Dad bites his lower lip as Mom turns and commands my attention.
“Look at me, Natalie.”
Eyes stinging, I look over to my mother. “Your father and I are okay, and we will continue to be okay. We’ve been through a lot. That’s marriage, but this…” she gestures between us, “this is unacceptable.”
Dad stares out the window, his frame vibrating with emotion before she speaks again. “Have I ever told you what your father said the minute I placed you in his arms?”
She doesn’t wait for me to answer as Dad rasps out a low, “Addie.”
“He said, ‘I’ve found the perfect love.’”
A strangled noise escapes Dad as his eyes redden, and I cup a hand over my mouth. She turns back to Dad, addressing him as if they’re alone.
“What in the hell are you doing, Nate?” Her voice shakes with emotion. “I did my part, but you’ve been molding our little girl since the first minute you held her, shaping her into a tiny replica of you. She’s just as willful and intelligent and loves just as fiercely as you do.” Dad grips his knees, his knuckles whitening. “But the more you punish her,” my mother urges, “the harder you make it for her to believe that I come in second.”
Dad whips his head toward her as she grips his hand and runs her finger over his wedding ring, “But only to your daughter.”
Raw ache seeps through his gaze as he looks over at her, and she speaks up in a plea for both of us. “Look at her, Nate.”
Dad’s watery eyes drift to mine. “That baby needs you right now.” His expression falters as a fast tear forms and falls, trailing slowly down his cheek. My own tears begin to blind me. “She needs you more than ever, and you’re hurting her. So, I’m asking you, again, what the hell are you doing, Nate?”
Dad’s expression crumbles as I bury my head in my hands and let out a guttural cry. In the next second, I’m whisked into his arms as he encases me fully. His love surrounds me as I shake with grief, completely overwhelmed while he holds me to his chest.
“Daddy,” I croak, just as he does.
“I’m sorry, too. I’m so sorry, Natalie,” he rasps out. “You’re my life, and there’s nothing, nothing, on this earth you could do that could erase an ounce of my love for you.”
Doing my best to catch my sobs, I fail when I feel my mother’s palm run down my back as Dad continues to whisper to me. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a bastard. It ends now.” I feel him shift his focus to Mom. “I’m sorry, baby.”
I continue to cry in his arms as he speaks to me in broken whispers. “I just…I thought we were closer than that.”
“We were, we are,” I croak.
“Why didn’t you come to me? Why couldn’t you just ask me?”
“I wanted to, so much. I should have. I know that.”
In my father’s arms, and with his words, I feel some semblance of the peace I’ve been so desperate for. When we pull away, I see a reflected glimmer of hope in my dad’s eyes as he gazes back at me with unrestrained love.
“We’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
I nod in quick agreement, my heart beating steadily in my chest, an incredible amount of weight starting to lift from my shoulders. It might take some more time, but the knowledge we both want to figure it out is all I need. Our gazes linger with that knowledge as hope starts to bloom in my chest. The idea that the universes I’ve been praying to merge together may become my future reality further stokes that hope.
Inhaling Dad’s scent, wrapped in the warmth of his budding forgiveness, for the first time since we went wheels up in Arizona, I take my first full breath.
Outside
Stained
Natalie
My parents exit the limo, eyes slightly splotched but sporting matching smiles. Mom and I did our best to repair the damage done to our makeup with the emergency kit the glam squad gifted us for our clutches. I watch them ascend the carpeted stairs surrounded by waiting paparazzi and give myself a little extra time to gather my emotions.
Glancing out of the window now while they pose at the top of the entrance of the hotel for a few pictures, I prepare myself for the long hours ahead. Even with the relief of knowing my relationship with my father is reparable, for the next few hours I’ll still have to play my part in the life I used to comfortably exist in—a life before I fell in love with Easton Crowne.
Urgency continues to build for me to shift my focus on the consistently aching part beating inside me—every one of the beats filled with longing to get back to its owner. Unclasping my clutch, I check my phone to see he hasn’t replied to my earlier text, and my heart cracks a little. He’s purposefully not answering me. More punishment. Briefly, I try to imagine where he is right now in his universe and what he’s thinking.