The Billionaire's Inconvenience (TBB 5)

Beautiful Red Roses

Chapter 24 - Beautiful Red Roses

KAYLA SUMMERS

Kay rang the bell to the house almost three times before it opened

"Who the fuck- Kay?" The familiar voice washed over her and she relaxed "Com'on in."

The door opened wide and she walked in taking in the familiar surroundings.

The brown couch with its throw pillows, the white rug underneath her feet, the coffee table which she usually rested her feet on, the French windows that lead to the backyard, Kayla took it all in, breathed it in and looked directly at the photos on the mantle, directly into the happy eyes of her mother.

She picked up the photo and rubbed a thumb down her mother's face.

"I miss her too." Her father started.

"I don't understand why she kept it a secret."

"Because it was incurable and because she never wanted to appear weak in front of us." He always seemed to know what she was really thinking about.

What would he say when he'd know what she had done?

Her father picked the photograph out of her hands and placed it back on the mantle, guiding her back to the couch.

She picked up the bottle of beer that her father had place don the coffee table. "Your mood suggests a beer would be better than a mug of coffee?"

She nodded.

"C'mere. We'll talk as I cook ."

Kayla nodded and followed her father into the kitchen. 

It was just like the old times when he'd cook every time he was back home for a short time. And just like he'd cook for her after she had died.

Kay was twelve when her mother died. She died slowly, her health deteriorating right in front of Kay's eyes. She had watched her mother die slowly as she waited for her husband to return home.

Kay wouldn't wish that on anyone. To not want to let go without a last glance at her loved ones.

Her mother hadn't told them about her cancer until months before she died. She had refused all kinds of treatment because she said that by the time it was diagnosed, it was too late.

It was never too late. As far as Kay knew, she died waiting for her husband to come home. Didnt tell him because she didn't want her husband to know of her sickness.

"What's up with you?" Her father tried to make small talk but she wanted to get straight to the point.

"Why didn't you leave the Navy?" she blurted.

"What?" He frowned her way.

"She died without a last glance at you. She died waiting for you, not knowing if you'd be back on your own two legs or in a body bag. It's all your fault."

He stiffened at her direct accusation and a sigh escaped his lips before he turned to her.

"I had been waiting for years to hear that. To know what you really felt about her, to know how you felt about me.." He shook her head and continued, "... but you just shut down."

He resumed his work but his voice didn't waver even once. It seemed as if he had been waiting for this confrontation all this time.

"I met your mother when I was back on my vacation. I fell in love the minute I saw her. She was this sweet, smart, sassy girl that everybody in town loved her. She loved me for who I am Kay, she loved me for me. When you were born..." a smile broke out on his face. "...I was ready to turn my back on fighting for the country. I had done my service and i was ready to stay home with you. You became my world, but your mother refused to let me. She was proud of what I did and she wanted me to continue it. She wanted you to be proud of me and to tell the world that your father fought for the country"

He paused for a minute and glanced at her before he confessed, "I knew about the cancer, Kay. I knew it when her results came back. She wrote it all in the letter. She just didn't want to let a twelve year old kid worry over her. She wanted to see you happy.."

"Why didn't you return then?" she whispered.

"I didn't because she didn't want me to. She'd said that she didn't want me to throw away everything for her. Her last wish was for me to not come home without completing my mission. To not return home until my CO sent me back home. I couldn't not grant her, her last wish. She loved us Kay. She loved you and she loved me, loved us for who we are. Do you know how lucky you need to be to have someone love you for all your flaws and imperfections? To love you for what you do and accept and support you for what you do?"

"Very." she whispered. 

He cupped her cheeks and brushed away her tears that she hadn't known were rolling down her cheeks. "It's okay sweetheart." Kissing her forehead, he hugged her.

"I wanna show you something" Taking her hand in his, he guided her to his room. The room that he had shared with his wife before she left them. Pulling out a small box from the back of his closet he handed it to her.

"I miss her and sometimes I get so angry that I couldn't see her one last time before she died. Sometimes I would think that she didn't want me back at all. That she was sending me away because she was happy here all by herself, that she didn't want me."

Kay sat down on the bed with the box on her lap and opened it to find a couple of old letters with wilted flowers

"And then she'd do this thing for me. She would send me a letter with a rose. She always, always sent me a rose, no matter what." With a teary smile he picked up one of the letters and opened it up.

Food forgotten, they both sat with those letters in between them as her father told her stories of her mother.

Most of the letters included her. As to how she had won a spelling bee contest. And when she had punched a kid who bullied her friend. 'Like father, like daughter' her mother had written and she could almost imagine her mother smiling and rolling her eyes as she wrote those letters. Her love was evident in every letter.

"Why rose?"

"Because they grew in our garden. Beautiful red roses. They symbolized her love. She grew them with care and she'd send me one."

Kayla sat there stunned. All this while, she had blamed her father when there was noone to blame. She had pushed people away for all the wrong reasons.

And Dan? Signing those papers now seemed like the biggest mistake she might have ever done.

Tears filled her eyes and she cried in her father's arms.

She cried for the loss of her mother, for the loss of trust in her father, for betraying Logan and for losing Dan and his sweet little daughter.

"Something is troubling you." her father stated as her sobs turned to sniffles.

For once Kayla didn't shut down.

"There's this guy..."

For once she placed her trust in someone.

********

Sorry for the late update guys.

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- Nami