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“Who are you? I’ve…I’ve never seen you before. Are you a long lost family member or something?”Maybe an old boyfriend of my mother’s?
“Or something.” He nods as he slides his glasses back on. “Stassia, right?”
“You know my name, but I don’t know anything about you. How about we just cut to the chase? In case you couldn’t tell, I’m not really in the mood for it today.”
“Get the fuck away from her, you worthless piece of shit.” My eyes widen when I hear Dominic’s voice booming over all of us. My grandmother is behind him and I want to glare at Dominic for using that kind of language around her but something tells me that she’s on board with it at the moment with the way she’s glaring at the mysterious stranger.
The stranger’s eyes find Dominic’s and he puts his hands up in surrender. “I just came to pay my respects.”
“Pay your respects? Are you fucking serious?” Dominic growls.
He shakes his head and pulls his glasses from his face to clean the lenses, but if I had to guess, it seems more like psychological warfare than anything. “Have you thought that maybe you don’t knoweverything?Maybe there’s things about your precious wife you don’t know?” he says as he slides them onto the bridge of his nose.
“Screw you,” I snap before Dominic can say anything. “Let’s say for argument’s sake he doesn’t know everythingifyou’re going to allude that you had some weird relationship that has her cheating on her husband. I call bullshit, because I’d know. Idoknow everything.”
My mother and I were close, we told each other everything.
“So, you know all about me, then?”
Dominic takes a step closer to the stranger, partially in front of me, blocking my view. “Stassia, go with your grandmother.”
“Come on, honey.” I smell her before I feel her hand encased in mine. Cocoa Butter and a brief hint of cinnamon. One of my favorite smells.
“Wait. I want to know who this is. Why does he know me?” I take a step forward and look up at Dominic. We get on each other’s nerves and we knew how to push each other’s buttons but to my knowledge, he’s never lied to me. In fact, he’s quite good at doling out the hard truth when it’s necessary, even if it hurt.
“She knows nothing of me, does she?”
“Why would she? You haven’t been around.” My grandmother interjects. “Ever.”
“That was by no choice of mine,” he retorts.
I frown, hearing the words spelled out almost completely for me. “Wait.” I stop. “Are you…” I take a step forward, in front of Dominic, and I stare into the eyes of the man who’s becoming less and less like a mystery. “Are you…my father?”
He has the decency to look contrite as he slides his hands into his pockets. “She kept you away from me, Stassia…”
“Bullshit!” Dominic spits out from behind me and I put up a hand, which I know he hates, but I’m hoping in this moment he’ll just shut the fuck up.
“Answer my question,” I demand.
“You’re a spitfire, aren’t you?” I narrow my eyes, staring him down. He pulls his jacket tighter around him as wind whips around us in this already icy moment. “Yes.”
I was anticipating that answer, but clearly, the rest of me wasn’t because I drop to my knees in a fit of sobs. The cathartic release my body has been desperate for clings to that one word that leaves his lips.How!?
“Shit.” I hear and then strong arms are wrapped around me. For a brief moment, I think it is dear old dad comforting me and my back stiffens, but then a sense of familiarity washes over me. “It’s just me,” Dominic whispers in my ear. “I’ve got you.”
I briefly hear my grandmother and grandfather, who rarely raises his voice, using the wordsgood for nothingandabandonedandso much fucking back child support.
Dominic pulls me to my feet so my back is to the altercation and he slowly walks me away from the scene unfolding. “Don’t look back there. That’s not about you. It’s just that asshole making the situation abouthim, per usual.”
My mind is racing a mile a minute, trying to unpack everything that’s happened in the last week.Losing one parent but gaining another? Is this the trade off? If so, this is bullshit.But I also know if this is the last chance I’ll ever have to speak to the man that is responsible for half of my DNA, I want answers. Or at leastonefucking answer. I pull from Dominic’s grasp and move towards my grandparents andwhatever his name is.
“What’s your name?” I ask.
“Darling,” my grandmother starts.
“Grandma, please,” I plead.
“Micah,” he answers, despite the three sets of eyes glaring at him to walk the fuck away and leave me in the dark.
