Page 68 of Tempted

Chapter Twenty-Two

“Enough is enough, you three. We’re a family and from here on out we’re going to start acting like one.” Victor eyed each of his children in turn hoping to get through to them. He was tired of the cold shoulder and he refused to let them to keep shutting him out.

Three pairs of eyes, narrowed simultaneously.

“We can sit here all night until someone speaks.” If they intended to dig their heels in so would he.

After another few minutes of silence passed, he wondered if he’d made a mistake in calling this impromptu meeting in order for them to work out their problems. All he wanted was for things to be like they were when everyone was happy.

Adam pushed away from the dining room table. “This is bullshit. You can’t pretend this is one big happy family just because you say it’s supposed to be.”

“Watch your mouth and sit down,” Victor ordered between his teeth in an attempt to reign in his temper.

Adam crossed his arms over his chest. “And what are you going to do if I don’t? It’s too late for your half-assed attempts at parenting now. It won’t change the fact that you ran Jasmine off just like you did mom.”

The little bit of patience he had snapped. “Close your mouth, and sit your ass down now! Whether you like it or not I am you father and you will give me some damn respect,” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Adam remained standing, staring at him defiantly. Victor wasn’t willing to back down and neither, it seemed, did Adam.

“You can run away instead of talking about it, but I’ll still be here and we will have this conversation eventually. We might as well get it over with now so why don’t you take a seat?”

Adam shrugged. “And if I don’t want to?”

Victor had never laid a hand on his children in violence but for the first time since any of them were born he felt damn close to breaking his own rule. “Don’t challenge me on it, son. I’m bigger and stronger than you.”

Adam glared at him before plopping in his seat. “When all else fails, bully me to get your way. Way to go, Dad.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Adam remained tight lipped.

There was something in the way his son had called him Dad that caught Victor’s attention. “Adam?”

The teenager remained petulantly silent and Victor knew he wasn’t going to get anything else out of him. This was going horribly. Falling down into one of the seats at the kitchen table, Victor dropped his head into his hands. Anger was getting him nowhere and fast.

Finally with a sigh, he raised his head and looked at each of his children in turn. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and I admit it. I wasn’t the perfect husband to your mother. I was a workaholic and I was at the office more than I was home. For that I take the blame. I thought I was doing the right thing by my family, working hard to secure our future, to make sure you three didn’t have to struggle for the things you wanted in life. What I didn’t realize was what you needed most was me.”

More than anything he wanted them to know how much he meant to them. “I’m sorry I haven’t always been there for you these, especially lately. I fell into my old pattern because that’s what I knew and was comfortable with. But I’m not going to hide from our issues anymore and there’s one in particular that I think needs clarifying.”

Victor realized he needed to tread lightly with his next subject or else it would go horrible wrong. “The purpose of me telling you this is not to paint your mother as a villain. Sometimes relationships don’t work out, but I never kept any of you away from her. It was her decision to leave. And it wasn’t your fault. I’m sure she loved all three of you in her own way but now we all have to move on. I don’t want to be an absentee father anymore. Whether you believe it or not, you three mean the world to me and I wish I would have told you more often. But I love you, Adam. I love you Chelsea. I love you Tyler. It would mean the world to me, if you gave me another chance.” Silence greeted his desperate please and he’d never felt more like crying then he did right then.

Lowering his head, he willed himself not to do exactly that. The worse feeling in the world was knowing he’d let his children down and now he had to deal with the backlash.

“I love you too, Daddy,” Chelsea whispered.

Victor’s head shot up, his vision blurred with unshed tears. “What?” He hoped he hadn’t imagined it.

“I love you, Daddy. But it hurts, right here.” She placed her hand over her chest. “I want Jasmine back. I miss her.” Tears ran down her face unheeded as she slid out of her chair and moved toward him.

Victor welcomed his daughter into the folds of his arms and held on tight. “I miss her too, baby. I miss her so much.” There was something wet on his face. He was crying. Dammit.

His cried silently as he continued to hold on to Chelsea for dear life. When he felt a hand stroke his back he lifted his head to see Tyler by his side. He looked imploringly at his oldest son. “Adam?”

The petulance that had stamped Adam’s face was replaced with confusion. But there still seemed to be a wariness within the teen’s gaze.

“I know my promise may not mean much to you right now, but I swear on all that’s within me that I’ll do my best to bring Jasmine back.”

Their faces lit up like a Christmas tree in the middle of the White House lawn. “Do you really mean it, Daddy?” Chelsea’s voice was so full of hope he realized failure was not an option.

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