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“I did.” Viv wanted to tell her sisters everything, but she wasn’t sure how much they wanted to know. She didn’t want to force the information on them that they had no interest in hearing.
“And?” Grace prompted in a clipped tone.
Grace was not one to suffer fools. She was direct. Didn’t mince words. Viv had never seen her in the courtroom but she was pretty sure that Grace had held her own in cross-examination.
“He was on drugs, that’s why Mom made him leave.”
The news seemed to affect Ava and Audrey more than Grace. Either their oldest sister had already known that piece of information or she had a really good poker face, which again, would have probably come in handy as a lawyer.
“Mom made him leave?” Ava clarified in disbelief. “I don’t think she would do that.”
Crap. Since this was obviously confessional time, Viv felt the need to share her experience the night he left.
“She did. I saw him the night he left. I woke up and wanted water. I went to their room and he was packing a bag and they were both crying. They hugged for a long time and then he left and never came back.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell us that?” Ava questioned.
“I was three…I didn’t know then how significant it was. And then as I got older, like I said, you guys never talk about him. Ever.” Viv didn’t mean to keep coming back to that but it was the truth and it had always bothered her and she’d bottled it up.
“So when you were out of town this weekend, you saw him?” Audrey asked.
“Yes. He lives in Oregon. I didn’t go there knowing for sure it was him, but when he opened the door and looked at me, I knew. He has your eyes, Audrey.”
“Technically, she has his.”
“So what is he like?” Audrey asked, seeming genuinely curious.
“Is he still on drugs?”
“Why does it matter?” Grace snapped. “He left. He made his choices and I had to live with them. If you guys want to welcome him into your lives, fine. But leave me out of it.”
Grace turned and walked inside the house.
“Fuck,” Viv said under her breath.
Ava reached out and squeezed Viv’s arm. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You had every right to go and find him. He’s your father, too. She just needs time.”
Viv nodded. As much as she appreciated her psychologist sister’s take on things, it still didn’t change the fact that she felt like she’d betrayed Grace. Because her sister was right, she was the one who had had to live with his choices. Grace had taken care of everyone, including their mom when she got sick. And Viv had gone behind her back to find the man who had basically robbed her of a childhood and young adulthood.
She felt like shit. And the worst part was, the one person she wanted to see and talk about it with was the one person she couldn’t because as she’d told Lily, it was complicated.
