“You still miss him,” he says.
I nod. “I miss having a dad, and before this, he was a great one. He was funny and smart. He spent time with us. Taught us things, and one of the main lessons was accepting everyone. At least that’s what I thought. Everything was a lie.” I sigh. “And as much as I hate him, I still remember the good times, and part of me still loves him.” I look away. “I know you must think I’m a fool for feeling this way.”
After a moment he says, “I don’t. Your feelings are your own, and it’s not my place to judge them. Feelings are complicated, especially when it comes to our parents. My mother was the sweetest woman on earth, but my father?” He shakes his head. “Let’s just say he was not only complicated, but extremely flawed. I don’t have any good memories with him, but the one lesson he taught me was that I didn’t want to parent the way hedid. If there’s one thing to learn from what your father did, it’s that.”
“Trust me, I know,” I say. “I’m always going to respect my kids’ decisions and not manipulate their lives.”
He nods, but we remain silent for a few more moments. “So, what are you gonna do about the letter and video?” he asks.
I shrug. “What can I do other than get over it? It’s not like I can confront him. It’s just going to take some time, but don’t worry. I won’t let this affect Nia or Carter,” I say, doing my best to reassure him.
“Nia’s been watching your every move since you got here. She’s already affected, and that’s okay because she loves you. This was done to her too, and I don’t want to get into a debate about which one of you is the biggest victim, but he wasyourfather. He didn’t owe Nia anything, but he owed it to you to be a halfway decent human being.” He puts a hand on my shoulder again. “But the good news is that this will hurt less in time.”
“God, I hope so because I can’t imagine it hurting more,” I say. “I don’t have time to dwell on it though. I have to make sure my family has a great Christmas. Maybe when we go to the Bahamas, I’ll get a chance to rest.” As much rest as one can get when there will be four kids in the house including three rambunctious boys and a needy toddler.
“Good luck with that. You’ll be better off taking a few days off when you get back and Carter returns to school.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea.”
“I’m full of good ideas. You should join me and Ray for beers one of these nights.”
“You must really feel sorry for me,” I say. “I’m not going to intrude on your father and son time, but I appreciate the offer.”
“See? That’s your problem. You don’t realize who the patriarch is around here, and what I say goes. Have your driverbring you here by seven next Friday. Or just be a man and drive yourself, for fucks sake. Don’t argue with me.” He taps my shoulder and opens the sliding glass door, but instead of going inside, he speaks again. “There’s only one rule you need to abide by.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“I’m the dad, which means I pay.”
“Got it,” I say, and he gestures for me to go inside.
The moment I step over the threshold, Nia runs to me. She looks me over and then looks at her dad. “Are you okay?” she asks me.
“Oh, he’s fine,” her father says. “I only hit him twice.”
“What did you talk to him about, Dad?” Her voice comes out almost accusatory.
“I can’t have a conversation with my son-in-law?” he asks.
“You’ve never asked him to talk alone before,” Nia says.
“And?” her dad challenges.
“He’s going through—”
“I’m fine, baby girl,” I say to Nia. I cup her cheeks and kiss her forehead.
“We were talking about your trip to the Bahamas,” her dad says.
“That’s all the kids talked about all weekend,” Nia’s mom says. “Mason can’t wait to get in the pool, and Kyle can’t wait to get on the boat. Carter wants to go to the aquarium.”
“And we’ll be here in the cold. Maybe we’ll get lucky and have a blizzard while you guys are away enjoying the nice weather,” her dad says. “While you’re at the beach with the sand and the warm breeze, we’ll be here with the snowblower. Hopefully it still works.”
Nia looks at me and furrows her brows. Ray strolls into the kitchen and helps himself to another slice of apple pie.
“You can come,” I say, knowing full well they will turn me down like they’ve always done.
“Okay,” her father says quickly, shocking me. Even Nia freezes at that. “It’s about time we get to see that fancy plane of yours,” he says. “Mason talks about that too. That boy thinks he’s a Paradise heir, I swear.”