Chapter 4: The Truth About My Mother
I couldn't breathe.
The hallway seemed to narrow around me, the white flowers and gold decorations becoming a blur of expensive things I suddenly couldn't bear to look at.
“What did you just say?”” I asked.
Darius rubbed his face.
“Your mother and I had problems.””
“You told me she kept you away.””
“She did, in the beginning.””
“And after that?””
He didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“You just said she wasn't the reason you stayed away. What does that mean?””
Darius glanced toward the ballroom.
“Can we please have this conversation somewhere private?””
“No.””
“Nia—”
“No. You have spent eight months telling me how much you missed me. You cried when you saw me. You said you never stopped thinking about me.””
“I meant it.””
“Then tell me the truth.””
His shoulders sagged.
For the first time, he looked older than the man in the photographs. The confidence he had worn like a tailored suit was coming apart at the seams.
“I was twenty-four when you were born,” he said.
“I had a job I hated, debts I couldn't manage, and a girlfriend who was terrified of becoming a mother.””
“You mean Mom.””
“Yes.””
“She loved me.””
“I know.””
“She worked two jobs after you left.””
“I know that too.””
“Then how could you abandon us?””
He looked at the floor.
“Because I was selfish.””
The admission was so simple that I almost didn't recognize it.
He continued.
“I thought I had my whole life ahead of me. I thought I could leave for a year, get myself together, and come back when I had something to offer you.””
“But you didn't come back.””
“No.””
“Why?””
He rubbed his palms together.
“Because every month that passed made it harder. Then your mother stopped answering my calls. Then I met someone else. Then I had a chance to start over, and I took it.””
I stared at him.
“You started another family?””
“No. Not exactly.””
“What does that mean?””
“I had relationships. I moved around. I made bad choices.””
“And when did you decide you wanted to be my father?””
His eyes lifted to mine.
“When I saw your engagement announcement.””
I went completely still.
He rushed to explain.
“I saw a photograph online. You were smiling with Marcus, and I realized how much I had missed. Your graduation.
Your first job. Everything. I thought if I waited any longer, I'd never get the chance.””
“So you came back because I was getting married?””
“I came back because I realized I was running out of time.””
I looked at the boutonniere on his lapel.
The white rose had begun to droop.
“Did you ever intend to tell me about the apartment?””
He swallowed.
“Eventually.””
“When?””
“When I had things under control.””
“Were you going to tell me that Marcus had paid for it?””
“I was going to explain.””
“When?””
He said nothing.
I felt something inside me go quiet.
Not anger.
Not even sadness.
Just the terrible realization that the man I had spent eight months trying to know had been giving me whatever answers kept me close to him.
I thought of the childhood stories he had asked me to repeat, the photographs he had studied, the way he had listened when I described my mother's final days.
Had he wanted to know me?
Or had he been gathering the pieces of a life he could claim?
“Did you ask Marcus for money?”” I said.
Darius looked away.
“Not recently.””
“That's not an answer.””
He sighed.
“Yes.””
“How much?””
“It's complicated.””
“How much?””
“Several thousand dollars.””
“For what?””
“Living expenses. Business expenses. A few investments that didn't work out.””
I stared at him.
“You told me you owned three properties.””
“I was working toward that.””
“You told me you had a successful consulting business.””
“I did consulting work.””
“You told me you were helping pay for the wedding.””
“I intended to.””
“Did you have the money?””
His face hardened.
“Not all of it.””
“How much did you have?””
He didn't answer.
I laughed once, bitterly.
“You came into my life and made me believe you were the father I'd been missing. You told me you regretted every year you were gone. You made me feel guilty for having a life without you.””
“I never wanted you to feel guilty.””
“Then why did you keep telling me how much you had suffered?””
“Because I did suffer!””
He raised his voice.
Several guests turned toward us.
Darius lowered it again.
“You think it was easy knowing I had a daughter I didn't know? You think I never wondered what you looked like, what you liked, whether you were happy?””
“Wondering isn't raising a child.””
He flinched.
For a moment, I saw something like genuine pain in his face.
Then he said, “Marcus had everything. The house, the family, the memories. I thought I deserved a chance to have something too.””
I stepped back.
There it was.
Not love.
Not regret.
Entitlement.
He had returned to reclaim the life he believed Marcus had taken from him, without ever considering what he had left behind.
“You don't get to take something from someone just because you want it,” I whispered.
Darius looked at me.
“I'm your father.””
“And Marcus is mine too.””
His face twisted.
“You can't have two fathers, Nia.””
I stared at him.
Then I thought of Marcus teaching me to ride a bicycle, holding my hair while I was sick, and sitting outside my bedroom after my mother died.
I thought of Darius arriving eight months ago with flowers and promises.
And I understood that the two men had never been competing for the same thing.
Marcus had been building a life with me.
Darius had been trying to enter one that already existed.
I turned toward the bridal suite.
“Where are you going?”” Darius demanded.
“To find out whether there is anything else you haven't told me.””
He caught my arm.
I looked down at his hand.
“Let go.””
He released me immediately.
“Nia, if you walk away now, you're going to destroy everything.””
I met his eyes.
“You keep saying that. What exactly am I destroying?””
He opened his mouth.
Then a voice came from behind us.
“Mr. Cole?””
Caroline stood near the ballroom entrance, holding a document.
“I'm afraid the venue's financial office has completed its review. We need to speak with both of you.””
Darius went pale.
“What review?””
Caroline looked at me.
“There's a discrepancy between the financial guarantee submitted for the wedding and the supporting documentation provided by Mr. Cole.””
Darius stepped forward.
“This is a misunderstanding.””
“Perhaps,” Caroline said.
“But the venue cannot proceed until it is resolved.””
She handed me the document.
I recognized Marcus's signature immediately.
Below it was a second signature.
Darius's.
And beside the signatures was a handwritten note from the venue's finance director.
The sponsor's guarantee does not authorize the use of the sponsor's assets as collateral for unrelated personal debts.
I looked up.
“Unrelated personal debts?””
Caroline nodded.
“Mr. Bennett has asked us to preserve all records and provide copies to the appropriate parties.””
Darius reached for the paper.
I pulled it away.
“Don't.””
His expression turned cold.
“You don't understand what you're doing.””
“Then explain it.””
He stared at me for a long moment.
Finally, he said, “If Marcus tells you what happened twenty years ago, you'll never forgive either of us.””
I felt the blood drain from my face.
“What happened twenty years ago?””
Darius looked toward the doors.
Then, in a voice so low I almost couldn't hear it, he said, “Your mother didn't just ask Marcus to help me.””
May you like
He paused.
“She asked him to keep something from you.””
