Page 89 of Eleven of a Kind

“I’m Dr. Gabriel Kind.” He went to extend his hand, and I slapped it. “Don’t you dare.” I shot him a look.

Gabriel went and took a seat on the couch while Victoria planted her skinny ass on one of the wing-backed chairs.

“You’ve turned into such a beautiful woman, Piper.”

“Spare me the compliments, Jonathan. Now tell me why you abandoned me.”

He looked over at Victoria. It was then I knew he left us for her.

“She’s the reason?” I asked.

“Piper, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Hurt me?” I breathed out a laugh. “I’ve been hurt for the past nineteen years, Dad. No visits, phone calls, birthday or Christmas wishes, nothing!” I shouted. “Nothing you can tell me now is going to hurt me anymore than I already am and have been for the past nineteen years.”

“Your mother and I were having a lot of problems, and I was very unhappy. You need to remember that we were only twenty-one when we married and had you. Like I said, I was unhappy, and I felt trapped. After my promotion, my company started sending me to their offices here in Seattle for meetings.”

“I remember you started traveling a lot after that promotion,” I said.

“That’s right. Then, one day, I met Victoria. We started seeing each other every time I was here. When I was with her, I no longer felt trapped but happy. I was happier than I’d ever been, and leaving her to go back to Los Angeles grew harder and harder each time. One day, I asked my boss if I could transfer to the Seattle office. He agreed, and Victoria and I had a long discussion about you.”

“I bet you did,” I snapped.

“Maybe I’d get to see you on a holiday or two during the year, or maybe you’d spend the summers with us. Your life would have been disrupted, and you would have eventually resented me for it. So, I thought it was best that I just leave you there. I knew your mother would never let me have contact with you if I kept in touch. She hated me for leaving and told me that she would see to it that I never saw you again.”

“What do you mean? She knew you were leaving?” My brows furrowed.

“Of course, she knew. She never told you that?”

“No. After a month had passed after you left, she told me that you called her and told her that you were never coming back and not to try to find you because you didn’t want to be found.”

“Well, she lied to you because the day I left, she knew I wasn’t coming back. You have no idea how hard it was to walk out on you. You were my little girl, and I loved you very much.”

“Don’t!” I shouted as I pointed my finger at him. “You’re a liar because if you really loved me, you wouldn’t have left me and completely shut me out of your life.”

“I had no choice. Your mother made it very clear that I wouldn’t have contact with you, and she would make sure you hated me for the rest of your life.”

“Have you ever heard of the courts, Dad? You could have fought for me, but you didn’t. You just walked away and into the arms of that woman.” I pointed to Victoria. “You went on with your life as if I never existed. You suck, and you’re not fit to be anyone’s father.”

“That’s enough!” Victoria shouted as she stood from her chair. “He is a wonderful father to our girls.”

“Yeah.” I breathed out a laugh. “And he was a wonderful father to me at one time. But all it took was for one woman to look his way to leave it all behind. I’d watch him like a hawk if I were you.”

“How dare you,” she said.

“No, how dare you, lady!”

“Piper,” Gabriel said.

“Be quiet, Gabriel. I bet you played a huge role in this, Victoria. I’m sure you couldn’t stand the thought of having a ten-year-old in your life and disrupting your perfect love affair with my father.”

“Piper, that’s enough. I was the one who made the final decision, not Victoria.”

“You have no idea the damage you caused Mom and me. My mother spent the last nineteen years of her life more drunk than not.”

“Your mother’s drinking started well before I left, Piper.”

“Do you know the psychological damage I suffer because of you? And the abandonment issues I have? Do you know what I do when a man tells me that he loves me? I run as fast as possible because those were your last words before disappearing. How am I supposed to trust anyone who says those words to me? While you were here living your fairytale life full of rainbows and unicorns, I was taking care of an alcoholic mother. Do you know what the does to a kid?”

---