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Chapter 29
Mikel
Mikel climbed into the cab at the airport. It had been more than four years since he’d last been in the United States. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t drowning in the urge to use whenever he had a bad day. He missed his family. He owed a lot of people apologies.
He had dialed his brother on several occasions, only to hang up. It would have hurt too much to ask about Remy. He didn’t want to know if she had met someone else, or if she had a family of her own now. He’d ruined the only pure thing in his life because of his choices, his disease. He owed her so much, and the only way he knew how to repay her was to stay away.
She had asked him to come back when he was able to look at himself and see his life was worth fighting for. He would always be a work in progress, but if he waited any longer, it may have been too late to fulfill at least one promise he’d made to her.
“Where to?” the cab driver asked.
The truth was, he had never been more terrified in his life about going back than he was now. This was a fork in the road. A small choice with a huge impact. He took a deep breath.
“Shattered Cove.” Home.
* * *
An hour later, he stood across the street from the house he’d left all those years ago. Memories returned of stuffing the bare necessities he’d owned into the bag still at his side and rushing towards his truck; and of Jasmine’s pleading voice, begging him to stay and think about what he was doing. He swallowed the lump of emotion rising in his throat.
The smell of barbecue lifted from the backyard where he could hear the unmistakable laughter of his brother and sister. He took a deep breath and crossed the road. His body trembled, and he forced his leaden feet forward.
What if they can’t forgive me?
What if they reject me?
What if they pity me?
He walked past the two lilac trees, their sweet floral scent drawing him out of his head. Pressure settled in his chest as nervous knots twisted and wound his guts tight. A car door shut somewhere in the distance.
He kept his eyes trained ahead as his family came into view. Jasmine was not the teenager she’d been when he left. She was much more woman now, having grown into her curves. Her long hair was shaved on one side—an edgy look only she could pull off. Bently stood at the grill flipping the burgers, holding a beer. He seemed bigger, larger than life, a commanding presence as always.
A gasp from Jasmine directed Mikel’s attention back to her. She was looking right at him, her hand covering her mouth. Bently turned to see what had alerted her, locking on to Mikel.
There was none of the expected anger. Shock turned into disbelief. Neither of his siblings moved, as if they were afraid to spook him, or end the mirage in front of them. He walked forward, dropping his bag in the grass and placing his hands in his pockets.
“Mikel?” The shocked sweet voice came from his left—the one he only heard in his dreams. Remy. All the same feelings he’d had for her came rushing back to the surface, threatening to drown him. His heart throbbed with the all-too-familiar ache that he had grown accustomed to in her absence.
She was now curves and glowing brown sun-kissed skin. His Dove was as beautiful and pure as he remembered, if not more so.
“Is that my daddy?” came a little voice.
Mikel spotted the little girl with chubby cheeks and tight curls hiding behind her mother’s leg, her skin a few shades lighter than her mother’s.
Daddy?What the fuck?
His world spun as the ground beneath him swayed and bucked. He staggered back before falling to his knees, the breath sucked from his lungs.
“Lyra, why don’t you come with me?” Jasmine said, rushing to whisk the little girl into the house.
Lyra. The power in those four little letters would have knocked him to the ground again if he had been standing. If he’d had any doubt in his mind that she was his daughter, it was erased with that name.
“You came back,” Bently said as he took a few steps closer.
“She’s mine?” Mikel asked, hot anger burning his skin as he managed to consider the watery brown eyes staring back at him.
Remy nodded.
“I thought she was dead. You told me …”
