Bella's POV
My father, Charlie, offered to let us stay at his house with his new wife and step kids but we decided to get a hotel room instead. I have a lot of questions for my father and I don't even want to think about the rest of his family until I've asked him and got answers. After we check in we head to the restaurant where he is meeting us.
As soon as I see him I know him, he looks so much like me and he knows me right away too.
"Oh Isabella, you're beautiful." He tells me and steps forward as if to hug me but I step closer to Phil and he backs off.
"Um, I go by Bella." I tell him and he just nods and we are lead to our table.
"So like I told you on the phone my mom died and I found the letters, she was going to give them me when I turned 18. But what I really want to know is why is that all you ever did? Why not fight for me?" I ask him as soon as we sit down and he looks stunned and Phil rubs his eyes and I can tell he's thinking, nice intro there kiddo but I need to know before this goes any farther.
"I was young and that's not an excuse I know but I knew your mom would take of you. I saw you a few times right after I left and you were so happy so I didn't want to take you away from her even as she pushed me away, always making excuses about it being bad timing. And as you got older I thought you were getting the cards and letters and choosing to ignore me. I promise you if I had known then I would have fought harder. But this is our second chance Isa… Bella. I would love for you to come live with me but I understand if you choose to stay with Phil." He looks like he might cry.
"I want to stay with Phil but I guess I wouldn't mind visiting." I tell him after thinking about it for a while, I look at Phil to see if he's OK with all this and he just nods a little bit. He's only been my step dad for 5 years but he knows me better than anyone, even better than my mom did. My mom had a tendency to get caught up in herself.
"I would like to spend the rest of my month of leave with her and then anytime is good since she'll be homeschooling." Phil tells Charlie at which point Charlie looks at him like he's crazy but smartly doesn't say anything about it.
"Of course, can you two come to dinner at least once before you leave though? I would love to introduce you both to my wife and step kids, Leah and Seth. They are all anxious to meet you." He asks and I agree.
So we make plans for dinner that night and also that in a month I will come down with an open ended plan ticket so I can stay for as long or more likely as little as I like.
As we get ready to leave Phil and Charlie shake hands and then we head back to our hotel.
Once we get back I take a nap because this is all just too much, I'm exhausted. I'm not at all excited about meeting who I guess is my step mom and her kids. When I was little I wanted a little brother or sister so badly. I'm over that.
Plus his step daughter is older than me, she's 18 and her brother is 13. I don't mind getting to know my dad but I'm not looking for a family. Phil and his parents and his team are my family.
I meet with my dad a couple more times before we head back to Houston for the rest of his leave. He withdraws me from school and set up my homeschool which is basically public school online. Phil's main concern is my lack of a real social life but I constantly remind him I didn't really have a social life. Before my mom met him we moved all the time and I learned to not really get involved so by the time my mom finally settled down with him it was too hard to change my ways. I never felt alone though, my mom and then Phil was always there for me. That's one of the many reasons I'm not looking forward to visiting Charlie. I'm used to being an only child, and it's not sharing my parents or anything like that that concerns me, it's the fact that it seems like there will always be someone right there. At least they have a guest room for me to sleep in. I cannot imagine sharing a room.
Maybe I won't even go. No one is going to make me, sure Leah and her mom will be all tragically heartbroken and Charlie will pretend to beg but after a couple of days I can just pretend there was no box that ruined everything I thought I ever knew. Yep. That definitely sounds like the best plan.