Page 93 of If You Stayed

As she moved closer to Henry and Ava, placing her hand against her heart, everyone in the room sang “Happy Birthday” to her, leaving her near tears. After the singing came to an end, Kierra blew out her candles. I couldn’t help but wonder what she wished for.

If I had a wish, it would be for her.

Damn, that dress looked phenomenal.

After the candles were blown out, everyone began cheering and shouting, “Speech, speech, speech!”

Kierra waved her hands bashfully. “No, no!” They kept chanting until she gave in. “Okay, okay, fine. Though most of you should know I’m not the best at public speaking. When I was sixteen, I had to give a speech during a softball awards ceremony, and I threw up all over myself.” Snickers were heard throughout the room. Kierra’s smile seemed so gentle. Hershyness only made me fall harder. I watched her lips slightly part as she continued to speak. “I am just really, truly grateful for you all. This surprise, you all showing up, means the world to me. My life is happier because you are all in it. Now, go eat, drink, and be merry.”

Everyone clapped and cheered once more.

Someone walked over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to find an older gentleman dressed in the most impeccable suit I’d ever seen in my life. And the most impeccable gray beard I’d ever seen in my life, too. This dude looked like aGQmodel.

He smiled. “You’re Gabriel, right? The architect.”

“That’s me.”

He nodded and held his hand out to me. “I’m Joseph. I work at the clinic with Kierra.”

I shook his hand. “Oh yeah. I’ve heard about you from Kierra.”

“Hopefully good things,” he said as he lifted two beers from the robot that kept circling the room. He held one toward me and I accepted.

“Only the best. She really looks up to you and your work ethic.”

“She’s one of the most talented and compassionate individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of not only working with, but knowing.”

“That’s not hard to believe,” I said, staring over to Kierra who was giggling with Ava as they cut the cake. “She’s quite extraordinary.”

“‘Extraordinary,’” he repeated as he removed his glasses andrubbed the bridge of his nose before placing them back on. “Yes. That’s the perfect word to describe her.”

Before I could reply, Henry played a few keys on the piano, grabbing the attention of the room. He then stood on top of the piano bench with a glass of wine in his hand. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think we can all agree that my wife’s speech was a little lackluster,” he said with that smug smile that seemed to be always plastered on his face. “And if you have ever been to one of our dinner parties, then you understand I love a good toast. So, I figured I’d take a moment to make a toast to the most splendid woman I’ve ever had the grace of knowing.” He held his glass up in the air. “You know, when I met Kierra, I was a single father trying to figure out life. She came in like a rocket and made my life brighter. Made our lives brighter,” he said as he gestured toward Ava. “So, tonight we toast to my beautiful, gifted, caring wife, Kierra. The woman who puts everyone else before herself. Cheers!”

Everyone cheered and drank their wine. Joseph stood beside me, shaking his head in disapproval. “‘The woman who puts everyone else before herself,’” Joseph said, echoing Henry’s words. “It’s funny. That’s supposed to be seen as a compliment, but really, it’s a curse.”

“How do you mean?”

“It’s self-harm—loving others more than you love yourself. Kierra is nicer to others than she is herself. I’ve never met such anextraordinarywoman who was so unkind to herself.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“I have a million professional reasons that I could comeup with. Thousands of different ways to study her. Yet, from a friend’s viewpoint, it’s easy. Something in her past made her feel as if she didn’t deserve a certain level of love, so she overpours into others as a way to make up for her past.”

“She’s carrying guilt of some kind?”

“Yes, maybe.” He slightly shook her head. “Or maybe it’s just a heartbreak that never healed completely. Either way, her way of living will be to her own detriment. Maybe not today, but it adds up—giving so much without receiving a thing. Henry knows this and abuses that role in her life. He knows she’ll do anything for Ava, which means he can get away with anything if Kierra fears losing her daughter.”

“He controls her through her love for Ava.”

“Precisely. Which makes him the scariest kind of person. I mean, what kind of man would use his own daughter as leverage to get his way?”

A monster. A monster would do that.

Joseph nodded once. “But who knows? Maybe I’ve had one too many beers.” He held a hand out toward me. “It was nice to meet you, Gabriel.”

I shook his hand. “You too, Joseph.”

“In a perfect dream world, I’d have you build me a new home, too.”

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