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I drop my head, looking down at my hands where my new wedding band sits. "I wasn't waiting for Dad to ship me off to Paris," I say with bitterness in my tone. I’m still so angry at him. At both of them, if she had anything to do with it.
"Millie, you have to realize, I had no idea what he was doing," she mutters, her voice cracking.
I look back at her, not comprehending how that could even be possible. "How didn't you know? You live with him."
"Honestly, I don’t know, I feel like a fool. After what happened with Cassandra last year, I was starting to worry about a lot of things, but I took one look at your face the other day and knew he had gone too far this time. I demanded he tell me what he did to you."
"Did he show you the contract?" I ask her, needing to know how honest he was with her. I still don't understand how he thought he would get away with it. I guess in the past I must have been that pliable.
"Yes. He said he was trying to do what was best for your safety."
"I hope you don't believe him. A man that is worried for his daughter's safety doesn't threaten her business and demand she marry a man she doesn't love."
"I didn't believe a word he said. The following day he took a call when we were having dinner, and he dismissed himself and went into his office. I stood by the door listening for the first time ever. I didn’t trust him, and I had to know what was going on. I think he was talking to that fella in Paris, but I could only hear your father’s side of the call. From what I could understand you were the tradeoff for some bad business deal he got involved in. And you not complying is going to cause trouble for your father. When he got off the phone, he was fuming mad and told me he was going into town for a bit. So I snooped through his office. Not my proudest moment, but I just knew something was amiss, and I had to know what it was. Most of his paperwork was locked up, but I saw enough to know he's involved in something really dangerous."
"What kind of man uses his daughter to cover his business debts?" I mutter, still finding it difficult to believe this is my father we’re talking about. It makes me feel sick to my stomach that he would use me like this. He knows what I have been through over the last few years, and then to turn my misfortune into a convenient little business deal for him and try to play it off to me like he is trying to protect me. It’s the vilest thing possible.
"The kind of man I no longer want anything to do with. I packed a bag and left before he got home. I'm not going back, Millie. I feel like my entire life with him has been a lie. And it probably was." Tears stream down her cheeks now, and I pull her into me, feeling terrible for her. What a nightmare. He had us all tricked into thinking he was someone so different to the reality.
"I'm so sorry, Mom." I rock her as she sobs in my arms, her perfect world falling apart because she spent her life trusting a man who is really someone else. My heart breaks for her. "You did the right thing. Auntie Anne will look after you until the four of us girls work out what's going on and we can bring you home."
"No, Amelia. You and your sisters need to stay out of this, it's dangerous. I don’t want any of you getting involved." Her voice is so serious it frightens me.
Unfortunately for her I think it’s too late for me to stay out of it. "How does he go from devoted family man to whatever he is now? Help me try and make sense of this, Mom, so I can work out what I need to do when I get back home. A little while back when I was having that trouble with Heath and the stuff in the media, Jasmine mentioned something about what happened to you when Dad was working in Hollywood."
"It wasn't right for our family, Millie. I was like you, sensitive, and it crushed me when whispers would surface. I knew I could trust him, or at least I thought I could at the time, but that didn't stop me from worrying. He was away so much. We talked about it, and he said family should always come first. We decided he would finish off his last movie, then that would be it." I see the moment she realizes when this all happened. Her face pales. "He quit after his father died suddenly, and he also had some family stuff he needed to take care of. He never said what, and I didn't ask, because at the time I was busy with you girls. It was crazy raising four spirited little girls like you and your sisters. I just assumed it was to do with the estate and he had it all sorted."
"But now you’re thinking there was much more to it all."
"Well, the timing would be right, and if he is in as deep as I think he might be, then yes. Your grandfather dying might have been why he came home to Palm Springs. All these years I thought it was because of us, our family, but he just used us as an excuse. His father was a dangerous man involved in the mafia. In the end, he was the head for our area."
I blink back at her, my heart suddenly racing in my chest. I knew this was bad but nothing like this. "So Dad grew up as a child of a mafia boss? Is that what you're telling me?"
"It's why your father said we didn't see his family. We only ever talked about it once. He had been disowned at fifteen because he didn't want to have any part in it. He said his father threatened to shoot him dead that day, but instead he told him to get out of there and never come back."
I look at her in total shock. "Maybe that was a lie as well," I mutter, not knowing what to believe anymore. “Thank you for coming to tell me everything you know. I have been trying to make sense of this and it’s been making me crazy. But now I know why.”
“And you understand why you girls have to stay away from it all, right?”
“I do,” I agree with her, and I want to do what she asks, but this time I don't think I can. He has already involved me, and I just know when we get back there are going to be repercussions for me. If what she said is right, he's in trouble now because I didn't go through with the deal, and he must owe Julian.
She stands up, and I follow her, careful not to tear my dress. I give her a hug. “I have kept you from your family long enough,” she says. “Go and enjoy your day, my beautiful girl.”
“Thank you. Mom, I’m sorry we didn’t invite you or anyone, we just needed this to be for us.”
“I understand, honey. Sorry I crashed the party,” she says sadly.
I take her hand, giving it a squeeze. “Tomorrow we’re having lunch with Auntie Anne and her kids. Will you be there?”
“I sure will. We can have a drink to celebrate then.” She smiles, but it's one of those ones where I know she's just trying to put on a brave face for me. Her whole world is falling apart because of my father. He has a hell of a lot to answer for.
I walk away from her feeling strange. I'm glad I know a little more about what is going on, but knowing more about where my dad comes from just opens up a whole heap of questions I don’t have answers to. But for today, I decide to push it aside and just be in the moment. I can work the rest out when I get home.
HEATH
Ourceremonywassimplebut everything I wanted it to be. The four of us then had family photos in beautiful locations around the resort. I think my favorite ones will be where the kids were paddling in the shallow water; it reminds me of that day we had on the beach when they all came to visit me in LA. I told Millie I wanted to marry her that day, and now here we are. After the photos we enjoyed a delicious lunch organized by her cousin Elly. Platters of fresh seafood and other local produce, followed by cake and ice cream. When we were finished and the kids had enough, Elly picked them up for us and took them back to her place for the night. They were both excited to spend some time with their second cousins.
Amelia and I took a swim at a secluded beach just a short walk down the beach from the resort we’re staying in, and we are now enjoying the late-afternoon sun as we lie on the beach together. We're finally able to relax after the craziness of the past month.
