Officially with a certificate and symbolized by the ring around her third finger on her left hand, she was married. She believed that a little over two years would have been enough time to erase the adventure—if you could call it that—of the Southern Isles.

Perhaps it was because of the fact that her father hadn't been present at their wedding. He hadn't walked her down the aisle. He hadn't sat alongside her mother and gave her away.

Jay offered to walk her down the aisle as he did for Mal, but something still wouldn't have felt right. Evie wouldn't deny that Jay had become a brother figure to her, but compared to Mal, they didn't have the same bond.

It wasn't that she regretted anything about her wedding day, it was simply the absence of her father that stung her the wrong way. She had sent a letter ages ago in response to his behavior, but never received one back.

That was exactly what replayed in her head as she rested her eyes a little past midnight. The quiet slumber of her spouse calmed her nerves as she let her mind escape.

Was her father really that great of an actor? Evie thought as she was reminded of the conversation they had at Kos Og Mat. Strange, it was, the fact that he didn't care any longer about her.

"Sleep, Evie," the groggy voice next to her spoke. She turned onto her side, lying her head on the pillow.

"My dad. I—I can't believe that he's really happy without his first family. The things he said, the way he acted. It seemed too real," Evie whispered. She placed her hands underneath her pillow and cuddled into the fuzzy blanket over her. "I feel rejected."

"That's a valid feeling. But one day you'll have to let go of this feeling. I'm not saying that tomorrow you'll wake up and forget all about it, but continuously thinking about him isn't worth it. He's causing more pain in you than you are in him," Doug suggested, his voice slightly trailing off.

Evie let out a small sigh, her mind still working. "He's never cared about me, but I can't seem to let him go."

Doug didn't reply, instead flicking on the lamp. As he sat up, Evie sat up against her pillow. She put her hands around her knees, moving the duvet and blanket down to her feet.

He leaned over to the side table and slid his glasses onto his face. Opening his arms, he allowed Evie to lay her head on his chest. She held onto his hands, that secured her in his hold.

"I wish that everything had turned out fine for you," he began before being interrupted by his own yawn. "But, Hans showed that he isn't worth your energy. Yes, he didn't show up, yes he never apologized or responded to your letter, but who showed up? Your mother. Yes, you have your distinct differences, but she still came and expressed happiness for you. Everything turned out just as you planned and I think it outweighs any feeling that Hans could have been the source of."

"He will always be a part of you biologically, there will forever be a hole in your heart where his love was supposed to be, but I'm not sure there's anything you can do to fill it. He'd have to fill the hole by himself."

Evie nodded her head and lightly sniffled, trying to hold back the reality of his words. She didn't miss him, she barely knew him. But she was jealous of the love that was never there. The love that was as present as their relationship had been. The fatherly love that he shared with someone else.

Her step-sister had received the love that Evie missed out on and instead was replaced with the distortion of love that she received from Grimhilde. A woman who just as much as her daughter, had been deprived of being loved for over a decade.

It had made her angry, but that anger dissolved. She was now hurting. No one could ever fill the hole her father had left in her heart as it could only be filled with a special kind of love.

As Doug suggested, the only way out of her thoughts was to accept the fact that her father would never be who she wanted him to be. She'd come so far as to live without him, that going forward he was just as irrelevant.

"I understand, it's just a little difficult," Evie said quietly, her tears pushing against her eyes. As one fell, another one followed. "It doesn't make any sense"

"It doesn't have to," Doug replied, letting her use his shirt sleeve as a tissue to wipe her face. "It really doesn't."

He gently rocked Evie to calm her nerves, and it wasn't long before her quiet cries became silent and she fell asleep. Slipping off his glasses and turning off the lamp, he allowed Evie to lay in his embrace.

Out of sight and out of mind would have to do for Evie, but it's much easier said than done. Taking charge of her dreams, Evie was stuck in a mess of emotions.

Within her letter, she wished Hans well and she made sure to express her displeasure with everything that happened. How was it that after all this time, she still was searching for him to add to the hole he left when he abandoned her? She believed he had to have felt something toward her. He had to have felt some degree of shame. Or maybe he didn't. Maybe he was just as much of a jerk as he had been years and years ago.

It was a mystery as to how he could knowingly have a descendant, but choose to erase her from his life. Perhaps he did think of her and felt a hint of regret about his actions, but was afraid to let her know. But she would never get to know as long as they were still estranged.

She felt guilty for holding onto these feelings that should have dissolved along with the entire fiasco nearly two years ago. Those feelings of guilt were because this wasn't her fight. Metaphorically, Evie was fighting against a brick wall with nothing but a rock. There was no use. She was trying to break down a wall built between her and her father, without his help.

It was his actions that ended up causing her to feel crushed inside. But it was her jealousy and the "could have beens" that had failed her. She had failed to cope with the estrangement of her father, much like she had failed to cope with the treatment from her mother.

Self-pity wasn't going to get her very far in the healing process, but she herself had to decide her next move. She was to release her emotions at once and let those who had hurt her—go.