Page 173 of Forever

Oh, baby.

“I wanted answers. I wanted to move forward. I just…wanted him to show up for me. Just for me for once. Not showing up in some twisted reason for his own gain. But showing up because he loves me.” She sniffed. “Because he wants a relationship not full of secrets and lies. I just want him to be…my dad.”

“He does love you, Brooklyn. He just didn’t get the messages.”

She sniffed again. “Maybe just a few more minutes?”

“We can wait as long as you want, baby.”

“I know it’s silly,” she said. “I have all the letters. I know he wanted me. I know he loves me. I just wanted to talk to him before I walked down the aisle today. I don’t want to hold on to all this hurt anymore. I just want to be free.”

“It’s not silly.” I wanted today to be everything she’d dreamed of. She wanted a fresh start with her father though, and it was the one thing I couldn’t give her. And I understood wanting to be free from the pain of our pasts. “But even though you can’t talk to him today, it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to soon. He loves you, Brooklyn. I know he does.”

Someone cleared their throat behind me.

I lifted my forehead from the door and turned around.

Mr. Pruitt was standing there. With a smile on his face. He put his hand on my shoulder. “I think I can take it from here, Matthew.”

Fuck, he actually came.I did the first thing that popped into my head and hugged him.

For a second he went completely stiff. But then his arms wrapped around me and he hugged me back.

“Thank you for your message,” he said. “And your friend Tanner is relentless. But I’m glad he was. Or I would have missed today.”

I pulled back from our hug. “I’m going to give you two a moment. I’ll be outside waiting when you’re both ready.”

Mr. Pruitt nodded.

I started to walk out the door.

“And Matthew?” Mr. Pruitt said.

I turned to look at him.

“I know I already apologized for everything.”

I just shrugged. He had.Kind of.He said he wasn’t sorry for faking Brooklyn’s death though. Which was fucked if you asked me. But I knew he was trying to protect her. And he’d apologized for all the shit leading up to it. This wasn’t really about him and me though. This was about Brooklyn.

“But I do appreciate you saying you forgive me. Your message meant a lot to me.”

I didn’t think Mr. Pruitt was capable of empathy. But he looked sincere when he was talking. I nodded. “Thanks for coming.” With that I walked out of the room.

Donnelley was standing outside the door, guarding it.

“I can trust you to not kidnap her, right?”

Donnelley smiled. “I’m not one to advise Mr. Pruitt, but I can tell you that he has no intention of doing that. He just wants her to be happy. And so do I.”

“Thanks, Donnelley.”

“How is Jacob doing with everything?”

“Good. Let me go get him so you can say hi.” It didn’t take long to find Jacob even though he was playing hide-and-seek with Scarlett and Sophie. Jacob was not great at hiding. His shoes were poking out from underneath a table.

I lifted the tablecloth and ducked down. “Hey, kiddo. Remember your mom’s friend Donnelley?”

“My daddy’s friend?”

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