Ch. 23

I awoke in my bed with a pounding headache. Danny was nowhere to be found. I groaned. What happened to me? I felt like I had gotten hit by a semi-truck. I rubbed my head as I looked around. It was dark outside, I was wearing the same clothes I had on earlier, and I must not have fallen asleep naturally. Where was Danny? I needed some answers. The last thing I remember is everyone being at the house while we watched a movie.

I looked around the room again. Nothing was out of the ordinary. No clue as to how I got in here. I could hear faint voices coming from outside the bedroom. Faint? That was it! Something had caused me to faint. I looked at the clock on the bedside table, 12:30am. Surely, our friends weren't still here, were they? I made to move out of the bed. I felt sore. How on earth could fainting have caused so much physical pain? I was baffled. I went to the bathroom to splash water on my face. Bits and pieces of last night came flooding back. The movie, dinner, swimming, and that earie feeling that someone was watching me all night. It all came rushing back. I recall a memory of my dad, but how? I shook that right away. My father was dead. He died when I was a little girl. I walked out of the bathroom, and grabbed my phone. I wanted to be some-what prepared for the voices that awaited me.

I slowly opened the bedroom door. I was trying to be as quiet as I could. Thank God that Danny and the boys worked on the house before we officially moved in. I had a feeling they had oiled the hinges on the door.

I tiptoed down the hallway to where the voices were coming from. I recognized Danny's. The other one, it seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. There was something about it that brought back a flood of memories.

I stopped in the hallway right before I got to the kitchen. That's where the voices were coming from. I wanted to listen to the conversation before I made an entrance.

"Why after all these years, did you just decide to show up? Why haven't you been there for her?"

It was Danny. Was he talking about me? And who wasn't there for me?

"Daniel, you just don't understand. It was in her best interest. If we hadn't have done what we did, she never would have met you."

I was in shock. How could this person, whom I can't remember at the moment, have had such an impact on my life? His voice sounded so familiar. Images of my father kept flooding back to me. My heart was beating so loud and fast, that I thought Danny and the man in the kitchen could hear it.

"But, Mr. Banks…"

I almost fainted again. Mr. Banks? My father? How? Now I know why I had fainted. The whole night came rushing back. It was time to make my entrance. I had to see this man who claimed to be my father.

I walked slowly into the kitchen, my heart pounding in my chest. The man was facing away from me. Danny's eyes got big and round when he saw me walk in. He immediately got up from his chair and walked over to me. He enveloped me in his arms. He started whispering to me.

"Honey, why don't you go lie back down? I have this taken care of."

He started leading me back to the archway to go back in the living room. I pushed him away.

"No, Danny."

I walked over to the chair Danny was sitting in and sat down. I wanted a good look at the man who claimed to be my father. Danny gave an exasperated sigh, and got all of us something to drink.

I looked the man up and down. He was smiling at me. He looked like he was in emotional pain, and looked at me with caring eyes. He looked concerned for me. His green eyes were tired looking, he was wearing faded jeans and a black t-shirt. He was greying in the temples, and the silver stood out significantly from his dark hair. For all intents and purposes, he looked like my father. Just a little older. I was in a trance staring at this man I hadn't seen since I was a child. I wanted to crawl up in his lap and cry like I used to do. In all these years, I never really realized how much I truly missed my father. What broke me from feeling like a little girl again, was the fact that Danny had set a glass of water down in front of me.

I looked up at Danny and smiled sweetly before taking a sip. I looked pointedly at my father. He was the first to speak.

"You've grown. You look beautiful."

He was smiling warmly at me. It was like he had a spell over me. He was my father. I still loved him, but there were so many questions that needed to be asked. There were so many questions that I needed answers for. I didn't know where to start.

"Here you go, Mr. Banks."

"Thank you, son. Call me Steve."

Danny smiled at him, and excused himself to the living room. I knew he wanted to be supportive, but at the same time he knew we had a lot to talk about. He must have felt like he didn't want to intrude.

When Danny left the room, my dad started talking to me.

"So, how have you been, Al? Is he treating you ok?"

I rolled my eyes at him. I never knew my dad when I was dating. I thought he was dead. And then, he calls me Al like nothing has changed.

"Dad, I've never been better. And, yes, he's perfect. But, that's not what I care about at the moment. I want to know how you're back from the dead."

I shocked myself. My dad was in utter shock. I wasn't trying to be mean. It was just, I had learned to live without him and my mom, and he shows up like nothing ever happened.

"Do we have to get into that now, Al? I want to get to know you."

Figures. He wants to get to know me. He had my whole life to get to know me, and he up and left apparently.

"Well, what do you want to know, dad? You somehow figured out where I live all on your own. I'm happy, I'm engaged, and I'm going to be a godmother. What do you want to know?"

He gave an exasperated sigh. I had thrown him through a loop.

"Fine. I'll tell you what you want to know."

I smiled triumphantly. I wanted to know where mom was, I wanted to know why the big, extravagant lie, I wanted to know everything.

"Where's mom?"

He smiled. Waiting for his answer, I could hear the TV in the living room. It was barely audible. I knew Danny was listening in. He was looking out for me, though. I knew he was going to be there if things in here went down south.

"Your mother and I have been living in North Carolina. We stayed close enough to keep an eye on you. We kept up with you all of these years, and we kept in contact with Ms. Leslie."

I had to stop him. They just up and left me? Why did they fake their own deaths?

"Why did you do all that? Why did you leave? Why did you fake your own deaths? Why all of that?"

I was crying. My parents had been alive this whole time, and I never knew it. Ms. Leslie was in on all of it, and I never had a clue. Why?

"The only way you could have met Danny was if we weren't around. Ms. Leslie had this planned all along. Ever since you were born. She knew from the moment we told her we were having a little girl. We had to leave. If you ever knew we were alive, you would come looking for us. We had to play it like we were dead. We knew what you were destined for, Alyssa. All we ever wanted was what was best for you."

All this information sunk in. My life with Danny was laid out before I was ever born. I did love him, but I never thought it meant my parents having to sacrifice their love for me. The anger I felt for my father when I first walked into the kitchen was no longer there. I no longer had any more questions for him. I got up from my chair, walked over to him, sat in his lap, cried, and hugged him. I missed him.