AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“The fact that’s awe, and it wasn’t shared you’ve had a wife for three years and longer is the issue, Dad,” I reminded him.
Dad shook his head and pulled his hand through his graying blond hair.
It was then I saw how thick it was. What a nice haircut he had. That it looked like he’d lost weight, firmed up. He was in a spot, but he was still standing taller. And when his eyes fell on mine, the same color of my own, they were bright and clear and…
Engaged.
I took a small step back and hit Cap’s body.
He put a hand to my hip.
Right.
Better.
Dad watched this.
“I’m gla—” He cleared his throat. “I’m glad you have so many good people in your life, Rachel.”
“So am I.”
“You need to know, Deb told me, a long time ago, when we met again, when things sparked between us, that I should tell you. She said it often, and she was upset about the fact I didn’t. She was upset you weren’t at our wedding.”
“She was right about that, and she was right to feel that way.”
“I thought…” he shook his head and looked away.
I said nothing.
He came back to me. “I thought, with the way we lost your mom, your sister, that…” He shook his head again. “Dammit, Rachel, I thought you blamed me. Blamed me for not protecting Macy from being snatched from our lives. Blamed me for not looking after your mother so her grief drained the life from her so there was none to take when she hung herself.”
I heard gasps, Linda and Alexis, and a sharp hiss, my guess, Martha.
I ignored those.
So now they knew.
They belonged in my Citadel with me.
Not the denial.
The fortification of my well-being.
“I didn’t blame you, Dad. You blamed yourself.”
“You escaped me the minute you could,” he accused.
“I escaped the loneliness.You left me alone.” I swung my arm wide to my side, nearly hitting Luna, and Cap wrapped his around my belly. “You left me alone in dealing with all the shit around Macy. All the fear and hope and devastation and worry. You left me alone when Mom had already drifted away from me. And then when she finalized that. I was sick of being alone. Look at me. I’m not alone.”
“I lost my baby.” His voice cracked. “I lost my wife.”
“I lost my sister. I lost my mother. I lost myfather.”
“I’m right here,” he said in a pleading voice.
“You’ve been married for three years and I didn’t even know you were seeing somebody,” I snapped.
Another couple gasps and hisses.
