I squished my eyebrows together. “Is that what she told you?” I slipped my hand inside my purse and dug around for my wallet. When I found it, I pulled out the faded photo of my mom, dad, and me when I was about nine years old.
I held the photo in front of his face. He turned on the porch light and took the picture out of my hand, studying it.
“Well, I’ll be…” he grumbled. “This woman is a gahdamn lie. Phyllis!” he called, still looking at the photograph.
“Yes?”
“Why the hell you ain’t tell me you had a child with your dead husband?” he asked before she made it to the door.
“W-W-What are you talking about, Dillan?” she inquired as she walked closer to where we stood.
Dead? Oh, my goodness, my father is dead. How long? How did he die?Being here no longer felt important. I was stuck on hearing that my father was gone. We never had a chance to reconcile. He never got the chance to meet his amazing granddaughter. My dad had deserted me when I needed his love and support the most, but I still mourned his passing.
“My father is dead?” I asked through a tearful voice.
My mother was now standing next to her husband. When our eyes locked, her mouth fell open. Then her eyebrows furrowed like she was trying to understand what was happening. I stared at my mother, who still looked good for her age. She looked like an older version of me. The moles she now had on her face onlyenhanced her beauty. Neither did the wrinkles around her eyes take away from her physical appearance.
“What the hell are you doing here? Didn’t I tell you to never show your face at my house again when you decided to choose sex over your studies?” Her voice was so vile… so bitter.
“Mom…”
She cut me off. “That’s Mrs. Phyllis Wilbred to you.”
I couldn’t gather the right words to say. How could she act like she didn’t give birth to me? My mother even went to the extent of lying and saying she never had a child.Phyllis Wilbredwas a cold ass woman, and not in a good way.
I felt like I had gone back in time. Arguing with my mom and dad over my pregnancy and them shutting me out of their lives for good. Not once did they look for me or try to be in my life. The pain. The abandonment. The judgment, it was all too much to bear. The spinning in my head threatened to take me down, but I couldn’t leave without finding out more information about my dad.
“What happened to my father?” I looked at my mother, hoping she would have a little compassion and give me a response.
She hesitated for a minute while her husband just stared at her like he didn’t know who she was anymore.
“Not that I owe you any information, but he died from a heart attack four years ago.”
Four years ago, and I was just hearing about this now? To say my feelings were hurt would be an understatement.
“Where is he buried?”
“Ember, why would I want to know where that man’s grave is?”
“Because he was once your husband, and you sure do know his cause of death,” he shot back.
An odd noise came from her throat as she began to speak. “Hell yes, I know how he died. That young girlfriend he was with thought she was going to get his money. I put up with his shit for years, so who was more deserving than me?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing and didn’t want to hear any more. “Mom, what happened to you?”
“Yeah, Phyllis. You got me confused,” her husband jumped in, staring at her in disbelief. “I don’t think I know who I married.”
“Dillan, cut it out, please. You’re allowing this girl to create mess in our home. We’ve been doing absolutely fine.”
“No, your lies just stirred some shit up. Why did you have to lie?”
“I gotta go,” I blurted, not wanting to be around them any longer.
I jogged away from their door, and they didn’t notice because they were now in a heated argument.
As far as I was concerned, the relationship between my mother and me was dead. She would never have to worry about me coming back and disrupting her life. If she was able to live life acting like she never had a child or granddaughter, then so be it. I would continue on with my life like she never existed.
I prayed my father was resting in peace, but I was closing this chapter of my life for good.
