AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He nods, but doesn’t say anything.
He brings over a plate of muffins that Mum must have made that morning. Titus takes one, but I’m too nervous to eat. Mum and Dad carry over the coffees and sit at the table, on the other side from Titus and me.
It’s started to rain, and the wind blows the droplets against the window. “Horrible weather,” Mum says. “At least it’s summer in the UK.”
“Mm.” I sip my coffee.
Mum offers Dad a muffin, but he shakes his head. “Oliver called yesterday,” he says.
My eyebrows rise. He and Elizabeth are still on their honeymoon.
“I think Mack told him you were coming to visit,” Mum reveals.
I roll my eyes. “Figures.” I meet Dad’s eyes as he looks at me. “Have you forgiven Oliver for knocking her up yet?”
When he first found out Elizabeth was pregnant, Dad accused Oliver of being irresponsible in not wearing a condom, oblivious to the fact that he purposefully got her pregnant because she wanted a baby.
He drops his gaze to his coffee. “I apologized to him for that. I told him I hope I can make amends, because I’d like to be a part of my grandchild’s life. He told me I had to make amends to you first.”
“So that’s why you want to see me? So you don’t lose your son and grandchild?”
Mum winces. Titus glances at me. But I feel bitter and uncomfortable. I’ve waited two years for an apology, and Dad showed no remorse at all until Oliver confronted him at the club.
“No,” he says, “I’d already asked to see you. Heidi, I owe you an apology.”
I sit there, stiff and resentful, and glare at him. “For what? For the years of control when you wouldn’t let me out of your sight? Or for taking your anger out on me when I finally announced I was walking away?”
“For all that.”
“It’s too late, Dad. Far too little, far too late.”
“I know.” His lips tremble, and to my shock, tears tumble over his lashes and roll down his cheeks. “I know what I’ve said and done, and I wish I could undo it, but I can’t.” He covers his face, and his shoulders heave.
Holy fuck. There’s little worse than seeing a grown man cry, especially when he’s your father.
A small part of me feels a sense of smugness that, at last, he’s feeling a fraction of the pain he’s caused me over the years.
But then I look at Titus, who’s brow is furrowed with pity, and I feel a sting of shame.
It’s not easy for men like Peter and Julian to admit they’re wrong, and to say sorry. I’m not a practicing Christian as such, but through my work at the primary school, I have an understanding and an appreciation of the values we try to teach the children, and I know the importance of forgiveness.
Titus looks at me, and obviously reads it in my face. He gestures to himself and then the door, and when I nod, he gets to his feet and says quietly to Helene, “You have a lovely home. Would you like to show me around?”
Biting her lip, she nods, and the two of them go out. Soon I hear them talking in the living room.
Slowly, I get up, walk around the table, and sit in the chair Mum has just vacated. Reaching across to the kitchen towel, I tear off a sheet.
“Dad,” I murmur, handing it to him.
He takes it, wipes his face, and blows his nose. “I’m sorry,” he whispers.
We sit there for a moment while he composes himself. The rain blows against the windows. I can hear Titus and Mum talking as she shows him through the house. Once again, I remember the moment in this kitchen, where he pushed me up against the worktop and kissed the living daylights out of me. It fills me with warmth, and banishes the coldness I’d felt when I first walked in.
“I am sorry,” Dad says again.
“I know.” I take a deep, shaky breath. “And that’s important to me. It’s… it’s going to take a while for us to mend what’s broken between us. But I do want to mend it.”
He looks at me then. “Really?”
