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I bet you’d be more upset if you knew I had sex with Liam.
I wasn’t out to hurt my mom, I just thought maybe she’d see things from my point of view today. Guess not.
“It’s too late to back out now, Mom. I’ll be leaving in a few days, a week at the most.”
“You do not know what type of people you are dealing with. I have tried your entire life to keep you safe and now you are throwing that all away,” she said.
I needed to understand her, because right now, her level of distress didn’t match the news I’d delivered. “Mom, tell me what’s really bothering you, because it can’t be my continuing my education. You’ve always supported my working at the hospital. This is just an opportunity for advancement for me. The money I can make if I decide to work in the operating room will benefit us all. I’m only thinking about our future.”
“And nothing about the past,” she sniffed.
“What does the past have to do with it?” I asked.
My dad wrapped an arm around her shoulder and said, “I think it’s time you tell her.”
“Tell me what, Mom?”
She nodded and said, “I never wanted you to know, but your dad is right. I can’t protect you if you don’t know the truth.”
“Okay, I’m listening,” I said.
“This is not going to be easy for me to say, and may be hard for you to hear. You know Tabiq’s history, how women were snatched by the corrupt police or government and sold to rich foreigners for their pleasure.”
“Yes, Mom, I know all about that. But it doesn’t happen here anymore. I’m safe. No one is going to sell me,” I stated. Not that I’m a virgin any longer anyway.
“I am glad about that, but…” she looked at my dad, and put her head on his shoulder briefly before turning back to me. “But I wasn’t so lucky.”
“What?”
Is she telling me what I think she is?Was my mother sold and sexually assaulted?
“Mom, you were….” She nodded and I felt nausea. I’d heard the stories, knew others who had been through it, but never once had my mom ever indicated that she’d experienced such brutality as well. No wonder she feared for me. She never wanted me to go through what she did.
A tear rolled down my cheek and I quickly brushed it away. I needed to maintain my composure so she could finish telling me whatever she needed to. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Mom. I never knew.”
“I never wanted you to. But now that you’re going to the United States, I’m so afraid that…” she choked and closed her eyes before adding, “that he’ll find you.”
“Who?” I asked.
She looked at my dad again, and he nodded. “Your father.”
I was so confused. “Mom, you’re not making any sense. Dad is right here.”
She shook her head. “The man you know to be your dad is here. But the man who is your biological father isn’t. I’m not positive, but he spoke good English and I…I believe he’s in the United States.”
My heart was pounding so loud it echoed in my ears. Dad is not my dad? I looked at him and knew immediately that what my mom had said was true and my heart ached for him as well.
“I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t you tell me this long ago?”
My dad answered. “I knew your mom before she was taken. We had been close, very friendly, and I loved her. As you know, many women didn’t return home because they felt shame. I found your mom hiding in the woods, pregnant and alone. I didn’t have to ask what happened. I married your mother and claimed you as my daughter. No one knows the truth, at least not until now.”
You’re not my father?
I couldn’t accept that. He was the only dad I knew. He’s the only dad I wanted. And there was no way he’d tell me such a horrendous story if it weren’t true.
My mouth tasted of acid as my stomach turned. I wanted to run to my room, bury my head in my pillow, and scream out for all the injustice my family had suffered at the hands of powerful, sick, cruel men. But this was not the time. My parents were sitting in front of me, broken. I needed them to know that I loved them.
“Mom, I’m so sorry. I wish I could take all your pain away. Dad, thank you so much for loving Mom and for accepting me. I love you both so much. But Tabiq is not what it was, and I’m not at risk for suffering the same fate as you did, Mom.”
