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She rises from her chair, speechless and dumbfounded. Alex wraps his hand around her arm, jumping up from his seat. She brushes him off, and she doesn’t look at him. When my son sits back down, my gaze meets Kamila’s round belly, and I’m stung with guilt over upsetting her.
My daughter-in-law reaches my side of the table, and she takes Kendrick away from me without sparing me another glance. She puts him in his stroller, careful not to wake him. “Thank you for dinner, Felicita. You outdid yourself. I’m going home. I want to be left alone.”
Fylox gets up, but Kamila ignores him. She’s out of the door before we know it.
“If you’re going to fight, take it outside,” Felicita demands. Her squinted eyes are full of disappointment. “The staff is coming over to clean up, and they don’t need to see this.”
“There will be no fight,” Alex announces. He pushes his chair back. “To make it easier for all of you, I will retire and move to Katantia. My father doesn’t have to interfere with my life in America anymore, and he can take a break to rethink his relationships.”
“You’ll regret it,” Fylox comments.
“In what sense? I get to see my kids grow up,” Alex blurts out. “I’m tired of you thinking that all I care about is work.”
“What else am I supposed to think? You’re your father’s son,” Fylox says.
“I’m my mother’s son, too, and she gave up her career to raise me while he was out in the world, killing people and calling it a job. It’s not my fault that you weren’t there when I was a kid.”I learned from the best.You weren’t there, Dad. Get over it. Only Alex sounded much kinder back then. Now, he is bitter. “You’re trying to compensate for your past, but I won’t allow you to work yourself to death, Dad. Kamila’s going to let you go. You need a break.”
“What do you think you’re doing, son?” I ask, and my sister grows quiet. She doesn’t move a limb. Everyone at this table is full of guilt, reeking from miles away. Fylox pretends like he doesn’t exist, barely breathing. He’s inhumane on his good days. Now, he’s a ghost.
Without Kamila to keep them in order, my son and my second-in-command are lost.
“I’m saving you,” Alex states.
Felicita shudders at my mirthless laugh. “You’re casting me out.”
I’m left cold at the realization. I’m not even surprised. First, Kamila took away Kendrick, and now, my son takes away my livelihood. They’re stripping me of everything important in my life, and they want me to bow and take it.
“I gave you everything,” I remind my son. Everyone in this room better remember.
Alex twists his head in my direction, fast and full of fury. “You. Gave. Me. Nothing.”
“Don’t say things you can’t take back—”
My son interrupts my sister, sneering at her. “You stay out of it.”
Felicita lowers her gaze, defeat taking over. Her shoulders are slumped, and she’s forcing herself to stay numb while the tears are glistening on her cheeks.
“Jordan Winters isn’t real as far as I’m concerned. He’s a façade, isn’t he? Who are you, Dad? Will you ever let us know?”3013. No, I won’t, son. Alex goes on, “You crowd me. You press all the answers you need from us, yet you never give up anything of your own. You control our lives. You want us to be grateful… For what? For a failed dinner with your slut of the week?”
“Ivy isn’t a slut,” Fylox intervenes before I can open my mouth, and I stare at my second-in-command. They’re all fond of my doe, and I want it to stay that way. Something’s wrong, and I need to figure out what it is. My doe might be in danger. She wouldn’t stand me up like this. I need to finish this dinner and find her. “Your father hasn’t touched a woman in years. I don’t think it’s a joke, Alex. It’s real.”
“It is,” Felicita blurts out.
Stunned, I sit at this table. My body still feels the weight of my grandson, our small miracle. Kendrick doesn’t ask for much right now. He wants to be loved and taken care of. He doesn’t know the legacy he represents. He doesn’t yet understand who we are. I feel his weight on me, tiny as he is right now, but I know that one day, we’ll have to help him become bigger than us.
He’s our future, and we must protect him.
My family means the world to me, and to see my son turn on me the way he just did breaks me.
“I bet he wishes you were his son. You’re the perfect soldier, at his beck and call all the time. Is that why you don’t want me here?” Alex scorns, and Fylox appears positively taunted. This wasn’t a conversation we ever anticipated to have this late and in front of my sister out of all people. She’s had enough trauma in her life. She doesn’t need to witness how I ruin my relationship with Alex.
“Alex,” Fylox warns my son.
My afternoon began in a light tone. My doe was coming over for a night of fun with my family. She’d have slept over if it were up to me. It would’ve been human, normal at best. We could’ve pretended like we were a normal couple for once.
We aren’t.
My family is far from normal.
