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She instantly relaxed.
“I know that,” he said. “Now it’s time to pay me back.”
Delanie scoffed. “I’m not paying you back. Sorry.”
“I’m only asking that you play the devoted daughter at a few appearances,” he started, but Delanie was already shaking her head.
“No. I’m not.”
“I want to see my grandson, too,” he continued as if Delanie hadn’t just denied him. “I’d like to start visitation this weekend. I can spend some time with him from two to three-thirty Sunday afternoon. I can bring him back to you if you’ll drop…”
“The weekends belong to Booth,” Delanie interrupted. “And, sorry to say, but Booth isn’t going to give him to you just like I’m not. Asa doesn’t know you from Adam.”
“Who is Adam?” David asked.
“Exactly,” Delanie said. “I’m not going to expose him to your brand of rot. I’m sorry.”
David shook his head. “Rot. When did I ever treat you like a piece of trash?”
Delanie stood up, her anger palpable.
“How about when you used to slap us around when we were kids when we didn’t do what you wanted fast enough?” she said. “Or when our grandfather died, you refused to allow us to go home to his funeral? Or, what about when our mother died, and instead of allowing us to keep anything that belonged to her, you forced us to throw it away?”
I gritted my teeth to control my anger, but it was a hard thing.
I really, really didn’t want the man anywhere near Delanie.
Even more, I wanted him gone and to be completely out of our lives.
“I…”
“I think it’s time to leave,” she said. “I got what I really wanted.”
“And that would be?” David asked, rising stiffly.
“The confirmation that you really are a large piece of shit that I never want anything to do with again,” she said stiffly. “Thanks for stopping by. I hope we can go another five years without doing it again.”
David rolled his eyes. “Always the dramatics with you.” He stood up, buttoning his suit jacket as he went. “I’ll have my secretary call you mid-week to see about setting up a time for me to see…”
“Don’t. Bother,” I said, finally entering into the conversation. “She’s already said that she won’t be allowing you visitation with Asa. Now, I think it would be best for you to take it as gospel. Delanie doesn’t want anything to do with you.”
David shrugged. “We’ll see.”
He stopped at the door and turned to look at Delanie, his eyes weird and oddly focused.
“I really do want to get to know my grandchild,” he said. “And I will.”
With that, he left, not once looking back.
“Five years.” She shook her head as she watched her father walk down the path to his vehicle. “He waits until now to do anything about it? Do you know what it’s like to have a father that just doesn’t care? Like, seriously. He knew we were struggling when Asa was firstborn. My sister basically had to pimp herself out. It was awful.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked. “We would’ve helped.”
She looked at me then. “It was embarrassing. I wanted so badly to just be able to do it on my own. And y’all did help. I went to school, remember? Y’all watched him so much it wasn’t even funny. Even now, y’all are there. Hell, just yesterday I asked Priscilla to keep an eye out for him while I made a quick trip to the grocery store. I wasn’t sure I’d make it back in time to get him off the bus.”
“That’s not depending on someone,” I said. “That’s just family. Family is always there. Willing to help when needed.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s just your family. My family was never like that. To me, that’s being dependent on other people.”
“Have you never heard the term ‘it takes a village to raise a child?’” I asked. “Because there’s nothing special about my family. Any of the families I’ve known do the same. Take Dax and Rowen. Two different families. Hell, technically speaking, I’m not even family. But if they called me right now and needed help getting to the hospital because Rowen was in labor, I’d be there. In a single heartbeat. I don’t care what I’m doing. That’s just because that’s the type of person that I am. Your father just isn’t like that. He’s not the good type of person. He’s the bad. The kind that you wouldn’t call because you know it wouldn’t do any good. I’m sorry that you grew up with that, but it’s time to realize that we love you and Asa. That you are ours to take care of.”
Her breathing hitched and she shook her head, smiling lightly.
“Well,” Delanie said. “We’re going to have to go ahead and get married now. And go ahead and get working on that kid. He’s going to follow up. If I’m not pregnant and married in a few months, he’ll be back. Plus, I’m pretty sure he’s already written it into his campaign speech. His twins marrying twins. Though, I’m not sure how he’s going to spin Asa. He’ll probably just hope that Asa will be thought of as yours. That way it doesn’t hurt him in any way.”
