then. I really am." He looked down at his hands, clasping and unclasping them, then back at us. "I'm actually really ashamed that I basically just let your mom disappear from my life. If I'd been a better man and actually tried to follow up with her on the miscarriage story, if I'd been man enough to try to comfort her or something like a decent human would, I might have been able to see what was really going on. Then the last seventeen years would have looked very different for all of you."

"Don't blame yourself for believing me, Brendon," my mom said. "You did just what I hoped you would, so if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

He shook his head. "Regardless of what happened in the past and the ways we could have handled it better, the fact is that we can't go back in time and fix things. But we can do better now. We can try to move forward." He paused for a moment before adding, "So if you're open to the idea, I would love to spend the next several months while you girls are at the academy getting to know both of you better. And then of course, hopefully continue to move forward from there."

"You would?" Elyse asked, and when I looked at my sister, the raw emotion—the hopefulness in her expression—hit my soul deep. Because I wanted the same thing.

"Of course." Mr. Aarden nodded as he took in the openness of Elyse's expression. "Of course I'd love to get to know everything about you." He moved his gaze to me. "Both of you."

And we all must have gotten caught up in the same overwhelming emotion because we all stood up at the same time. When Mr. Aarden held his arms open to us, Elyse and I didn't hesitate to go to him. He set his strong arms around our shoulders and pulled us close, and it just felt…right.

It felt right to finally hug my dad.

I leaned my head against his solid chest and looked at my sister across from me with tears in my eyes. And when our gazes locked, her eyes had tears in them, too. Because we'd finally found our dad.

And he was a good man.

He wanted to get to know us. He wanted to love us.

That was all we’d ever wanted.

To have a dad who wanted and loved us.

A sniffling noise sounded from the corner—Mom was all watery-eyed as well.

Elyse and I went to hug her next. After we all had a good, happy cry together, we sat down again to make plans for how we would move forward from here.

Mr. Aarden told us about what was going on in his life right then. While his wife, Brianna, knew that he'd slept with our mom after the reunion because he'd told her about it a long time ago, she would still be surprised to find out about Elyse and me.

---