Page 111 of Terms + Conditions
I extended my hand toward Elizabeth as she rounded the front of my Bronco, and we followed the sidewalk around the front of the brick house to the steps that led up to the porch where Brie was greeting her uncle. I could hear him fretting over her. Confused. “You’re supposed to be at Cali’s until—Is that…Josh, is that you?” Justin stepped around his niece as Elizabeth and I reached the porch. “What are you doing here? I thought we were gonna meet next week.”
“That’s not why I’m here,” I said, offering a tight-lipped smile, glancing from him to Brie and back.
He looked between us…once, twice, three times before asking, “Am I missing something?”
“I think it’s best if we go inside,” Elizabeth suggested.
“Wait, did you come together?” Justin turned to Brie, but she had suddenly found her boots way more interesting. “What in the hell are you doing with them, Brie? You’re supposed to be in Wichita! I bought the ticket myself, I-I don’t understand. How do you even know them?”
“Well, I was hoping you could shed some light on that,” I said, and Justin’s glare turned to me. “I’m—I’m her father.”
“Her fath—Oh my god.” Justin scoffed, rubbing the scruff under his chin. “You’rehim.”
“Him?” Elizabeth asked.
“The guy Juliet never got over.”
I glanced at my wife, but she kept her stare trained on him, face pulled into a thin line. I imagined that wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear, but did it matter now? Juliet was dead, and even if she wasn’t…I only wanted Elizabeth.
“Jules said she heard that he’d ended up married to some rich bitch—”
“Watch your mouth,” I interrupted, taking a step forward, but Elizabeth placed a hand on my arm. Brie’s eyes snapped up at her uncle’s words and the threat in mine.
“—but I never guessed it was you two.” Justin turned to look at Brie over his shoulder. “You never went back home, did you?” He scoffed when she didn’t reply. “Go inside.”
“Get your stuff together, Brie,” I redirected her. “We’re leaving.”
“Do you have proof?”
“Justin, he is—”
But he cut Brie off. “Until we have a test proving youareher father, she stays with me. You might think you were special, but Juliet had a way of making people feel that way. You were just one of several.”
Elizabeth squeezed my hand, pulling the words right out of my mouth. When I met Brie’s eyes over his shoulder, my stomach sank. I didn’t want to leave her, but he was right. I didn’t have any proof—solid proof—that she was my daughter. I had no right to take her with me.
“It’s okay, Brie. We’ll get it figured out.” I tried to comfort myself as much as her.
“We have an appointment downtown for a test on Monday,” Elizabeth said.
“Great, we’ll see you there. You can go now,” Justin said, trying to usher us off the porch, but Elizabeth wasn’t done. She wasn’t leaving until he promised to bring Brie to the appointment. After a few more tries, he agreed to be there.
Justin and Brie were already at the office when Elizabeth and I arrived at the test center Monday morning. Elizabeth invited Brie to join her for a quick coffee and I took the opportunity to have a long overdue conversation. It wasn’t a conversation I was looking forward to, but in the spirit of coming clean about everything else, I knew I had to.
“She really liked you,” he said before I could. “Juliet, I mean.”
“Hate to break it to you, but I liked her too.”
“She came home from that spring break telling her mom all about the guy she’d met. How she thought she had fallen in love. Of course, Dad popped that bubble and told her to keep her head out of the clouds. Then she found out she was pregnant…Dad didn’t want her to keep the baby, but Jules refused to give it up.” Justin chewed on the corner of his mouth, his eyes glazed over thinking back on the memory. He shook his head with a light scoff, turning toward me. “I don’t know why she never called you. I was too young to understand all of that, but I think it had something to do with Dad. He was so against her keeping the baby, but she was eighteen, there was nothin’ he could do.”
“I wish she had found a way to get in touch with me. I would’ve been there for her.”
“As much as she liked you, I think she was scared you’d only stick around because of the baby…not her.” He rubs at some invisible dirt on his hands. “Jules and I were never that close growing up, not until I was older and she was…sober. Her husband, Tom, was an asshole, but he helped her get clean. Helped her get her life back before…”
I didn’t have to look at him to know tears had formed in his eyes, I could hear it in the thickness of his voice. Justin clearedhis throat, trying to rid it of the emotion, but it was still there when he spoke again.
“Juliet wanted to tell Brie’s father before it all happened, and I never knew if she got ahold of you. When they put Brie with Mom and Dad after she passed, I figured she never did or you rejected her. Either way, when you showed up the other night…I don’t know, I felt like the last bit of my sister was about to be ripped away from me.”
“I’m sorry, Justin.” It seemed like the only thing to say. “Truly, I am. There won’t be a day that I won’t be sorry for the time I’ve missed, but I’m just glad I can be here now.”
