Tais-Toi

Chapter Twenty-One

"I always know how to make a big entrance... Well, well. So, you must be Josh." Heather says while stepping to Josh. Even she knows about him... She gives him a kiss on his cheek, like a normal family would do. "I'm Heather. I bet you've heard about me?" He laughs.

"Yes, the cool CIA-grandmother." He answers. You have got to be kidding me! So, he knows about her too?

"Correct! Gwendolyn, darling." She says while hugging her. According to me, they have known each other for quite some time. Then, she comes up to me. "Willow." She sigh. "You look so much more like your mother than you think. She also made a scene out of everything. A little drama queen." She also gives me a hug. But then she whispers something in my ear that I didn't expect. "I'm sorry, I had a very important mission." When she let go I smile for a few seconds before she walks to the kitchen.

"Hello, mother." Dad says ironically.

"You deserved that. You don't let your daughter feel like that!" I can't hide a smile. Dad follows her to the kitchen and Gwen and Josh go upstairs. I, not knowing what to do, take a seat in the couch next to the tree. My head is resting right under the branches. The lights are so beautiful and I fall asleep.

I wake up because I hear voices coming out of the kitchen. It's dad and Heather talking. My hearing is very good so with a little bit of concentration, I can hear what they're saying.

"It doesn't have to go this way, Cully. You can still fix this. Just tell her the truth. All of it, no lies. And tell it to Gwendolyn too. I know she knows a lot more that Willow does, but she still doesn't know everything. Gwendolyn doesn't know what happened in Belgium. Only you know that. But just... do it, soon. The longer you wait, the worse you make it."

"I don't know, mom. I don't think I can do it. I've tried a couple of times. Nothing worked." And when exactly did he try to tell me anything?

"Do you want me to do it? And you can stand by me and correct me when I'm wrong."

"No, that's not right." He mumbles and I hear the kitchen chairs moving.

"She has changed, you know. Willow has changed since the last time I saw her. She used to be happy, even when she didn't know the truth. Her eyes, they used to be bright. She's a teenager, not a kid anymore. She's a ticking time bomb and when she explodes, she will be gone forever. Time is running out, Cully."

"Time always runs out. Things never happen the way I imagined them. I really thought it would stay like this." He continued.

"Living a lie? You want to keep living a lie?" She asks. What does she mean with living a lie? Is my mum still alive, maybe?

"If it would have stayed like a few months ago, yes, gladly."

"Cully, there are only three things in life that can't be hidden forever: the moon, the sun and the truth."

"I know, I know, but it would have been so nice: a life with my two girls, no questions, no mysteries. Just a happy family. There's something about Christmas that makes me nostalgic. I wish we could be like before, when Merel still lived."

"That's not true." Well, I do wish I could go back to that time... "I believe you got over her. You learned how to live without her and you raised two beautiful girls on your own. I know there's one thing you actually wish. The thing you desire the most. You just have to admit it to yourself and say it out loud." He sighs and I hear the clock ticking the seconds away.

"I just wish that I was her real father."