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My head cast down, I picked at my nails. “I can’t forgive him for that. If he was so in love with me, how could he pick up and leave without a word? He didn’t reply to my texts or call me back. Before your arrest, you and Mother were inseparable. Even now, you want to be with her, after she turned her back on you like a coward.”
“Hey,” he snapped. “Don’t speak about your mother like that. She did what she had to do to survive. She’s not perfect, but neither am I. It may seem to everyone that she’s forgotten me, but you don’t know what’s between a man and his wife, Jewel. Has she remarried? Has she even had a boyfriend? No, she hasn’t, and as beautiful as she is, she could have anyone. She’s waiting for me as much as I’m waiting to get the hell out of here.”
I wouldn’t say she could have anyone. I mean, the woman was in her fifties, and while she was a refined, handsome woman, no amount of Botox or cosmetic surgery could change that. But I’d grudgingly admit that I clearly didn’t know a lot about their life as a couple.
“Don’t judge people too harshly, including your beau,” he suggested softly.
I snorted. “Beau? Seriously, Dad?”
“You’ve been hurt in your life. I get that, but don’t let it color everything that comes after it. I’m certain he’s less than perfect. You don’t have to convince me. I’m your father, so of course, he’ll never be worthy of you. That goes without saying. But your face lit up in a way I hadn’t seen in a long time when you mentioned him.”
He paused and then went for the kill. “He makes you happy. All I’m saying is give him a chance to explain himself. Even if he doesn’t deserve it. Do I deserve to be forgiven? The simple answer is no. I threw my life down the toilet and destroyed my family, and yet, you’ve found it in your heart to stay by me. I pray your mother gives me that same bit of mercy. If I didn’t think I had a chance, I’d die an old, brokenhearted man.”
I sniffled. “I don’t know if I can do that, Dad. I don’t know if I can.”
He wrapped his fingers around my arm and pulled me into a bear hug over the table. The guard rumbled out an order, and my father pulled away.
He had one more word on the matter. “Try, Jewel. Try.”
