"Ellie, baby, let me explain" father said. Didn't need an explanation though. It was clear he moved on by the looks of it. The woman clinging onto his arm and the child on his hip said it all.
"You're mother and I didn't get along very well," he continued. "That's why you spent many nights at Nana's house. After so long we decided it wasn't right anymore and get a divorce. We didn't tell you or your brother because you were both too young to understand. And now I've moved on. Elite, meet my wife and other daughter Rylee."
The way the word daughter rolled off his lips made me cringe. Was I jealous? A little bit, yes. But he moved on and now I should too. "Oh."
"How is your mom by the way? I'm sure she's moved on too. I mean she hasn't answered my calls lately when I tried to keep in touch with you and Drew."
"Yeah, she's moved on" I said blatantly. "She's dead and so is Drew." My father put his daughter down and hugged me. It's been awhile since I've been in his arms but it was just the same as I last remembered. It felt.... nice.
"Then if they're gone, where are you living and going to school?" He pulled away and looked me in the eyes.
Just then Monica walked around the corner. "Ellie, there you are. Oh- hello there." She said towards my father. "Ellie who's this?"
"Monica meet my dad. Dad meet my soon-to-be mother-in-law." Both of them looked at each other in confusion. As far as Monica knew, my father was long gone and my dad didn't even know I had a boyfriend. I didn't get my chance to explain that yet.
"Dad," I started slowly, "it's my turn to explain. You remember my first day of second grade, right? Also the day you left. But any way, I met a boy named Jake and we've been best friends since. When mom passed away, I went to live with Jake and his parents." I motioned towards Monica.
"About a week later, Jake took me to a fancy dinner and, well, you can fill in the rest." I stopped to give him a minute to process everything.
"Well, El's, i'm very happy for you. I should get going before our groceries go bad. But you should call me sometime. I miss being part of your life."
"Welcome home love," Jake greeted as I walk through the door. Once he actually looked at me, he came running over to take some of the grocery bags. 'What a gentleman' I thought.
While we unloaded and put away all the food, I filled Jake in about everything. He was surprised at first but then happy for me. I couldn't help but think how I finally had a sister. Although she had a different mother, she still had some of the Rose genes.
"How do you feel about it all?" Jake asked. "I know he just left your life and moved on and now he wants to pop right back in like nothing happened."
I had to ponder on that. There was good and bad to it. "I am not sure. Either way, he still going to be my dad. I was a little jealous of his other daughter who hung all over him like I used to. My biggest fear though is not connecting again soon enough for him to meet you and walk me down the aisle. He hadn't stayed in my life long enough to know you so the engagement threw him off track I think."
"Then I think you know what's right to do" Jake responded, glancing at the piece of paper with my father's number. For a half a second, I wanted to be wrong and forget this ever happened. In the end though, I know somewhere deep down in the mush of brain I had, that it was wrong to let him go off out of my life again.
