Page 46 of Unexpectedly Wanted
“But it doesn’t matter, Milo,” my father said, only slightly pulling me away from the panic that was gripping my lungs and making it hard for me to take in a breath. “I’m not letting you help me.”
“Harold,” my mother said in a scolding tone. “If he has the means to, then he should. We are his family. We spent all that time and money raising him. He owes us.”
My father shot my mother a look. It was something I’d never seen him do before. He rarely stood up to her so boldly.
“You’ve never been the nurturing type. I knew you’d never love him like a mother should love her son,” my father said. His tone wasn’t mean, and his voice wasn’t raised, but I still felt the bitterness in those words. “I told my parents I didn’t want to marry you, but they insisted it was what needed to be done for the family. So, I did it. And guess what? I’ve been damn miserable. I’m not going to do that to my son. I’m not going to make him do something that will ruin his life or turn him into a bitter old man like me.”
“Well, I have never…” My mother’s hand went to her chest as if she were hurt by his words. She wasn’t. It was all an act, and none of us here were buying it.
“I think it’s about time things change,” my father said. His spine was now straight as he looked her dead in the eyes.
This was not where I’d seen this going.
I was so thrown off by this that I didn’t have the first clue what to do. Since it seemed like I was invisible, I was just going to continue to stand there and not say anything.
“Change?” My mother snorted, which was very unusual. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her do something so uncouth in her life. “Or what, Harold? You want a divorce? You couldn’t even afford one.” She glared at him. “Not like I want to be stuck with a penniless husband, anyway.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” he said.
“Um,” I cut in. They both turned to me. My mother’s eyes looked at me as if she were impatiently waiting for me to spit out whatever it was that I had to say. But I didn’t have anything. I just wanted them to stop. It took me a moment, but finally, I suggested, “Maybe we should take some time to cool down.”
“Cooling down is not going to fix this situation, Milo,” my mother said. “Do you see what he’s done to me? How he has humiliated our family?”
I looked at my father. Seeing the broken look on his face made me feel bad for him. It was probably the first time in my life I’d felt that way.
“I’m not humiliated,” I told both of them. There was some part of me that wanted to ease the situation. It wasn’t like I hadn’t spoken the truth, anyway. “People make mistakes. They make them every day. Hell, I’ve been made aware of some mistakes I’ve made lately. Sometimes we just get it wrong. And it sounds to me like he tried his hardest to keep it going for you. You should acknowledge that. You should even thank him for doing his best to hold it together. This couldn’t have been easy for him. He feels like he’s let everyone down.”
“So now you both are going to gang up on me? That hardly seems fair.”
“Mother,” I said with an exasperated sigh. I really wished Remy was here, even if it was just to stand in the background and give me some silent strength. Or a whisper of encouragement. Maybe even let me know that I’m doing something right here.
“We should put a pin in it,” my father said as he rose to his feet. “I’m not accepting Milo’s money. I didn’t come here for that. Or to trap him into some sham of a marriage to someone he will never love.” He turned to my mother, giving her a look I’d never seen before. It wasn’t soft or mean. More like a mix of the two. But there was also a hint of determination there. “Milo has something good going on here. He’s made a good life. We should support him and Remy. We should make an effort to get to know both of them, because it’s obvious we failed at knowing our son even though we had so many years with him. We can’t fix it, but maybe we can try to change it for the future.”
“They’re not even together,” my mother spat, a sneer pulling at her top lip, distorting it in a way that made her look really ugly.
I opened my mouth to object.
But she was right.
Remy and I weren’t real. And with everything falling apart like it was, there really wasn’t a point in keeping up appearances.
Only there was something that rocked in my gut at the thought. It made me feel sick, and the words admitting to this shame never left my mouth.
“We’re going to bed, Lorna,” my father said. “We’ve done enough damage. We’ll leave in the morning.”
My mother rose, a huff leaving her as she stared my father down.
“Wait,” I said. “You don’t have to go. Just spend the next three days here like you planned. It sounds like both of you could use a break. Enjoy the city. You can stay here since I understand now that you can’t afford a hotel. It’s fine. We’ll figure this out later.”
My mother gracefully stomped out of the room without another word.
“I appreciate everything, Milo,” my father said. “I hope we can get some time together before your mother and I leave. But I mean it, I’m going to handle it, even if it means we lose the business.”
Nothing else was said as he headed out of the room.
I felt good about how I’d handled the situation, I guess. Maybe nothing got resolved, but things did happen. Some of the stuff that was said had needed to be said. It seemed like both of them had been holding quite a few things in for a while now. Though, I might not have been one hundred percent behind my decision to let them stay. I was all prepared to ask them to leave, then this strange feeling caused a wave-like sensation in my gut. So, I let them stay.
It was early, but I felt drained. I wasn’t going to stay down here, even if they were going to be in their room. If anything, I could read or watch something in my room. I wanted to be alone, but somehow felt lonely, too. That didn’t make sense to me. However, I couldn’t seem to get those conflicting feelings to go away.
