AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Me. Me.Me.
Not him.
“You didn’t,” my father says, his words sounding clenched. “You did fail to protect my daughter. You mademefail to protect her too. You’re right. You’re the last person we want to see on our doorstep. Because you not only came into my house and disrespected my family, you led my daughter astray. You turned her into something that we don’t recognize anymore. A stranger and —”
“Scott, stop,” my mom says sternly.
“But I —”
“No, not right now,” Mom says to Dad, before addressing Reign. “We appreciate you coming here and giving us the courtesy to apologize. But as you and my husband have already said, you’re the last person we want to see or have anything to do with. You’re the last person that we want to think about. Because yes, youhaveturned our daughter into a stranger. A stranger who keeps secrets and tells lies and goes behind our backs. That is not the daughter we’d raised. We raised her to be good. To follow the rules. To be responsible and take care of the family. But…” She sighs. “You’re not the only one.”
My dad shifts on his feet again but thankfully remains silent as my mother continues, “I realized last night that we had a hand in this too. We had a long talk, Echo and us, last night. And I realized that while we did teach her to be good, to take care of the people she loves, we forgot to teach her to be good to herself, to take care of herself.Iforgot that. A daughter learns from her mother, and I was always a good girl, growing up. I was always a rule follower and that’s what I taught her. That’s what I showed her. Maybe because my mother showed that to me as well, I don’t know. But growing up, I taught Echo to be like myself. It was important because we always struggled with things, and then with my husband’s accident, I had to make compromises and concessions and I relied on her a little too much perhaps, in order to keep things running. So yes, I forgot to teach her how to put herself first, and that’s my regret. That’s something thatIwill live with.”
My vision is blurry but I can see that my mom’s holding herself rigidly. My dad too. And I wish I hadn’t told them all this. I wish I hadn’t had that long talk with them last night.
When I confessed everything that was in my heart.
I came out of hiding and told them about my relationship with Lucas, how broken it was and how I didn’t even know it. About the mistake that I made two years ago that led me to St. Mary’s and how much I regret it, but I really would like to put it behind me.
And then I told them all the things that I struggle with, havealwaysstruggled with.
Being good. Being perfect. Being happy and not guilty all the time.
And they listened, silently, carefully.
Well, my mom did. My dad was interrupting with his own anger. But they both paid attention to what I was saying and as difficult as that conversation was, I did feel relief at the end of it. I did feel like it was an important conversation to have.
Plus I could finally tell them about St. Mary’s, my friends, my time over there. Which is how all my friends were able to come over and spend the entire day with me.
But I also don’t want my mother to blame herself for things in the past. I also don’t want to see her in pain. I just want to move on. I want our family to look to the future.
“And Echo told us that you were the one who showed her that,” she continues. “That she needs to take care of herself. That she needs to… put herself first and I… I’m thankful to you for that. And also, for NYU. For getting her a second chance and —”
“She deserved it,” he says with determination. “She deserves whatever she wants.”
My mom’s shoulders inch up and down on a sigh. “She does. But again, that doesn’t mean that this is easy for us, having you here. Having our daughter say that she loves you. That she wants to be with you. Especially when we know, when we’ve always known things about you. When we’ve heard things, seen things.”
At this point, my mother has grasped my dad’s hand and they’re standing there as a team, and gosh, I want to do that too.
I want to make our own team. With Reign.
I don’t want him to stand there, all strained and all alone, his hands fisted at his sides. I want to slide my hand into his and stand beside him. Now and forever.
But my friends still won’t let me go and my mother begins to speak.
“Echo has told us about that as well. About the rumors and how they’re false. Or exaggerated. How the truth is different. About you and Mr. Davidson. She never gave us any specifics but it’s hard for us to believe, you understand? Because we owe a lot to your father. Most of us here do. But despite recent events, we’re choosing to believe her. Which means that when she says that she’s in love with you —”
“What are your intentions toward our daughter?”
That’s my dad and I can’t help but scream out, “Dad! No.”
That wasn’t how I wanted to make my presence known. Screaming from the top of the stairs and shocking everyone, including my friends standing beside me.
But I had to do it.
I had to stop my dad from asking the inappropriate questions.
Well, not really.
