“I could count on two hands the number of words we’d exchange in any given week. You weren’t much of a talker.”
In the background, Grey grunts.
“Dad, I was stuck. You’d pressured me to be with Todd and I wanted to please you. But then I found him with Princess well before the wedding day.”
“Is that really her name?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But I didn’t know what to do, so I cried in the broom closet during the wedding march.”
Telling my father this is a risk. Personal or emotional matters were never something I discussed with him. The Ice King moniker is fitting for many reasons.
“Everly, don’t be stupid. Unless you were actually glued to the ground, you were not stuck. You were notliterallystuck. No, you were afraid to make a choice because you feared it would be the wrong one.” He cuts right to the heart of the matter.
I could always trust my father to be clear and to the point.
“Were you alive? Were you breathing? Were you mobile, as in did you have the use of your limbs?” He doesn’t wait for me toanswer. “Yes, you did. You could have walked up to me and told me instead of running away.”
“Dad, there were plenty of times when I did that and you hardly acknowledged me.”
“You were a kid and I was a single Dad?—”
“Sounds to me like you were stuck,” I say.
He grunts. “I suppose you’re right. But in the future, anytime you feel stuck, ask yourself, What would I do?”
“You’d laugh fear in the face.”
“No, Everly. I wouldn’t. I got to where I am because every time I’ve been afraid, I bring it along with me. Fear wants to stop me, but no, it has to come along for the ride. Fear has the audacity to show up in my life?” My father laughs darkly. “Then fear is going to be with me whenwedeal with the consequences—good or bad. When the outcome is good, well, then fear learns to trust that I know what I’m doing. When the consequences are not so favorable, fear runs the other way, afraid of me, and the wrath of the Ice King.”
I can’t help myself and laugh. “You know that’s what people call you?”
“Oh, yes, and much worse. But they do that because they’re afraid of strength and leadership, of a man who is unafraid of success or failure.” It’s true, Dreven Lefevre is a force to be reckoned with...and I guess, at least in part, I got my ability to carry on from him.
My eyes grow damp. “What about me?”
“Everly Edith Lefevre-Adams, you are my daughter. You are strong.”
“I’m not. You pushed me and pressured me and left me.” The line is quiet for so long that I think he’s hung up. “Hello?”
“I’m here. The apology is coming.” He draws a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Everly. I’m sorry for not being a better father. The truth is, there was one thing I feared. I was scared of you. Ofmessing you up and having you turn out like me. So it seemed easier to distance myself.”
“I wouldn’t say you messed me up, but you hurt me, that’s for sure.” My father’s words are good to hear, warming me through, but confessing to the Ice King the way I felt also made me feel empowered and strong. The woman he inadvertently raised me to be.
We say goodbye for now and arrange to get together soon.
Grey crosses the room and wraps me in a hug. “I take it that went okay?”
“More than okay,” I say, able to take my first deep breath since the ball.
We spendthe rest of the week helping Bran sort through matters with the military, completing paperwork, and helping him record his memories as they return. With each passing day, he regains more of them, however, he can’t go back as far as what caused him to lose them to begin with. That’s still murky and probably something best dealt with by a professional.
But soon, we head back to the Upper Peninsula, where our favorite little man is happy to see us. We spend the summer with Sonny, in the garden, and swimming in the lake. We even invite my father up for a visit. It’s not far from his headquarters, though there’s no telling which of his many houses he’s using as a home base these days.
Because of his jet-setting ways, it comes as a shock when he makes sand castles with Sonny, picks blueberries, not caring when the juice stains his fingers, and reads him bedtime stories—in English.
Life is good.
The night before my dad leaves, Ingrid comes out to the island. We all pitch in and make a big barbecue dinner.
