“Holly, is that you?” he pleads, and a few tears fall as I stumble into the kitchen counter suddenly thinking I completely jinxed myself.
Oh my…
“Dad?” I whisper, and he chokes back a sob, and I squeeze my eyes tight as confusion fills me.
He said I was disowned when I kept Lyra, he said he didn’t have a daughter, my mama agreed…
My hand trembles, and the urge to hang up fills me just as I hear, “Philip, did you get a hold of her?” and I flinch at my mother’s hurt tone.
“Holly,” Dad whispers, not answering Mama all while I struggle to breathe, “Please, Holly, say something…”
“Philip,” my mother chokes just as Lyra calls, “Mama, can Caleb and I have a snack?” as she rushes into the kitchen, and my dad sucks in a breath, and I blink, then blink again as he chokes, “Who is Caleb?”
“My boyfriend’s son,” I reply numbly without thinking before clearing my throat and saying, “Yeah, sweetheart,” to my daughter who grins wide and says, “Thank you, Mama,” just as she grabs two apples off the side, then runs back into the living area, and I begin to shake, my mind not able to comprehend what is happening right now.
I haven’t heard from my parents in nearly eight years.
“You’re seeing someone? Mathew never mentioned you were seeing someone,” he whispers, and I flinch again.
I thought Uncle Mathew didn’t speak about me.
“She’s in a relationship with someone who has a child?” Mama gasps, and I shake my head at the disgust in her tone while Dad just ignores her and murmurs, “Does he make you happy?”
Anger surges through me as the urge to hang up grows stronger, my emotions warring between hurt and fury.
He doesn’t deserve to know if I’m happy, just like he has no right to call me after he disowned me, all because I wouldn’t abort my daughter.
She was innocent and has none of Adam's traits.
“Please, Holly, I need to know, does he make you happy?” Dad pleads, and I swallow hard.
“Yes,” I confirm, “he makes me and Lyra very happy.”
“Lyra…” Dad chokes, and I hear Mama gasp again, and I flinch as I hear her say, “She called her Lyra, after your aunt?”
I don’t know why they are so shocked. Despite the fact that my extended family all backed my parents, not wanting me to have Adam's baby, Aunt Lyra was always my unsung hero before she got dementia, and the only regret I have since leaving my hometown is leaving her.
She’s met Lyra twice, but the second time, she didn’t even know who I was, and after that, I was blocked by my mother after I tried to visit again and the manager explained what Mama had done. So now, I don’t even know how Aunt Lyra is even doing, and I think I’ll always resent my mother for that, especially when she’s Dad's aunt, not hers.
Taking a shuddered breath, I ask, “Why did you call, Dad? The last time I spoke to you, you told me to pack my bags and watched as Mrs. Collins lost it, you stood back and allowed her to say nasty things…”
He sniffles, and a bad feeling pulls at the pit of my stomach.
I’ve never seen or heard my father cry before what…
“Aunt Lyra passed, sweetheart,” Dad chokes, stopping my thoughts, and while the urge to sob overtakes me, resentment hits hard at my parents. “Her funeral is at St. Kale’s church in four days. I’ve been trying to get a hold of you since she passed but your mama, she deleted your number and Mathew gave me the one he had but the last digit was wrong,” my dad continues to explain and I mentally shut down, “Please say you’ll come, Holly,it’s at eleven in the morning and-and, her lawyer needs to speak with you as well, she left you everything sweetheart.”
I open my mouth to say, well, I don’t even know what I’m going to say, but I clamp it shut when I hear Mama mutter, “It should have been left to us.”
“Leslie!” my dad snaps and I shut down.
I blink, then blink again as my tears fall, and without a word to my father, I hang up the phone, my mind swirling, making me feel sick and dizzy, and the washing machine is completely forgotten.
My own mother deleted my number.
She wants the inheritance.
Aunt Lyra is dead.
