Page 62 of The Pact

She looks extremely serious, so I answer her honestly. “No, I’m not. Why do you ask?”

The child seems to think about it before explaining, “Because Kelley says I’m his special girl and he calls me princess. You’re special too or he wouldn’t have brought you here, so ...”

Kelley chuckles. “Ha ha. Good attempt to get me into trouble. Ausra is definitely special but there’s only one princess in my heart. And I believe she has a present for me.”

Nora’s smile brightens as she takes Kelley’s and my hand in her small ones. “Yeah. It’s in my room. It’s a drawing I made for you.” She then looks at me. “If you tell me when’s your birthday, I’ll make you one too, Ausra.”

I thank her. “That would be awesome, Nora. But my birthday won’t be until next January.” My heart constricts at the thought that by then, it’ll be game over and I doubt Kelley will be still hanging out with me.

“When’s your birthday?” I ask her.

“In August.” She beams. “We always go to the beach for my birthday and have a party. Will you come too? I’m going to be nine this year.”

I solemnly promise that I will go to her party. By August, we should still be playing.

“This is it! Happy birthday Kelley!” She gives him a rolled up sheet tied with a blue bow.

Kelley makes a fuss of opening it. “Wow, princess! This is beautiful! Thank you.”

There are four people in the drawing, three taller figures and one child. Nora wrote each person’s name on the top, by each person’s head.

Mommy, Kelley, Nora, Daddy.

“Is that my daddy?” Kelley asks.

“Uh uh,” she says, shaking her head. “That’s my daddy.”

Kelley crouches down, at eye level with his sister. “That’s awesome, Nora. You drew your daddy pretty realistically; you have good memory since it’s been a few years.”

The child shakes her head again. “No, I just saw him last week. And he’s taking us all out for dinner tonight to celebrate your birthday. Oh!”She covers her mouth with her hands, as if she’s said too much. “I’m sorry, Mommy. I ruined Kelley’s surprise!”

There’s a long, tense moment when Kelley and his mother look at each other without saying anything. “Oh is he?” Kelley asks and even I can hear the fury in his voice. His tone is similar to the other day on the beach, when he confronted my father’s followers.

“Kelley.” I see the warning flash in Rosalie’s eyes. “He’s trying. If you gave him a chance—”

“Oh is he trying? Really? Do you mean that he’s left his wife? For real this time?”

Rosalie’s tone is pleading. “Look sweetie, you don’t understand. At nineteen life seems all black and white. I was your age when I had you and it was later on that I learned that things aren’t always so simple.”

The scorn in Kelley’s voice is impossible to miss. “Aren’t they? The way I see it, it’s pretty simple. He’s a married motherfucker who didn’t think twice about cheating on his wife. Who didn’t care about the children he already had enough to at least wrap it the fuck up when he got his dick wet outside his marriage. He’s an asshole who promised you to betray his family even further by leaving them to make you leave your own husband. A bastard who wouldn’t leave you alone but all he wanted was to keep you his dirty secret. He’s never been interested in being a dad to Nora or in supporting you financially. He left you pregnant and penniless. At least my father, the one you cheated on, paid for child support. Did your boyfriend help you finish your nursing degree? Oh no, that’s right. You worked at the Stowaway for years. Joe has been more of a father to Nora than that fucking loser.”

Rosalie’s tone is low, laced with anger. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Kelley.”

Kelley’s laugh is full of scorn. “Don’t I? All I know is that that man has poisoned your life from the moment he set his eyes on you. Trying to control you and manipulate you, stalking you and abusing you. And before you say anything, that isn’t love. He’s made false promises to you every step of the way, Mom. He’s gotten in your head and hurt you to the point that you’ve tried to take your own life more than once. Where the fuck was he then, huh?”

“He’s trying to make it right. He wants to be in Nora’s life and in my life. If you only gave him a chance—”

“So taking you out to dinner once, will make it right? Will it erase nine years of neglect?”

She doesn’t meet Kelley’s gaze. “You seriously don’t understand. He wants joint custody. If I won’t agree to that and to see him again, he hinted at suing me for full custody. He said that if I try to keep him from Nora and don’t give him another chance, he’ll press charges for kidnapping, because I took off with his unborn child ten years ago. Kelley, I fled and moved out of state. He could really have a case.”

Kelley’s fists are clenched so tight that his knuckles turn white. “Really? He’s going to press charges? What about all the child support he owes you? You might’ve left back then but he found you right after Nora was born. If he wanted to help, why not do it then? You could counter sue, Mom. What judge would convict you? He has a wife and children, for fuck’s sake!”

“Kelley, you know he’s rich and very well connected. He could really have me jailed and take Nora away from me. From us. Plus, I still love him. Trust me, it’s better that I work with him. He promised to get us a new place and—”

Rosalie is interrupted by her own daughter, who bursts into tears.

“Mommy! I don’t want to be taken away from you and Kelley!”

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