Secrets

13: Kara's Graduation Party

Kaleah's POV...

"Congratulations, little sis," I announced as I walked into our parent's carrying several presents for Kara in my hands. Kara gleefully grabbed the bags out of my hand and ran off toward the living room without greeting me back. "Is that how it is between you and me now?" I jokingly asked when I finally made my way into the living room where Kara stood among her friends and our first cousins holding the bags she took out of my hands.

"Sis, you know how I get when I see presents with my name on them. Everything around me ceases to exist," Kara replied with giggles escaping her mouth at the same time leaving the bags sitting on the sofa.

I groaned inwardly, and my anger flared up out of the blue when I heard Marcellus say, "Congratulations, sister-in-law," from behind me.

"What are you doing here..." I was asking him when mom and dad walked out of the kitchen and says, "Marcellus, we're glad that you came son-in-law."

"I wouldn't have missed celebrating Kara's special day with you guys for nothing in the world." He replied, wrapping his right arm around my waist. He pulled me closer to him, then handed Kara a medium size box that was wrapped in purple wrapping paper. I discreetly removed myself from his embrace while giving my parents a sweet smile. "Thank you for inviting me, Mrs. Dyson." He then says to my mom.

"You're welcome, son." Mom says to him, then turns to me and asks, "why didn't you tell Marcellus about Kara's party today?" I wanted to be mad at her for inviting my ex to Kara's special day, but I couldn't because she had no clue that we were no longer together. I haven't told my parents about our separation yet because they love and adore him as if he were their very own son. They thought the world of him because of the way he treated me in their presence.

"I thought that I had." I lied. Marcellus looked at me with a crooked ass grin planted on his face at the same time he tried to wrap his arm around my waist again.

"Leah, I need your help with something upstairs." Kara suddenly uttered. She grabbed my hand and began pulling me towards the stairs just as Marcellus closed the distance between us. "What's going on with you and Marcellus?" She asked as soon as we were in my old bedroom.

"I broke up with him," I answered after sitting down on the edge of my bed.

"Why, Leah?"

"Because he's engaged to get married to someone else, Kara." Besides Anna, Kara was the only other person I felt comfortable enough with to share all my secrets with. I loved our parents dearly, but I knew that they had too much on their plates to worry about me and my small problem at the moment. I didn't want to add to their stress by telling them the man they thought was going to one day be their son-in-law was betrothed to another woman. I didn't want to be a disappointment to Mom and dad after seeing how hard they've worked to make sure that Kara and I never went lacking for anything growing up.

Every dance competition I had, or basketball game Kara had, they made sure that at least one of them was there to support us. Once a month, the four of us would go on a family road trip out of town. Mom was a stay-at-home mom until Kara and I started school. After Kara's first year in school, she went back to college and got her bachelor's degree, majoring in mathematics.

Even though mom was working full-time as a high school math teacher, dad paid all the bills and bought the food and essential household needs. Every time she wanted to help him pay half of the bills, he would tell her that it is his responsibility as the man of the house to take care of his wife and kids. Until a year and a half ago, when he found out that he had stage three prostate cancer, he was doing exactly that.