“My father.”
“You see him?”
“No and nor do I want to.” I looked at Bryce just to make sure he wouldn’t even suggest it. “If there’s need for him to come here, send him to Julianna. She would be in a greater need.”
“Your mother?”
“The woman that birthed me and that’s it.”
“I understand and so does he.”
“Then this is goodbye.”
Jaylyn left my side to hug Bryce one last time and did so with her arms around him. “I love you, Daddy.”
“And I’ll always love you, my little Princess. I leave you in capable hands.”
Bryce met my eyes as a means of addressing me and he was gone.
Jaylyn stood, looking to the door as if that’s where he had gone and she stayed that way for a while; a long while. I didn’t know if I should say anything or what I would say for that matter but I couldn’t see her stand like that anymore and approached her.
“Jaylyn?” I touched her arms and she never flinched to my presence.
“Hmm?”
Asking if she was all right would have been too obvious. I knew she wasn’t completely all right and stated an alternative. “You did well; seeing him. No one thought you would.”
She turned to me and her eyes have been the same like she wanted to cry. “Because they see me as a child. Is that how you see me?”
“Of course not but I was worried about a different kind of reaction.”
“I’m fine. I think I’ve always just needed to see him. He’s just how I remembered.”
“But you miss him.”
“I’ll always miss him, Troy. Don’t you miss your father?”
It was an undesired question because it only brought thoughts of a different topic. I didn’t want anything to lead to it but I found myself leaning towards it like she needed to hear the truth.
“I used to until I discovered there wasn’t anything to miss. My father turned out to be a horrible person and I’m truly sorry for it.”
“Do you blame him for your mother treating you the way she did?”
“No.” Deep breath. This was it. I was going to tell her. “It wasn’t until years after his death that I found out what he’s done and the lives he destroyed; your life and I am sorry that I was ever apart of him.”
So, I didn’t technically say it. I couldn’t find it in me to use the words but she knew. She stared at me for a few moments and I was beginning to fear this outcome most of all.
“He’s the one that killed my father brutally without mercy to have me?”
Another question that I knew she wouldn’t like its answer but there was no going back now. I just wanted to get all of this out of the way and let her decide what she wants to do.
“Your gift. Bryce tried to keep it hidden even from you but word traveled of a way for lasting life. My father became—obsessive to get it only he didn’t know what it was; he didn’t know that it came from the hand of a little girl.”
“How long have you known this?”
Another answer she wouldn’t like. “Awhile, I suppose but I found out through Trever after we had already met.”
“Trever knew who you were the whole time and let you be with me?”
This was the part I wasn’t ever going to be ready for. I didn’t want her to reject me because of what had happened when we were kids.
“I had nothing to do with my father’s plan. He never even told me about it directly. I heard him talking to my mother one night shortly before he was in that raid that claimed is life. He had the journal. I only saw it for a moment but remembered it when I saw it again. I didn’t want it to be true but I’m sorry that it is.”
“It’s not your fault, Troy.”
Not the response I envisioned but I still argued it. “How could you even remotely be okay with this? I’ve never been so scared in my entire life about what you would think.”
I never felt so foolish when she laughed at me and got closer to put her arms around my waist. “You think that I would hate you?”
“You should hate me.”
“And how can you say that after everything we’ve been through? I’m shocked to the unexpected but I would never trade you for a moment of revenge. I would never be happy and I would never have our little Bryce to keep me happy. I love you and that will never change.”
She hugged me, her face nestled against my chest and I was still trying to understand how normal she was truly being. She really wasn’t mad. I always thought she’d be so full of doubt for being with me that it would be too much to handle and she’d collapse with grief of her own actions. Even Bryce had said it would kill her if she knew what killed him but here she was, holding me with no regret. I guess I’ve just been too afraid to see any other outcome but the one I’ve been fearing. I didn’t have to now; she still chose me.
The years that followed remained happy for us. Though we never saw her father again, he was rarely even mentioned between us. Jaylyn seem perfectly normal like before all of the past came to her through that journal. Our little Bryce was growing and it only made him seem more like me which made her even happier.
There were still times that we were called away and she would seem upset that I wasn’t around but I would always see that same smile upon my return, proving that nothing could be thrown at us that would break our bond. We were forever and our time together still seemed as if it were just beginning.
Coming soon—
The Tenth Installment
Of The Fate’s Intent Series
Blooming Life
Rising Sun (Fate's Intent Book 9) Page 23
