time he’s ever shown me any affection since I was five years old. It feels foreign to have his arms wrapped around me in such an affectionate embrace, like he feels like I’ll disappear if he lets me go. It has me choking up, and my eyes begin to water, but then I remember all the years he’s abandoned me and I harden my stance.
“Dad...I need to breathe,’’ I choke out.
“Sorry. Yeah...you need air. I’m sorry,’’ he stammers and I look at him with an eyebrow raised wondering where the hell my dad has gone. The man in front of me just seems like a complete stranger.
“Why am I here dad?’’ I sigh.
“Hear him out Denny,’’ Nan warns gesturing to the chair I’m standing in front of, not making any moves to take a seat. When she gives me that ‘I’m warning you right now’ look, I quickly pull out the chair and take a seat.
“I’m going to...um... order a milkshake. Yeah, a milkshake. Does anyone else want anything while I go up there?’’ Harlow asks nervously.
I know she’s doing it to give us some privacy, but I really don’t want her to leave me alone with them right now. I grab her hand, looking at her with pleading eyes not to leave me. Thankfully my dad speaks up making me relax.
“They come over to take your orders,’’ he smiles. “And it’s on me.’’
“Thank you, Mr. Smith.’’
“Call me Charles.’’
“Dad?’’ I call again, wanting him to say whatever it is he has to say so I can go and get me some trousers that stretch over my large frame.
“Yes, sorry Denny.’’
He opens his mouth to reply when the waitress walks over taking our orders. If I’m honest I just want to strangle her and tell her to fuck off while my dad talks to me, but I’m not that sort of person. One thing my parents did teach me, was manners.
As soon as she brings back our drinks we all settle in to listen to my dad.
“How are you? And the baby?’’ he says looking down at my stomach and I swear I see his eyes soften, but that can’t be right. He didn’t want me to keep the baby as much as my mother didn’t.
“Why do you care? You made yourself perfectly clear where I stand, dad.’’
“Denny, please listen,’’ Nan snaps and I whip my head to hers wondering why she’s pushing me to listen to him when she told me she was on my side, that she didn’t agree with what they had done to me.
“Denny, for me to explain the choices that I made in my life I need to explain a few other things to you. Before you were born I was in love with a woman named Katie. We had been together for several years. She had broken up with me and it devastated me to the point I went out every night to drown my sorrows. She left town shortly after, never telling me goodbye or where she was going.
“When I met your mother I was on the rebound and just needed to feel loved. We kind of dated for a few years, and I did start to care for her in my own way, even though everyone warned me she had just pulled the wool over my eyes. When I found out about you, I wanted you straight away. I needed you in my life, but then I found out a few things about your mother, who she really was and that’s when everything turned to shit.
“She deliberately got pregnant for my family’s wealth. She knew I never loved her, or wanted anything more than what we were. So she got pregnant with you because she knew I’d marry her because of you. Mom and dad warned me not to. Said that she was bad blood, but I didn’t believe them. Not until you turned two and Katie came back into my life.
“I found out the reason Katie left me was because of your mother. Katie and I made plans, she had some big news she wanted to share, but she needed to show me, so we planned to take you away, to get you out from under her control. We were on our way to our new home when the car brakes stopped working,’’ he says on a whisper, his eyes full of tears.
“Oh my goodness,’’ I gasp, tears filling my own eyes. He tried to take me away from her. I think