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"Being a coward."
Her brows furrowed as she puffed out a breath, pushing her glasses up her nose with her index finger. "Whose side are you on?"
"Yours, sweetheart. But you can't deny that there's some truth to his words. You do tend to scurry away like a little rabbit when things aren't going your way."
"Doesn't matter. I'm trying to protect him."
"From what?"
She hesitated. "Me."
I saw what the problem was now. She feared opening up a second time because she didn't want to get hurt again. She had nothing to worry about. I would burn any man to the ground who caused her pain before he succeeded.
"He loves you,” I reminded her.
"He'll get over it.”
"But will you?"
Felicity didn't answer.
"All my life, I've always tried to live by one rule,” I said. “Find something you love and chase it down. I set my sights on something, go after it, and never stop until I get it. It's majorly the reason why I'm so successful."
She rolled her eyes, earning a chuckle from me.
"Point is, life's too short to keep living in the past. The way I see it, either of two things is bound to happen. You give it a chance and see where it goes or spend the rest of your life wondering if he would have made you happy."
She seemed to swallow down my words and ponder them. Then, after a while, her head turned sideways to look at me, eyeing me suspiciously. "Why on earth are you okay with this? Weren't you the one who threatened men away from me for the last four years?"
I shrugged. It seemed that I never ceased to surprise myself. "I only did that to keep the parasites away. Any man worth his salt would've ignored it."
Felicity laughed softly, her eyes taking on a delicate look. "Aaron did. He never cared about what anyone said. I always wondered how he came to be like that. So…driven and inspired to get what he wants. Not only is he a brilliant developer, he's also very—"
She took one look at me and snapped her mouth shut. I, on the other hand, gave her a knowing smile. I should've been pissed off. My little girl had finally fallen in love with a man who was less of a cunt than that piece of shit from the past.
I should have been angry, ready to protect her from my fucked-up gender, but when I looked at her and saw that absolutely love-struck expression on her face, I knew without a doubt that it was too late.
It probably helped that the man in question wasn't all that bad. A little easy on the eyes with a devil-may-care attitude that I would have liked to sucker punch out of him, but it was tolerable. I wouldn't have chosen a spineless weasel for my precious daughter.
"Sweetheart," I reached forward to grab one of her hands. You need to decide what you want, not what you think he wants. Make a choice. Whatever happens, be sure it's what you absolutely want."
She smiled softly, nodding. "I guess you're right."
"I always am. I shouldn't be telling you this, but your mother would kill me if she found out I didn't encourage you to run after the man you love. She's crazy like that."
The sound of her soft laughter drew a smile out of me.
"You're beautiful and special,” I went on, “and any man would kill to have you by his side. Don't let anyone, and I mean any fucking person, make you feel less than the amazing woman that you are. You could go to war with the entire world and win because that's how exquisite you are, and you are my daughter. My little girl."
I let her cry, knowing that they weren't tears of sadness but of pain. These words were long overdue, and it killed me that she was only hearing them from me now. Well, better late than never.
"And for the love of God, Felicity, heal. Leave the past in the past and look forward to the future, or you will miss out on everything life has to offer."
She cried a little more, and I held her close to my chest, softly stroking her hair. A lot had gone wrong in my sweet girl's life, and while some of it had been my fault, there was no denying she'd had a part to play in it too.
It would take some time, but I would be here every step of the way, helping her see that life didn't have to be complicated. She only had to step out from behind the shadow of her past to see the future.
I didn't know how long we stayed there like that, her sobbing into my chest and me wrapping my arms around her. It had been a long time since I'd felt so at peace with myself, and slowly, surely, the cracks in my family would soon seal up.
