Aria's POV
My entire body feels numb. I finished the first part of my talk and now it's time for the question and answer section. Usually I wouldn't feel this anxious, but I can't stop thinking about Hope. I keep trying to read her facial expressions, but she's too far away. I have no idea how she's taking the news, and I wish I could jump off the stage and envelop her in a hug.
"Now that I've finished my story, I want to give you the opportunity to ask me any questions that you might have. If you have a question, please raise your hand. I'll try my best to answer all of them." I say as I force a smile.
About twenty hands shoot up, but the only one I care about is Hope's. Does she honestly want to ask me a question in front of all these people? Maybe it's urgent.
"Yes. The girl in the very back." I say as I gesture towards my daughter.
"You mentioned that you kept a lot of this stuff from your daughter so you could keep her sheltered. How do you justify all of the lies and secrets?" Hope spits out.
My entire body goes numb and heads in the room begin to turn. Probably because I never mentioned keeping my daughter sheltered during the talk. I seriously hope that nobody suspects anything. I don't want them to give poor Hope a hard time.
"A lot of people ask me that question, actually. A lot of my friends and family think that I've done my daughter a disservice by keeping her so sheltered. I don't know. Maybe I have done her a disservice. The only thing I can really tell you is that hurting my daughter was never my intention. I've always tried to make decisions that would be in Hope's best interest, but unfortunately I'm not a perfect mom. I wish I was, but I'm not. I just hope that my children can see past my shortcomings and realize how much I love them. Do we have any other questions?" I ask as I try to calm my heavy breathing.
After the second and final part of of my talk ended, a crowd of people gathered around me. This is typical after talks like these. I always get told that I'm a huge inspiration, and today is no exception. As one of my former colleagues gushes about how proud she is of me, I can't help but feel guilty. I certainly don't feel like Wonder Woman they keep describing me as. I feel like a failure because I know my daughter is hurting.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Hope strolling around the stage area. She looks incredibly distraught, and I don't blame her. I just dropped a huge bombshell on my daughter, and I should be comforting her instead of chatting it up with the professors.
"If you'll all excuse me, there is someone I really need to speak with." I mutter before making my way through the thick crowd.
Without saying a word, I grab Hope's arm and drag her into the wings. No one will be able to bother us here. As soon as we're out of sight, I pull my little girl in for a hug. To my dismay, she pulls away almost immediately.
"Hope..." I start to ramble.
"I fucking hate you." She says before pushing me away and sprinting out the back door.
Ezra's POV
I try to focus on the novel in my hands, but I can't. The only thing I can focus on is Hope. She probably already knows the truth, and I wonder how she's taking the news. I glance down at my watch and sigh when I realize that it's already four o'clock. Aria should have been home half an hour ago. I can't shake the feeling that something is wrong. Seriously wrong.
I breathe out a sigh of relief when the front door creeps open. That must be Aria and Hope. All of the relief drains from my body when I realize that it's my turn to answer questions. I wonder if Aria has answered most of them already. What if Hope's crying? I don't know how many more of her crying fits I can handle.
To my surprise, Aria is the one who's crying. Tears are spilling out of her hazel eyes, and her eye makeup is completely smeared. I suppose it's understandable. The past few hours have been emotionally draining for my wife, and I'd be concerned if she wasn't crying. Hope is probably crying too, but I can't verify that. I can't verify it because Hope is nowhere in sight.
"Aria, where is Hope?" I ask as I spring to my feet.
"I don't- I don't know, Ezra." Aria says as she shakes her head slowly.
"What do you mean you don't know?" I ask as my eyes grow wide with shock.
"I tried to speak with her after I finished giving my talk. I pulled her into the wings, and she announced that she fucking hated me. Then she ran out, and I haven't seen her since." Aria says through her tears.
"You didn't go after her?" I ask as my voice begins to soften.
"Of course I didn't! She said she hated me, Ezra. I know she didn't mean it, but she obviously needs her space right now. I just- I just want to give her some time to think things through." Aria says with a sniffle.
"Think things through? Aria, the news she just received is earth shattering. I know you want to give her space, but this is ridiculous. She can think things through in the safety of our home!" I exclaim.
"Give her time, Ezra. This is classic Hope. She gets angry and storms off, but she always comes back to us. She'll be back within the next hour, and then the three of us can have a talk." Aria says as she rests a hand on my shoulder.
"Aria, this time is different. She's not upset about us grounding her for the weekend. She's upset because she just found out that her entire childhood has been a lie. We need to find her. I don't want her to do something stupid." I say with panic in my voice.
"Y-You don't think she'd do something dangerous, do you Ezra?" Aria asks as her eyes grow wide with worry.
"I don't know, honey. Under the right circumstances, anything is possible. Why don't you wait here while I try to find Hope?" I suggest.
"Okay. If you think that will help." Aria says as even more tears begin to spill out of her eyes.
"It will. And, Aria... Hope doesn't hate you. She loves you and so does Gregory. Regardless of how you're feeling right now, you're the best mother that this world has ever seen." I say as I turn to face my wife.
"A-Are you sure?" Aria ask with disbelief in her voice.
"Darling, I've never been more sure of anything in my entire life." I tell her truthfully.
Line Break
When Hope was seven years old, she ran away from home. Aria told her that she couldn't go on a class field trip to New York, so she stormed out of the house and vowed never to come back. Aria was on the verge of a panic attack, but I wasn't phased in the slightest. I might not be the perfect father, but I know my daughter. I drove down to the park and found Hope playing on the monkey bars. That's where Hope is now. She's at the park. I know she is.
After I park my car, I sprint towards the seemingly empty play structure. Sure enough, Hope is sitting on the swings and staring down at the sand. Tears are pouring out of her hazel eyes, and the sight alone tugs at my already worn down heartstrings.
