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ChapterTwo
Hadley
It might make me a terrible person to admit this, but for so long I’d wished Cash was her father. He’s the type of man Iwantedto have by my side while raising a child.
“She’s Trotter’s. I got my period two days after getting back from New York.”
“But… the timing?” he asks.
“I got pregnant the following month. Our wedding got moved up. Mom knew I was about to bolt and Trotter was on board with it because he was all about the money. He was used to a certain lifestyle that he wasn’t willing to give up and I felt stuck. I had no one to turn to. If I left the family, I’d have nothing. Nowhere and no one to turn to. My friends were all friends of the family and my parents would have gotten involved. I was too sheltered to know how to do anything on my own. Maybe it was immature of me, but I also felt guilted into the marriage. When you’re young and your parents tell you that you’ll ruin everything if you don’tobey,it’s not like you feel you have many options. So I obeyed. I married Trotter. We got pregnant on our wedding night.”
His eyes are wide and he keeps shaking his head in disbelief.
“Wow. So you married for money.”
“Basically, yes.” There’s no point in denying it. “I was young, scared, and completely alone. Like I said, I had no one to turn to or get advice from. I didn’t follow my own heart because my entire life I’d been told one thing and my heart was driving me in a different direction. I didn’t trust myself.”
“What drove you to leave?”
“My parents; they had even higher expectations of Brooklyn than they did me.”
Cash’s jaw clenches so tightly I’m afraid he’s going to chip a tooth.
“I didn’t want that for her. Neither did Trotter.”
“Does she know why you left?”
“Yeah, she does. I vowed to always be more honest and open with my daughter than my parents were. I made sure to set her up for success rather than failure like my parents did me. She understood that we came from money and in our home, the home Trotter and I built for her, it was full of love. She knew love. Brooklyn has never felt pressured to be someone she’s not for Trotter or me. That was my stipulation with him. We knew we’d have children and I told him if I was going to go through with the sham of a marriage, our kids would never go through what we did. She understands what a parent/child relationship should look like because she lives it. But she saw it differently from her grandparents. When she got old enough to start asking questions, Trotter and I knew that something had to change. She knows that Trotter is gay and that our marriage was pretty much arranged. She also knows that despite that, her father and I love each other in our own way.” I smile at that. For all his faults, Trotter is full of love. For Brooklyn. For me. He might have been okay with the marriage because he wanted the money and freedom that money brought him, but he is still a good man. I can’t fault him for not wanting to leave the lifestyle he knew his entire life. But, he learned over time that money isn’t the key to happiness. Hindsight is always twenty/twenty, I guess. “That was only part of the reason why we got a divorce. Trotter saw that while I was happy because of Brooklyn, the rest of it was making me a shell of the person I am now. He wouldn’t allow for our fake marriage, his words, to continue. He was tired of living under their thumb, too. Apparently the money he thought would keep him happy didn’t make him happy after all. I’d like to think it was because he cares that deeply for me, but I know it’s because he met someone he didn’t want to keep on the side any longer.
“Unfortunately, we weren’t the ones who told her about the divorce. My mother was. When we told our parents we had filed for divorce, everyone lost their minds. It just wasn’t done in our circle. Brooklyn was supposed to be at her friend’s house but we didn’t see the text that they were bringing her home to grab something. She walked in as Mom was yelling and wondering why it would matter now. That we should just continue on with how things were.”
I give him my best re-telling of the night Brooklyn found out and watch as his eyes grow darker and angrier as I continue.
“I don’t understand why you’re acting so childish. Why you’d disrespect us this way. Do you know all that we’ve done for you? Your ten thousand square foot home? Cars? Clothes? Vacations? That’s all possible because weallowit to be possible. Marriage isn’t about love. That’s just a fairy tale we’re supposed to believe but we’re smarter than that. Neither of you have seemed to be bothered about this before. Hell, have you even spent a night together since your wedding night? You didn’t care about being in love then, so why does it matter now? This marriage between you two is about more than these frivolous feelings of yours. You think you can leave here and find love and comfort? You won’t. I promise you. It’s not possible. Love doesn’t exist in the real world. Life is about status and if you think otherwise, then you’re childish. Money is what makes the world go round, not love. You knew this when you walked down the aisle, Hadley, and if you do this, you’re no longer welcome here. You’re no longer a part of this family.”
“Are you serious?”
“I mean, that’s not word for word, obviously, but yes, that’s how it went down. Brooklyn heard it all. And my mother didn’t care. She simply looked at Brooklyn and told her it was time for her to know the truth and understand what it meant to be in the family.
“That was my last straw. I walked away from my family and their financial security. I’m old enough I can still access my trust fund even with the divorce, but I won’t. I’d rather eat my own foot than utilize any money from my family.”
My parents thought they won because I walked away with nothing but the clothes on our backs, my car, and the money I had in my checking and savings accounts. They were wrong.
They might think that life revolves around money.
They’re wrong about that, too.
“Wow. I have no idea how to respond to this,” Cash replies. “Are you okay now?” he asks.
“I am now. Life was hard at first, yes. There was the divorce and making the decision to move away from Chicago. When I found Aunt Dorothy, a little voice in the back of my head kept sayingTennessee, Tennessee, Tennessee…as if something deeper was calling me here rather than a long lost relative. Anyway, that’s beside the point.” I wave my hand, realizing I said more than I intended. “I’m good. I’m happier than I’ve been in a long time. Trotter is committed to visiting Brooklyn as often as he can because neither of us want her going to Chicago, where he still lives.”
“You lived for fifteen years in a marriage based on lies?”
I scrunch up my nose. “Well, when you put it like that…”
Cash blows out a breath and leans back in his seat. “She’s really not mine?” he asks again.
He looks a little disappointed about that. I would think he’d be relieved to know that he didn’t meet his daughter for the first time today. I remember how important family is to him, though, and wonder if that’s why. Maybe he wants a family of his own and was excited about the thought of having a daughter. “She’s definitely Trotter’s. We did a paternity test even though it had been a few months since I’d been with you. We just wanted to be sure. Plus there was the testing to make sure we were both clean. And even on the honeymoon, it was basically that one time so it’s a miracle she was even born. Lord knows after we had her it didn’t happen much because as I mentioned, he’s gay and while I can’t say for sure because I’m straight, I would think one who is attracted to men wouldn’t find much enjoyment having sex with a female. Which is clearly too much information but I’m nervous and now my mouth has diarrhea.” I feel my face heat and I drop my head and cover my face with my hands. “Oh my gosh, I’ll shut up now.”
