All The Faith In The World

Chapter 20: She's Perfect

Robert's P.O.V

There she stood in front of me. Her sparkling green eyes gazing into mine. Freckles dotting all over her little nose. Her smile so bright it could light up the whole world. My daughter.

"Nice to meet you, dad." she said.

"Howdy darlin'. I'd begun to think we'd never get to meet," I said.

When Faith was born, her mom didn't want me in her life. We met on accident and what we did was an accident. For all she was concerned, Faith was an accident too. I told her I didn't want her to resent Faith for what I had done while she was still growing up. I didn't want no child of mine being mistreated and abused. However, a very big part of me knew she would no matter how much I begged. That's what killed me the most walking out those hospital doors.

I wanted to stay in her life so bad. I always wanted kids, and she was absolutely perfect in every single way. But, her mom had already started a family of her own. This just kind of threw a big old monkey wrench in the family tree. The last time I saw Faith, her mom was talking to her husband on the phone, trying to make him forgive her. She was saying that this kid wouldn't change anything between them. She said she loved him very very much. I'm guessing he believed her because next thing I know, he's coming into the hospital room, two little boys following behind him, and sweeping her off her feet. They kicked me out and I never heard from Mary or Cliff again.

"W-Would you like to s-sit down?" she asked.

"I would love to," I said. The nervous hostess showed us to an empty table. Faith sat across from me, rubbing her hands together nervously.

"S-so," she stuttered.

"I just want to start off by apologizing. I know I wasn't there for you ever, and you deserve better than that. It's just your mom really didn't want me in your life at all because she was mad at herself for doing what she did. And she was trying to push me away and act like that 'accident' never happened. But, it did.

"Look, I don't blame you if you hate me, I honestly would too if I was in your position. But, I just want you to know that I will always love you. I wish I could've seen you grow up. I wish I could've heard your first word. I wish I could've taught you how to ride a bike. I wish I could intimidate the boys who come to our door asking if Faith is home. I wish you knew how much I love you. But, I can't go back and change any of that. I'm just glad I finally got to see you. My beautiful Faith."

Faith's P.O.V

I started tearing up as he spoke. It wasn't his fault at all. It was mom's. She didn't want him around because of the major earthquake he caused in our family. He didn't want to leave me.

"I don't hate you. Yes, once I found out what happened I was angry, but that's only because I heard my brother's side. Not yours. And their side is whatever my mom told them, which isn't true. I was just thinking that you didn't want me. That I wasn't good enough for you. But, now knowing what really happened, I realize that that's not what you thought. And, even though you missed some childhood things, we can always start fresh and make our lives now great. There is no better time than the present, right?"

He nodded his head, smiling his half smile.

"I just didn't want you to think that I hated you or that I was one of those dads who just skips town and doesn't think twice about their kids. Truth is, I've been thinking about you for forever." he said, as I was wiping yet another tear from my eye.

"So, what do yo do now?" I asked.

"Well, I'm a housing bulldozer operator, which means I tear down old, abandoned houses for a living. I live alone in a one story house not too far from here. And, well, that's pretty much me." he chuckled.

I've only read about things like this happening in books. I never imagined them to be real.

"What about you, little girl?" he asked.

"Well, I'm 14 years old and turning 15 pretty soon, but you probably knew that. I am a freshman in high school. You see them over there?" I asked, pointing to Connor and Noah trying to be inconspicuous but obviously watching everything, "They are my brothers. The shorter one is Noah and the older one is Connor. They saved me in a pretty tough spot, which I will get to in a little bit. And I love them very much. Um, I am a dancer on a competitive dance team. I love to dance and I miss it like crazy. That boy I walked in with, his name is Hayden, and he is my best friend. And only friend really. I'm kind of an outcast at school. I'm also bullied at school, but that's okay. I really don't mind it. But, yeah, that's basically my life."

"What about the incident you described with your brothers?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah. Well, a few months ago, my other dad picked me up from school because my mom, who was drunk at the time asked him to instead of Connor and Noah like normal. So, he did and he took me to his apartment, where he left me all night until about 4 am when he returned, drunk. I was so scared, I called Noah and begged him and Connor to come there. And they did without a moments hesitation. But, before they got there, my dad had aready dislocated my knees and broken my wrist because I had called them and he was mad that I did. When they found me, I was under the bed in the guest room, curled up into a ball and couldn't move. They moved the bed over and picked me up. Then, they ran out of the apartment and to the car. But, the rug burns and my dad had made the cuts in my knees really really deep. They were bleeding, like really bleeding. Connor drove us to the hospital and I remember him yellig at a nurse to just get us bck there, there was no time for paperwork. They got scared looks on their faces and ran to get a gurney. And as I was just laying there in Noah's arms, I knew I couldn't hold on much longer. They must've known too, because they were crying in their bloodstained clothes. I told them I was trying, but I loved them just in case. Luckily, the nurses came back just at that moment and saved me." I said.

Robert was wiping his eyes, but obviously trying to hold it together for me.

"Wow," he said finally, "Those two are really amazing."

I smiled. "Yeah. Yeah they really are. I'm really lucky to have them."

"Do I get to meet these everyday superheroes?"

"Oh my gosh, yes! Yes, of course! Give me one second." I got up from the booth and practically sprinted to where Connor and Noah were pretending to be cleaning tables.

"So, this is Robert. My dad. I told him the story about the apartment and he wants to meet you guys. Now, I understand if you don't want to because obviously it's awkward, but-"

"Of course we will," Noah said. I smiled and grabbed both their hands, eager with excitement, and took them to the table.

Robert saw us coming and stood up from the small booth.

"Dad, this is Noah and this is Connor." He shook their hands.

"I just want to start out by saying I'm sorry for bringing so much chaos into your guys house when you were both so little. And I also want to thank you, for saving Faith from, well you know." He sort of trailed off.

"No problem," Connor said, "We will never let anything bad happen to her again. She is our little sister, and when you care about someone as much as we care about Faith, you are willing to do whatever to make sure they're okay. We couldn't get along without her."

"And as for the chaos," Noah said, "I'm glad you did. In the end, it really showed us who our parents really are. Which is a good thing. After every rainstorm comes a rainbow, and for us, Faith is that rainbow." He put his arm around my shoulders . "Like Connor said, we couldn't get along without her."