New York New York

Mackenzie .. 3

"I didn't leave, your mom left," He took his hand back, placing it on the weel again, looking a bit upset.

"Why didn't you stop her?"

"I didn't have a chance. I didn't even know she was leaving until after she was gone. And I didn't know she was pregnant until after she was gone."

"She was still pregant with me?! How did you...?" How did he know it was me when he saw me? Sure, I looked like my mom, but he knew my name too?

"She called me, you were almost two. She told me about you, but not much. After that though, we never talked again. I tried to see her, and you, but she never called me back, never answered any messages, and even moved. Before Ohio, she lived in Louisiana, that's where her and I met."

It was a big relief to hear that he didn't ditch me. I trusted everything he said, especially knowing how my mom is. I wanted to know why she left, but doubted Jonah would even know. She was probably cheating on him, or - well, yeah, I can almost garuntee it.

"So, why'd you come? How'd you find me? How'd you get here?" I was realizing he wasn't upset I was here, but he was actually happy. How often does something like this happen?

"It took forever for me to find you, and I got a lot of rides, took busses, walked, I did everything."

"Your mom doesn't know, does she?" It had to be pretty obvious....

"No...," I hoped he woouldn't make me call her or something.

"Why not?"

"I hate her. I hate her husband. I hate his kids. And I hate Ohio."

"Mackenzie, you can stay here as long as you'd like, but we'll have to tell your mom eventually. Or I could get in trouble. And we don't need her worrying," Jonah tried to explain to me. Tears started rolling down my face, but he didn't see them until he got out of the car and came to open my door.

He pulled me out of the car, wrapping me into a hug, "Come on, we'll talk about it inside," Jonah shifted me, so we were walking side by side, and he still had his arm wrapped around me.

Jonah's house was huge, with two nice cars - plus his - parked in the long driveway, a basketball hoop connected to the garage, and a pool in the backyard.we went in through the front door, standing in a large, open living room.

"Liz?" He yelled, and a tall, thin, pretty woman appeared in the room. She kissed Jonah's cheek, then grabbed my hands, holding them out, looking me up and down.

"Hi Mackenzie, I'm Liz, I want you to make yourself at home, okay? Please, anything you need, help yourself, or any of us can help you," she hugged me, then slid out the door, and returned with everything from the car.

"Let's try and get you settled in, then we'll figure some things out, huh?" I nodded, then followed my dad through the house, up some stairs, and down a hallway. There were six doors, and I guessed most of them were bedrooms. He opened one door, and led me into it.

"This room is going to be yours for now, is that okay? He sat a bag on the bed. Liz found this stuff for you," He opened the bag, and it was full of clothes, "It should fit, it's mostly her old stuff."

"Thank you," I hugged him. He pulled me back out into the hallway, and opened the door right next to my room. It was a big bathroom. Jonah pulled two towels out of a cabinet, and hung them on a rack.

"You can get cleaned up, do whatever you need. I'm going to get get dinner ready...." He pulled a little box out of a different cabinet, setting a few things around the sink. There was a toothbrush, a hairbrush, a few hair-ties, a couple headbands, and washclothes. He waved at me, then left.

I picked up the little green toothbrush, and opened the medicine cabinet above the sink, looking for toothpaste. I brushed my teeth before I got undressed and dragged myself into the shower.

The hot water felt great, rinsing all the dirt and sweat off of me. Each drop of water raced down my body, like I was too gross for them to stay too long. I scrubbed at my face, then my hair, getting as clean as I could. After I was done, I wrapped myself is the fluffy white towel, and flipped my hair into another, so it didn't drip all over the floor. I grabbed the hairbrush and my dirty clothes, taking them with me back into my room.

I shut my door tight, then got dressed quickly, and brushed my hair. I slipped on a tee-shirt, which ended up being a bit too baggy, and a pair of jean shorts, that fit just right. I left the dirty clothes and towels in a pile on the floor at the end of the big bed, and folded up all the new clothes that were in the bag from Liz. I left the room, and pulled the door shut after me, then shut the bathroom door too. I turned, to go back downstairs, but ran into someone instead. We both jumped back, instinctively, and they yelled.

"Who the hell are you?!" He gasped, surprised. He was at least a half foot taller than me, and had to bend his neck just to get a good look at me.

"Who are you?" I asked back, even though I was the stranger in this picture.

The boy wasn't wearing a shirt, but was wearing jogging pants. He was covered in sweat, and was holding an iPod and headphones in his hand. He was tall, tan, and muscled, but looked a little bit frightened.

"I think I asked first," He stammered.

Jonah and Liz appeared at the end of the hall, staring at me and the boy. "Oh boy...," they said in unison.

"Get cleaned up and to dinner, now," Liz pointed at him, and he rushed away. "I can get your dirty stuff, sweetie," Liz said, walking into my room, "and you can just head downtstairs if you're ready," she smiled, scooping up the pile of laundry. I waited, then followed her and Jonah down to the dinning room.

A long, mahogany table was set up, with four chairs on each side, and one on each end. There were six people standing around the room. When Liz, Jonan, and I walked in the room, they all sat down, and immediately all fell into conversation.

"Hey, you guys," Jonah stood at the end of the table, looking into everyones' eyes, "This is Mackenzie, my daughter."

Everyone had a different reaction. I heard a giggle, a gasp, and saw silent, confused faces, smiles, and glares.

"Your what?" The boy I'd ran into upstairs was back, standning in the doorway.

I'm his daughter, stupid. Making him say it again isn't going to make the facts change. It'll be the same. He said it once, he can say it again.

I'm his daughter.

His daughter.

His blood, his kin, his family.

And he's my dad.

My family. The only family who's ever seem to care for me. And the day was just getting interesting.