Usual disclaimer applies.

March, 2012

~57~

I know I shouldn't be surprised. I know this is a good thing. But his response is still shocking, it still makes me tense. I think about Dad, only 43 years old, with an adult daughter who will be moving out of home within the next five months. He still has so much life to live, so many things to experience. It might sound kind of horrible, but I'm glad he is divorcing Mom.

I squeeze him tighter and then let go.

"I think we have a lot to talk about." I sigh. He nods his consent, and we get off my bed. This is a conversation that I need to have face-to-face and feasibly not in my bedroom.

I decide to have a quick shower and it makes me feel immensely better, like I am washing off the grief and horror of the last couple of hours, those scary hours when I didn't know who my father was. When I get out, putting on yoga pants and one of Dad's old tees, I step into the kitchen where Dad is waiting for me with two steaming mugs of coffee.

He has put chocolate milk in mine, just how I like it.

And I know the coffee is an indicator, a sign.

He will be treating me like an adult during this conversation. He will not paraphrase or explain the abridged version. He knows I need to hear everything. But he also expects me to be an adult, to not childishly hide important facts from him, to trust in him that he will handle everything I say with a mature reaction.

But it's difficult.

Yes, there are definitely things I need to tell him. About Esme's deceit, how I found out about the affair, and how Edward, and I suspect Alice, have known about it since last summer. I know I will even have to tell him about the surveillance pictures taken by Emmett McCarty and used by Esme to threaten Renee.

But can I really explain to Dad what took place at Jessica's party?

I don't think so.

Because I know that there would be several people in the Forks' holding cells tonight, and some with possible injuries caused by Dad. Edward, Mike, and Jasper would be at the top of the list, but he would have no qualms in arresting Jessica as well.

And I'm not sure yet what I want to be done about them. I have no idea yet where my thoughts are on that front. It's going to take time for me to work out, time for me to untangle right from wrong.

I need time to emotionally accept all that happened.

Because that definitely hasn't happened yet.

So I sit down at the small formica table across from Dad, trying to come up with words to explain.

Thankfully, he starts.

"In order to get divorced from a missing spouse, I had to provide evidence to the court that I have thoroughly searched for her. And I have Bella, but she is nowhere. It was during that time, well, last week, when I discovered some things. And I suspect you know what I am talking about?"

I nod, but I don't want him to think that I have been deceiving him, that I've been keeping it from him. I just never felt it was the right time to tell him.

"Remember when I found out about Renee and Carlisle being a couple in high school a couple of weeks ago? I asked you about that." He nods in acknowledgment. "That's when I began to wonder. And well, I found out some things you are really not going to like…"

I cringe a little bit when he narrows his eyes and I fear this conversation is about to go downhill, fast.