Why a Popular Boy Brought My Daughter Home Five Minutes Before Midnight – America Focus PART 2
“Ryan, please.”
“No. Do you know what it felt like to stand there and realize Iris was the only person who didn’t know who she was?”
“He missed visits,” I said. “He chose work. He chose his new life.”
“He said he tried to see her.”
“He gave up too easily.”
“Maybe he did,” Ryan said. “But you let her believe he never wanted her at all. She told me.”
From the kitchen, water ran.
“He chose his new life.”
“Please,” I whispered. “Let me tell her tomorrow.”
“She already lost tonight,” he said. “You just don’t want her to know why.”
“She’s my daughter. You don’t understand our life.”
“And Anthony is my stepdad. Gina is my mother. This isn’t just your secret anymore.”
The faucet shut off.
Ryan stepped closer.
“You have five minutes.”
“What?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“Five minutes to tell her the truth, or I will.”
“Ryan, please.”
“She deserves to hear it from her mother,” he said. “But she deserves to hear it tonight.”
Iris came back holding a glass of water.
She stopped in the doorway. “Why does it feel like I walked into the middle of something?”
Ryan took the glass from her, but he did not drink.
“Because you did.”
Iris looked at me. “Mom?”
“Ryan, please.”
***
I wanted to lie, but Ryan was right.
She was the only one in the room who did not know who she was.
“Anthony is your father,” I said. “Tony, I mean. You met him tonight.”
The glass slipped from Ryan’s hand and shattered on the floor.
Iris stared at me. “No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No. My father left. Mom, that’s the truth. Right?”
“Anthony is your father.”
“That’s what I told you.”
“You told me he didn’t want me. You told me he walked away because having a kid was too much.”
I gripped the back of the chair. “He did walk away sometimes, but not the way I let you believe, baby.”
Her face changed. “What does that mean?”
“Our divorce was ugly. He worked out of state, missed weekends, and broke promises.”
“So you lied?”
“What does that mean?”
“I thought I was making it simpler.”
“For who?” Iris asked.
I could not answer fast enough.
She nodded once, as if that silence told her everything. “Did he try to see me?”
“Yes.”
Her mouth trembled. “And you stopped him?”
“For who?”
