“Are you sure?”
Jalissa let out a groan and rolled her eyes. “He’s sticking it into me, and I’m enjoying it for now. That’s all. We’re both going to get bored with it soon and then we’ll move on. End of story.”
Although not satisfied with her friend’s explanation, Kaiya nodded and said, “Well, I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Stop being a worrywart.”
“I don’t want either of you getting hurt.”
“Alright, Mama.”
Kaiya gave her friend a look which made her burst into laughter. She quickly ended it in order not to wake the baby.
As the twins started crying, Justin went over to tend to them. Jalissa followed him soon after, which caused Kaiya’s brows to rise.
Her concentration, however, shifted to her parents when they excused themselves from the living room and headed for Finn’s office. She believed her father had been avoiding her, much like Tyler has. It had been two weeks since she last saw Tyler and Lili, and she missed Lili. Tyler had called the school to inform them that Lili would be visiting with her aunt for two weeks and wouldn’t be able to attend classes.It was probably a lie,she reasoned. She needed to get her child’s death certificate from her father to prove to Tyler that she isn’t a liar. She handed the baby over to his father and followed her parents to Finn’s study.
“Where’s my son’s death certificate, Dad?”
Her parents seemed taken aback as she entered the office without making any form of noise.
“I told you you’d get it. I returned from my trip only yesterday,” her dad snapped, avoiding her gaze as he paced to the window.
Before Kaiya could demand that they go home immediately so he could hand it over to her, Kalilah and Finn entered the office.
“All of you disappeared in there. What’s going on?” Kalilah asked with a worried frown on her face.
“Nothing,” Richard hastily answered. “Finn, I must say that your mall is—”
“Oh, please, Richard. For God’s sake, tell your daughter the truth!” Her mom cried. “I’m tired of being a part of this lie!”
Alarm bells rang in Kaiya’s brain even as all the color washed off her face.Lies?
“Mom, what are you talking about?” Her voice came out as a squeal.
“Richard!” the woman snapped instead of answering her.
With her teeth almost biting a huge chunk from the insides of her cheek, Kaiya observed with a shiver running up to her spine as her father slowly turned from the window. In a matter of seconds, he seemed to have aged drastically. His face was drawn, and there were lines of strain on his forehead. He avoided looking at anyone in the room, contented with staring at the floor.
“Oh, alright! I’m sick and tired of it, too, particularly since that bastard came back here. I can’t believe it, even after I told him to stay away from Kaiya!”
Kaiya nervously dashed the tip of her tongue across her parched lips. She was afraid that if her heartbeat became faster than how it already was, her heart would jump out of her chest.
And the whole story came out. The truth about what happened eight years ago poured out from her dad’s taut lips.
They’d sent Kaiya away to New Brunswick in a boarding school for pregnant teens so that their friends wouldn’t find out about the pregnancy.
“What else?” She already knew that, and it had taken her a while to forgive them for it.
Richard paid off doctors in the New Brunswick clinic to pretend that her baby was a boy and then to say he passed away. Richard then took her baby daughter and gave her up for adoption.
The words exploded in Kaiya’s brain.No!She denied it.It couldn’t be true.Her father couldn’t have been so callous as to do this to her and watch her grieve for years. Her fingers bit into her palm as she fought for control.
The shock had her knees quivering as she recalled the night of the delivery, and the moment her mother told her that her baby had returned to God. All these years, she had mourned a baby who was still alive and was a she instead of a he. Hot tears cascaded down her cheeks as pain squeezed her chest. Was she sure that these two strangers had indeed birthed her?
“I can’t believe it. Who did you give my baby to? Oh my God, you gave away your own grandchild to strangers!” she shouted, too shocked to formulate any thoughts.
“Not to strangers,” her mom responded, seemingly shamefaced with tears in her eyes, but her daughter wasn’t moved by it.
