“You’ve embarrassed this family, Jillian,” my father spoke. “And you threw away a million-dollar wedding.”
“Is that all that matters to you? The money? I didn’t ask for a fucking million-dollar wedding. That was all her,” I pointed to my mother, “doing.”
“Why did you come to New York?” he asked. “And how did you slip away so quietly without a trace? You haven’t used your credit cards and your bank account hasn’t been touched. What have you been doing for money?”
“Oh, I’m sure this one over here has been supporting her.” My mother pointed at Drew. “Is that why you left Grant? For him?”
Narrowing my eyes at her, I couldn’t believe she dragged Drew into this.
“How dare you! You want the truth?” I strutted over to her and my father. “Because you aren’t going to like it. When I turned twenty-one, my grandmother left me a trust fund with four million dollars in it.”
The shock on their faces was priceless and it gave me great satisfaction to finally tell them.
“What?” my father asked in anger.
“That’s right, Daddy. Your mother made sure that I would be taken care of when I finally decided to break free from this so-called family and prison I was living in. She knew everything.”
“That wretched woman!” he yelled. “How dare she hide that from me!”
“She did it because she loved me and knew I needed an out. As long as I stayed in Seattle around the two of you and Grant, I would never know who I truly was.”
Seeing them sitting there weak and their defenses down gave me the strength to continue. Drew sat back in his chair, staring at me and waiting for what was to come next.
“What do you mean you would never know who you truly were?” my father asked.
“You made me into someone I don’t even know! You molded me into what you wanted me to be. You didn’t let me decide what I wanted to be or let me discover myself. You shoved your life down my throat and every time I look in the mirror, I see a complete stranger!”
“Oh for God’s sake, Jillian. You are such a drama queen,” my mother snarled. “The fact of the matter is that you have embarrassed this family and you need to do some serious apologizing. Not only to us and the community that supported you, but also to Grant.”
I could feel the fire rise inside my body and the anger I felt grew more intense.
“An embarrassment? Me?” I calmly spoke. “If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s you, Daddy.”
“Me? Why me?”
“Do you know why I came to New York?”
My mother rolled her eyes. “I’m sure it was for him.”
“LEAVE DREW OUT OF THIS!” I shouted. “I came here because of my sister! You know, the child you created with another woman?” I glared at my father.
My mother looked at him and swallowed hard while my father sat there and blankly stared at me. Finally, they were speechless.
“How did you find out about her?” my mother asked.
Cocking my head, I narrowed my eye at her. “You knew about her?”
“Of course I did. Now answer the question.”
“She contacted me two years ago after her mother passed away. She told her everything. We bonded and became close like sisters should be. I can’t believe I had a sister and you never told me!”
“You were never supposed to find out about her,” my father softly spoke as he looked down.
“Well, too fucking bad. I did. What kind of father just ignores the fact that he has another child?”
“I’m not rehashing the past, Jillian. Drop it and you are never to speak of her to anyone.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry about that because she’ll be dead in six to nine months.” A tear formed in my eye.
My father looked up at me. “What do you mean?”
“She has brain cancer and there’s nothing more the doctors can do for her. So I hope you feel like shit, but I’m sure you don’t. Neither one of you has a compassionate bone in your body.”
My mother raised her brow and looked away.
“I’m sorry,” my father spoke.
“Sorry?” I leaned my ear towards him. “You’re sorry for what? That I found out, that she’s dying, or that you never got the chance to know your own daughter?”
“Maybe all of it.” He looked down.
I stood there and slowly shook my head.
“I thank God every day that I’m nothing like the both of you. How I’m not is a miracle.”
They both sat there in silence and Drew looked at me with a small grin. He knew I had won.
“I want to meet her,” my father spoke.
“What?” my mother lashed out. “No! You are not meeting that woman.”
“Will you shut the hell up for once in your life, Patricia!” he commanded at her. “I never should have listened to you in the first place. Now I’ve lost two daughters.”
“Jillian will be coming home. We’ll work this out. She’ll apologize and we can all move on.”
“The fuck I will!”
“Don’t you dare use that language in my presence,” she spoke in anger.