Her Inked Heart

Chapter 6

Adam kept looking around the house. He hasn't met Clara's father yet, nor does she talk about him. He's only seen photos of him and her when she was younger, but he knows that she'll talk about it eventually. Elizabeth and Hannah had spent the whole day cooking a large meal for all of them, and he was loving all the food that was prepared.

"Adam, thank you for arranging this with my son," Elizabeth says, taking a bite of vegetables mixed together.

"Of course, it was my pleasure," Adam says, "I do have a question for all of you."

Clara took a bite, smiling at Adam. They were sitting next to each other, Adam sitting next to Elizabeth, Hannah on Clara's other side.

"What is it?" Nathan asks, taking a bite of some food. Lauren was vegan, and he was slowly getting to a point where he was going to be vegan as well, but he was still in the process of changing his diet.

"Where is your dad?" Adam asks, Clara freezing. She didn't want to answer that question, but knew it was coming at some point. Emotions hit her hard, beginning to sob at the table. She didn't like crying in front of her family, so she stands up, running upstairs, "Clara, wait."

"I'll go talk to her," Nathan says, him and Lauren running after her. Hannah and Elizabeth sat there, silent.

"What did I say?" Adam asks, Elizabeth reaching her hand out to him.

"My husband died when Clara and Nathan were teenagers," Elizabeth says, Adam taking a deep breath. He now knows why Clara never talks about him.

"Clara, Nathan, and Dad were driving down a highway," Hannah says, "The three of them were coming home from a concert, but there was a drunk driver that hit them."

"My husband died instantly, and both Nathan and Clara just got some scrapes and bruises," Elizabeth says, tearing up, "Clara also had whiplash, but all she cared about was her dad. It took three officers to pull her off of my husband's body, as she didn't want to let him go."

"She went to therapy for a long time, but she's never fully recovered from his death," Hannah says, "My dad and Clara were as close as a father and daughter could be. I mean, we were all close to him, but Clara and Dad were inseparable."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Adam says, gripping Elizabeth's hand into his, "Truly, I am. I didn't mean to hurt you guys. Clara never talks about him, so I was curious."

"Give her time, she just needs to cry for a bit, but she'll come back down," Elizabeth says, "And thank you. She'll understand that you didn't mean anything, and she'll know that you were just curious about why he isn't here."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"I don't talk about him," Clara says, sobbing. She was lying on a bed that used to be hers, but is now the bed for a guest bedroom in her mother's house, "I don't talk about Dad."

"I know," Nathan says, brushing Clara's hair back. Lauren was rubbing the side of Clara's body, "I know you don't."

"I miss him," Clara says, Nathan holding back tears. His sister hasn't fully healed in over 7 years. The 8-year anniversary of their father's death was coming up, and he knew how depressed Clara got on that day, "I wish I died in that car."

"You don't mean that," Lauren says, "You don't mean that, Clara."

Clara continued to sob. Her dad was her whole world, and when he died, Clara had lost her view of the world. She felt that the world hated her and wouldn't let her be happy. She missed her father every day, and every day she felt like the world was going to remind her that she didn't have him in her life any longer.