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“Silas, meet Samuel Madden, the man who raised me better than to be murdered by Dark Arts bitches or sneak around after midnight with boys with one-tracked minds.”
Sara looks worried about this introduction.
She would have been right to have concerns before my memories were accessed by those demonic spirits. Before I realized the man standing in front of me did make an effort to be in my life. My aunt shut him down, and I can guess why she did that.
“Good to meet you, Sir,” I tell him, offering a hand a little awkwardly.
He takes the handshake as offered, makes the contact quickly and breaks it.
He’s not a touchy-feely person. Neither am I, unless the other person is Rachel.
“You don’t need to call me sir,” he says, his voice a bit gruff. “My name’s Sam.”
Sam. It feels weird to call him that, but I don’t think I’m ready to call him dad.
“Okay. Sam. Thanks for the help back there. I didn’t realize we could take control of them like that.”
“We can control the dead. That includes demons.”
“Shop talk,” Sara says, faking a yawn. “Call me when it’s over.”
“What happened with my mother?” I ask, needing to know.
Sara’s eyes widen. Our father frowns. It’s an intrusive question, but I can’t not ask.
“Your mother was the love of my life,” he says, looking to Sara and sighing. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, your mom was wonderful, but we married too young, and we’d started to resent one and other. We were talking about divorce when I met Selina, and I already felt like we were leading separate lives. Then, she wouldn’t sign the papers and she confessed she was pregnant. Right after Selina told me the same thing. I wanted to go ahead with the divorce. Things got ugly, and I made the biggest mistake of my life.”
Sara presses her lips together. She probably shouldn’t be listening to this, but she doesn’t seem to want to walk away. When her father pauses, she blurts, “I knew. I knew you didn’t love mom. She knew it, too. It’s why she left when she found out about Silas.”
“Sweetheart, she didn’t leave because she found out about him. I told her from the start, and that was my first mistake. She acted like it was a competition, and she didn’t want me to spend a second of time or money on my son or his mother. She made things difficult for me at work, until I had to quit and start up the medium business. She left after Selina was gone, because the competition was over. She thought she’d won. So, she signed the papers and walked away, leaving her daughter with me, thinking it was an imposition. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Sara, you were the best thing in my life. The only thing that made everything worthwhile.”
“Oh, Dad,” Sara says, looking like she wishes she could hug him. “I’m going to miss you.”
She’s almost ready to cross over, I can feel it. Her spirit’s getting brighter.
This is what she was waiting for. It’s what she needed.
“I’m proud of you, Sara,” he says. “You did good. You always did the right thing.”
“Thanks,” she whispers. “I think I needed to hear that.”
“I’m glad I got to meet you, little sister.”
“Me too, big brother. Please, look after our dad for me.”
“I will,” I promise.
“Dad, make sure you look after Silas, too. He doesn’t have everything figured out yet. He could use some help.”
He gives me a smile. “As long as he’s interested …”
“I am,” I tell him. “I didn’t know about the letters until tonight. My aunt … I think she hated you. I didn’t know you existed until I met Sara recently.”
“Your aunt thought badly of me, like most of the rest of the town. My wife spread nasty rumors for years before she finally signed those papers. She trapped me. I didn’t want to ruin your life by being in it, and I knew that was what would happen once I saw how mad your aunt was.”
“See?” Sara says. “I knew this was all some kind of big misunderstanding.”
“I’m so sorry, Sara,” I tell her. It must be awful to learn your mother did terrible things.
