Together As Mutants (Book Six)

Chapter 58: Father's Day

"Papá? It's Taylor. Can we talk?"

Taylor waits outside Jack's bedroom door for some kind of sound. She knocks again, calling out to him softly, and she hears an affirmative grunt from within. She pushes the door open.

Jack lays on his bed, staring at the ceiling, but he sighs and sits up as Taylor shuffles in and shuts the door behind her. For a second, they stare at each other.

"I need to ask you something about mamá," she says. Jack's jaw clenches. "She said when you separated, you bought her out of her half of custody so that she could leave without being tied down."

He looks away from her, letting out a long sigh. "That's part of it."

"Why? She said she wanted to keep me around."

"Sure, she said that, but I knew her. I knew who she was. I..." Another sigh as he presses his hand to his face, only to run it back over his hair. "I was already losing her and the thought of...of having to share you when she only liked the novelty of being a mother; I couldn't do that to you."

She stares at him, biting her lip against the foolish tremble building in it. She pictures what it would've been like if she had gone to Spain every summer, but all that comes to mind is Isabel's expression from the beach, downtrodden in the face of her mother's disinterest. Taylor must have worn that expression a thousand times over before her mamá left.

Jack stares at the floor, his hands forming fists intermittently. "I wanted to give you the world," he breathes.

"I didn't need the world, papá."

He shakes his head. "I wanted to give you everything your heart desired and...and she only wanted what made her happy. She was always chasing her own happiness, Taylor, even when I begged her to think of our family. She..." He gazes at her with dewy, pained eyes. "I was falling apart and you were the only thing that kept me going. I couldn't let her take you away when she had taken everything else from me."

Taylor thinks of the night she packed up Bindo and her guitar, disappearing into the dark with little more than the backpack on her shoulders. "I needed my parents," she says. "I...I was a kid, papá."

"I know, I know, and I never should've been so selfish. I should've called Carmela sooner but I had too much pride. I thought I could handle it."

He drops his head into his hands and Taylor comes closer, hesitating before sitting next to him. The bed creaks, the mattress squeaking softly.

"The night I was arrested..." he says. "I was drunk and scared and...I called Bianca. I was going to ask her to help you, but she didn't pick up. Maybe, if she had..."

Taylor hugs his arm, tucking her head against his shoulder, feeling him quiver with emotion. If her mamá had come and gotten her, spirited her away...she would have never gotten mixed up with the Purple Dragons.

She would have never met Raphael.

"We can't change what happened," Taylor whispers. "All you can do is try to be better because of it and work for forgiveness."

He raises his head, reddened hazel eyes locking on hers. "Do you think you'll be able to forgive your old papá someday, selfish as he is?"

She nods. "I think so."

He brings her into a somewhat awkward hug, tucking her head under his chin and squeezing tight as he takes a big, deep breath. She returns it, far too aware of the second elephant waiting for its turn in the corner of the room.

"And..." She pulls away. "About Raphael." His lips purse tightly and she exhales. "I was going to tell you."

He runs his hand through his hair again. "So...the turtle thing wasn't sunstroke?"