Chapter 20: The Not So Joyful Family Reunion
Heather took a deep breath looking at the man in front of her. She was desperately trying to not let all of her bitter emotions run to the surface. This man had hurt her deeply the last time that she had seen him. More than she wanted to let on to him.
"Rory, can we please go somewhere and talk?" Christopher asked his eyes pleading.
"My name is not Rory," she replied bitterly.
"Please..."
"You heard her. Get lost," Luke chimed in angrily.
"And who are you?"
"I'm her father," Luke replied simply.
"Her father...oh..." Christopher's voice trailed off. This was not going at all like he had imagined–in fact the whole meeting was a complete disaster. He wasn't sure why he had expected more out of this meeting. After all, their last meeting had been disastrous as well. But somehow he had hoped that things could be different here... That he would be able to explain...
"What are you doing here?" Heather said curtly.
"I've come to explain and apologize...I was a terrible jerk the last time that I saw you... I said all the wrong things... I..."
"You said that you only had one daughter..."
"And that was very wrong of me to say that..."
"But you think you can be forgiven just because you couldn't have possibly known that you were talking to your long-lost daughter?" Heather replied bitterly.
"No, please that's not what I meant... I..." Christopher voice continued to trail off. "I loved your mother. When she got pregnant, it was a shock. I was just a kid...I wasn't ready for any adult responsibility..."
"So you ran away from it?"
Christopher nodded. "And that was wrong... And then after you were kidnapped...I didn't know what to do... I thought at first I was being punished. I thought it was a cruel joke...after all it..."
"You know I could almost forgive you for not knowing who I was in Boston. After all, how could you have known that your long-lost daughter was coming to visit you? But you denied my very existence. And worse, you abandoned my mother when she needed you most. While she was grieving the loss of me, where were you? When she felt she was all alone in the world, where were you?"
Christopher was silent. After a while, he finally broke the silence, "I'm sorry."
"I'm afraid that isn't good enough for now."
Christopher nodded and walked out with tears stinging in his eyes.
After he was out of sight, Heather finally broke down in Luke's arms. Luke had no idea what to say to this daughter. It wasn't as easy as when she was little when a kiss and hug would heal the worst of pains. This was adult pain–the kind that did not go away easily...