Your Last Everything

Chapter Twenty-Four - Ava

"Why would you keep this from us, Ava?" My mother asked.

My father was sitting next to her, and so was Lenny. After being locked in my room for the past three days crying, I decided that my parents needed to know everything about Noah.

Lenny was here since my parents had called her because they thought I needed my best friend.

I wiped at my tears. "I thought that I could handle it on my own. I didn't want you guys to be disappointed in me." I choked out, wringing my hands in my lap.

"Why would we be disappointed in you, lovebug?" My father asked, standing up and coming to where I was sitting.

"Because all I wanted my entire life was to have the type of love you and mom have. I tried to look for it everywhere. It doesn't exist. It's not real, dad."

I wrapped my arms around his waist and set my face in his chest as I sobbed. I felt him hold me tightly, his hands rubbing at my back.

"Ava," My father started, his hands pulling me back so he could look at my face, "I need you to tell me. Did that man ever lay his hands on you?"

"No, Noah never hit me."

"This whole time..." Lenny murmured, "You were going through all of this alone."

I saw her move towards me and pull me into her arms. She hugged me tightly, and I felt her body shake as she cried with me.

"I'm the worst friend to have not noticed. I should have asked. I should have been there for you."

"How about Dimitri? Does he know about this?" My mother asked.

"He's the officer who took my statement that night when I filed the restraining order." I pulled away from Lenny, but our hands stayed linked together as she comforted me silently.

"Noah wants to get back together with me. He wants to be around Aiden and wants the three of us to be a family."

"Does he now?" My mother snapped, sarcasm evident in her tone. "What a pitiful excuse of a man. I should call his mother and tell her what a horrible son she raised."

"Mom, he went to rehab. He got clean and sober."

"Does his soberness excuse how he treated you the whole time you two were together? Does it take away your pain?" My father brought up a valid point.

"I know, dad. I know all of this. Do you think the decision to deal with Noah alone was easy?"

"It's been hard on me. I'm trying to do the right thing, so I don't look back at my life with regrets."

"Despite what Noah put me through, he is Aiden's father. I barely introduced them, and Noah loves him. I need to try, not for my sake but for my son's sake."

"What kind of a person would I be if I didn't allow Aiden to have his father in his life? I can't use Noah's past mistakes as an excuse. I'd be a lousy person and mother."

"How do you know he won't relapse again? That one day, he has a bad day and decides to drink? What will you do then?"

"Go through it all over again, but this time with your son. A year isn't enough for him to have healed and dealt with his inner demons."

"I just want to do the right thing." I cried, "I don't even know what the right thing is anymore. I want Aiden to be happy and to have a good life."

"I want my son to grow up and not hate me for deciding on whether or not his father is in his life."

I put my face in my hands as brand-new tears poured out of me like an endless pool of self-loathing and pity.

"Where does Dimitri fit into all of this?" I heard my father ask.