Page 79 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice
“You did great,” he murmurs proudly and kisses the side of my head, to a fewawwwsfrom the crowd that make me blush.
“You must stop them!” Suddenly my egg and sperm donors appear in front of the stage, faces distraught as they watch their golden-child daughter be escorted away by police.
“Excuse me, do I know you?” I lift my eyebrow at them.
Funny. It doesn’t hurt as much as I thought it would. I spent the past few days, ever since Lauren came up with the plan, agonizing over how this would go.
But now that it’s here? It’s cathartic.
Sure. Seeing the people I used to call my parents still stings. There is still an underlying voice in my head, but instead of a constant scream ofwhy don’t they love me?there is only a whisper. It is there, and I fear it will always be there.
But the voice reminding me of all the wonderful people who have my back is much louder now.
“How dare you talk to us that way? We are your parents!” my mother curses, and my sperm donor, face red with anger, remains silent—probably fearing that he’ll incriminate himself if he opens his mouth.
“Parents?” I stare at them, pretending to be confused, then amusedly glance at Lauren and burst into a giggle. “Lauren, these people claim to be my ‘parents.’”
Lauren hurries over immediately, face scrunching in anger as she quickly positions herself between them and me.
“Really?” she asks, pretending to be as astonished as I did. “I mean, parents are supposed to love their children unconditionally, aren’t they?” Her eyes jump between me and them. “I’m sorry, but you must have the wrong person.”
“You dare do this to us after all we did? Is that your thanks for us raising you?” my father grits out between clenched teeth, and I shake my head.
“You did the bare minimum. You don’t get to claim a favor from me for it now,” I say with an overly sweet smile on my face. “And I’m not going to do shit. Marissa has committed fraud and theft on a felony level. For once, not even you can get her out of this. My lawyers will throw the whole extent of the law at her, and there is not a single thing you can do to stop it. And you know what? I will be able to sleep better at night for doing so.”
My heart pounds loudly, and I can’t help but let out the nervous laughter that’s been bubbling in my belly. “And just so you know, if you ever talk to me again, ever try to contact me again, I have my lawyers on speed dial and will record any attempts.”
“You are such an ungrateful—” my dad talks himself into rage, but I demonstratively lift my phone and shake my head at him with a sneer when he immediately shuts up.
“I’m done being a doormat,” I say exhaustedly. “Fuck you. Have the life you deserve, far away from me.”
“How dare you!” my mother jumps in, trying to walk toward me and climb onto the stage, but my father holds her back.
I don’t waste one more breath on them and turn around, letting Henry lead me off the stage. As soon as we are out of sight from the crowd, I break into the biggest grin and Lauren lifts her hand for a huge high five.
“God, I feel so free,” I say, letting my head fall back and releasing the tension I’d held on to since Marissa noticed her own voice coming from the speakers.
“I’m so proud of you,” Henry mumbles and presses his lips against the top of my head, which immediately makes the tears finally overflow. God, I don’t know what to feel. Anxiety falls off me, but there’s still that numb sting, still sadness and anger but also pride and relief, all coming together at once.
“We all are,” Lauren assures me and reaches for my hand. “You were amazing.”
Kieran runs over to us and throws his arms around all three of us in a chaotic hug.
“Caleb’s at the front, but even he was impressed. I think I even saw a smile on his face,” he tells us excitedly then breaks into laughter.
“That’s like the highest badge of honor,” Henry whispers, and I can’t help but grin, even though tears are still streaming down my cheeks.
“I fucking did it,” I whisper.
“It’s over,” Lauren says, and I shoot her a smile.
If only this didn’t seem too good to be true.
Chapter 32
Henry
“It’s time to celebrate!” Kieran shouts in the distance, holding up two bottles of what I assume is hard liquor. Laughing and stumbling in a way that makes me worry about the alcohol he's holding, he makes his way to our group.