"Do you mind if I sit here?" I ask as I gesture towards the empty swing next to my daughter.
Hope gasps, and notices me for the first time since my arrival. The girl goes from looking sad to angry in less than a second, and I feel incredibly helpless all of the sudden.
"Yes, of course I mind." Hope growls.
"Why?" I ask her softly.
"Because I hate you too! I hate all of you!" Hope says as she begins to raise her voice.
I sigh, before taking a seat next to the girl I helped bring into this world. To my surprise, she doesn't run away. Instead, she stares at me with a shocked expression on her face.
"I hate me too, sometimes." I confess.
"Y-You do?" Hope asks me skeptically.
"How could I not? I remember holding you in my arms for the first time and wishing that the world was perfect for your sake. I never wanted you to get hurt, and now look at you! You're sitting in an empty park and crying all alone. To make matters worse, it's my fault. You're upset because you feel betrayed by me." I say as I shake my head slowly.
"Is this the park where it happened?" Hope asks me suddenly.
"Excuse me?" I ask with confusion in my voice.
"Is this the park where Mom was kidnapped?" Hope clarifies.
"Yes it was." I say with a nod.
To my dismay, Hope begins to cry even harder if that's humanly possible. I wish I could take all of the pain away. I can't even begin to imagine the hurt and the shock that Hope is going through.
"I can't believe you kept that from me. I can't believe you used to take me here and let me believe that nothing was wrong. This used to be favorite place in the world, Daddy. Why did you do it? Why didn't you tell me?" Hope asks through her heavy sobs.
"Oh sweetheart, don't cry." I say as tears begin to form in my own eyes.
"How can I not cry? You lied to me. I trusted you, and you lied!" Hope exclaims.
"You mentioned that this park used to be your favorite place in the world. That implies that it's not your favorite place anymore." I spit out.
"How could it be my favorite place? T-That man took my mom away here. I can never see it the same way again." Hope says in a shaky voice.
"Darling, that's exactly why we didn't tell you the truth sooner." I say to the girl.
"Because you didn't want me to dislike the park?" Hope asks with a puzzled expression on her face.
"No, because we didn't want you to dislike the world you were brought into." I explain.
"I don't- I don't understand." Hope says with a sniffle.
"Hope, it's been almost sixteen years since your mother has been home. All that time has gone by, and I'm still scared. There are times when your mother is at work, and I can't shake the feeling that she won't be coming home at the end of the day. Sometimes I see a bottle of alcohol, and I become paranoid that I'll drink it and lose control again. I look at you, and I'm terrified that someone will steal you from us. Hope, your mother and brother are even more scared than I am. They had to live with that man for over five years, and they're never going to be able to fully recover from that. I wish I could tell you that they will someday, but that would be lying. And now... Everything has changed for you. You're scared too." I say as tears begin to spill out of my eyes.
"I'm not scared, Dad. I'm terrified." Hope blurts out.
"I know you are. I'm terrified too. I bet sitting in this park makes you feel sick to your stomach. It still makes me feel sick to think about Nick... Never mind. I don't want you to stop coming to this park, Hope, because it used to bring you so much joy. I'm worried that you'll be too afraid to leave the house alone. As much as I wish you could stay with us, you need to grow and become independent. I fear that you'll see men on the street and turn around without giving them a chance. There are more than enough Nicks and Owens out there, but there are also a lot men like Gregory who want to love girls like you. This might sound like a silly question, but are you afraid that you'll become a scared person?" I question.
"Yes." Hope says with a whimper.
"Your mother and I never wanted you to be scared, Hope. Gregory didn't get much of a childhood, but you actually got the chance to be a kid. We didn't want to strip you of your innocence or youth prematurely." I say as I stoke my daughter's cheek.
"Why? Did you think I wasn't strong enough to handle the truth?" Hope questions.
"Of course not! You're strong like your mom, and I always knew that about you. We didn't want to tell you the truth because we didn't have the heart to expose a beautiful baby girl to such ugliness. It had nothing to do with you, Hope." I tell her gently.
"I just feel like such an idiot. The entire world knew about Mom, and I didn't. Am I stupid or something?" Hope asks as she looks up at me.
"Hope, never say that about yourself again. You're not stupid. We just loved you a lot, and we got really good at sheltering you from the outside world." I say as my tone turns serious.
"I just- I just don't know how to feel about all of this. I don't know whether I should be angry at you and mom, or feel sorry that you had to go through all of that. I don't know you anymore, Daddy." Hope says as she begins to choke on her own tears.
"No, no. Don't say that. You know me, Hope. You know your mother and Gregory too. We're the exact same people who raised and protected you. What happened to your mother doesn't define our family and it shouldn't define you either." I tell the girl.
"I just feel so sad." Hope says with a breathy sigh.
"That's understandable. Your mom's story is sad, but it's happy too. She survived, and now she has a family that would do anything for her. God gave her a second chance, Hope. If you let him, he'll give you that chance too. And your mother understands what you went through with Owen. She knows better than anyone what it feels like to be taken advantage of. She can help you through it, Hope." I say, trying to convince her.
"Why would she want to help me through it? She thinks I hate her." Hope says with a sniffle.
"No she doesn't, Hope. She knows that you were just upset, and she loves you more than anything in the world!" I exclaim as I get off the swing and wrap my arms around Hope.
Hope hugs me back, and I hold her so tightly that I doubt she can breathe. I got her. I got my little girl back.
"Don't let us get hurt anymore, Daddy." Hope sobs into my chest.
"Never." I say before kissing the top of my daughter's head.
AN: What did you think of this chapter? Were you surprised by Hope's reaction and did she have the right to be angry? Did you like the scene with Ezra and Hope? Will Hope and Aria make amends? Please review and tell me your thoughts. Thanks for reading :)