Love At Last

FAMILY REUNION

“Dad?” Cayden resounded. ‘What in God’s name did Lily just call Mr. Steve?’ I thought. “Dad?” I muttered to myself.

“Mr. Cayden” he called out.

“Yes sir.”Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

“What are you doing here with my daughter?” ‘Daughter? Did he just confirm Lily’s claims?’

“D…d…daughter?” I asked while looking at Lily in bewilderment.

Lily immediately dashed off the scene without even saying anything to me.

“Your daughter?!” I asked again.

“Yes, my daughter. You didn’t know that Lily was my daughter?” I never in my wildest dream thought that the ‘Greyson’ in my boss’ name was actually the one Lily shared.

“I never knew sir, pardon my insolence.” I buried my awe and curiosity for the mean time.

“Why exactly were you both having lunch together?”

“Sir I…,” he cut me off.

“I’m going to be in town for a couple of days and I will be needing your help. Is that okay by you?”

“Yes sir!”

“I hope you won’t be caught up with needless distractions. The scene I met here was nothing right? It was just an ordinary lunch, right? Nothing attached?”

Of course there was something attached but it would mean my end if I were to give an honest reply at that time so I just said: “Yes sir. Nothing more. I happen to know miss Lily and we just agreed to eat together here,” I lied. “No strings attached,” I added.

“Better. Get into the car, we need to go somewhere,” he ordered.

“Very well sir.”

Although my mind was still very much unstable and I had multiple questions I wanted to ask – of which how he knew my whereabouts was one of them – I sucked it all in and followed him to attend to some business in the state.

*LILY’S POV*

My father who cut all ties with me and I hadn’t seen in forever, suddenly resurfaced before me in the least expected way possible. There was definitely no way I could stand and watch him for too long, so I ran off on my own, leaving Cayden behind to face what met him.

On getting home, I met nana in the sitting room and embraced her, sobbing. She was confused but she reciprocated my gesture and rubbed my back gently. “It’s okay sweetheart it’s okay,” nana consoled without even knowing what was up. “You can talk to me , okay?” She held me so close to her and provided me with what I needed the most – comfort .

“What happened? Why are you crying?” she wrapped my petite face in her palm and wiped my tears.

“Nana!” I cried out and rested on her shoulder again.

“Did something happen?” she asked kindly. Nana then sat me down to ask me to explain in details why I was crying.

“What’s the problem, honey? Did something happen?”

“Nana you won’t believe who I saw today.”

“Who did you see? Who did you see that has you demoralized in this manner? Was it Ryan?” she asked.

“No nana, it was dad,” I spilled.

“Dad?” she was still puzzled. My answer was quite clear; guess she thought that would be farfetched.

“Yes! My father, Steve Greyson!” I affirmed and buried my face in my palm again.

“What?!” to my astonishment, she exclaimed rather excitedly. “Is that why you’re looking pale?” I raised my head up. “Nana?”

“After what has been like forever, I get to see my son finally and he obviously came for you, so what’s the issue here?”

“Nana?” I could not believe my ears.

“It’s a happy occasion and an opportunity to finally make amends. Don’t you miss your family?”

“No!” I refuted strongly. “There is no way I’m going to make amends with that man that calls himself my father,” I stated explicitly, sounding my point very clearly.

“Why not? I could call him over and sort things out with you both, so what’s the issue here?” she tried to persuade me.

“Nana after all they did to me?” I stood up in anger causing her to stand up too.

“Listen to me sweetheart. He’s your father and…,”

“And he threw me to the streets!” I pointed toward the door as a form of gesture. “He threw me away, nana. Both he and that woman who Calls herself my mother!” For the first time in forever I raised my voice on my granny.

“Whatever you say won’t change the fact, Lily. You have to make amends now that an opportunity chose to surface itself.” She remained calm.

“I can’t, I won’t go back to those people. I won’t! Never!” I strongly refused.

“Lily calm down and let’s talk about it, okay? You don’t have to sound so angry. Let’s just talk it out, okay?”

“Nana whatever you say, I strongly disagree to making amends with those people,” I rebuffed.

“Why are you strongly against it?”

“Nana have you forgotten? You have been the one with me through thick and thin, you most definitely have not forgotten about the pain those two inflicted on me,” as my eyes started to water, my voice became shaky.

“I understand, Lily. Trust me, do. But I need you to understand the angle I’m coming from. They’re your parents no matter what and he must have possibly come for you so what’s the big issue here?”

“Everything! Everything is the big issue here, nana. I can’t even believe you’re the one saying this to me. Nana you of all people should understand my plight. Those people don’t deserve to be called pare…,” nana cut me off.

“Shut your mouth!” she scolded for the very first time since our squabble. “Shut your mouth, Lily! Before that unfortunate incident occurred, have you forgotten how lovingly they nurtured you? Have you forgotten they gave you the best life you could ever ask for? Have you forgotten?” I remained silent. “Before you curse them out, remember they’re not entirely to blame for this…,” she said and I suddenly turned to stare at her in the eye. “Yes! You heard me, Lily. You messed up big time and disappointed your parents in the first place.” “Nana?” I was almost in tears.

“I’m not trying to call back painful memories to mind, all I’m trying to say is that both parties involved here are at fault so why don’t you just call it quits and make amends already?”

“Over my dead body,” I blurted.

“Lily!” she exclaimed wide-eyed.

“I am not going back to those people whether you like it or not!” I made my point clear and stormed out of the living room to my bedroom.

For the first time in forever, I engaged my nana in a squabble and so I didn’t feel so good about it. Just in one day, everything seemed like they took the wrong turn. I let the tears I had been holding in flow; sitting on the floor close to bed, I sulked.