The Exception(51)

“She did it because she loved me and knew I needed an out. As long as I stayed in Seattle around the two of you and Grant, I would never know who I truly was.”

Seeing them sitting there weak and their defenses down gave me the strength to continue. Drew sat back in his chair, staring at me and waiting for what was to come next.

“What do you mean you would never know who you truly were?” my father asked.

“You made me into someone I don’t even know! You molded me into what you wanted me to be. You didn’t let me decide what I wanted to be or let me discover myself. You shoved your life down my throat and every time I look in the mirror, I see a complete stranger!”

“Oh for God’s sake, Jillian. You are such a drama queen,” my mother snarled. “The fact of the matter is that you have embarrassed this family and you need to do some serious apologizing. Not only to us and the community that supported you, but also to Grant.”

I could feel the fire rise inside my body and the anger I felt grew more intense.

“An embarrassment? Me?” I calmly spoke. “If anyone should be embarrassed, it’s you, Daddy.”

“Me? Why me?”

“Do you know why I came to New York?”

My mother rolled her eyes. “I’m sure it was for him.”

“LEAVE DREW OUT OF THIS!” I shouted. “I came here because of my sister! You know, the child you created with another woman?” I glared at my father.

My mother looked at him and swallowed hard while my father sat there and blankly stared at me. Finally, they were speechless.

“How did you find out about her?” my mother asked.

Cocking my head, I narrowed my eye at her. “You knew about her?”

“Of course I did. Now answer the question.”

“She contacted me two years ago after her mother passed away. She told her everything. We bonded and became close like sisters should be. I can’t believe I had a sister and you never told me!”

“You were never supposed to find out about her,” my father softly spoke as he looked down.

“Well, too f*cking bad. I did. What kind of father just ignores the fact that he has another child?”

“I’m not rehashing the past, Jillian. Drop it and you are never to speak of her to anyone.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about that because she’ll be dead in six to nine months.” A tear formed in my eye.

My father looked up at me. “What do you mean?”

“She has brain cancer and there’s nothing more the doctors can do for her. So I hope you feel like shit, but I’m sure you don’t. Neither one of you has a compassionate bone in your body.”

My mother raised her brow and looked away.

“I’m sorry,” my father spoke.

“Sorry?” I leaned my ear towards him. “You’re sorry for what? That I found out, that she’s dying, or that you never got the chance to know your own daughter?”

“Maybe all of it.” He looked down.

I stood there and slowly shook my head.

“I thank God every day that I’m nothing like the both of you. How I’m not is a miracle.”

They both sat there in silence and Drew looked at me with a small grin. He knew I had won.

“I want to meet her,” my father spoke.

“What?” my mother lashed out. “No! You are not meeting that woman.”

“Will you shut the hell up for once in your life, Patricia!” he commanded at her. “I never should have listened to you in the first place. Now I’ve lost two daughters.”

“Jillian will be coming home. We’ll work this out. She’ll apologize and we can all move on.”

“The f*ck I will!”

“Don’t you dare use that language in my presence,” she spoke in anger.

“Oh, I will use that language in your presence. You cannot and will not tell me what to do. I am a grown woman who makes her own decisions. If I want to say ‘f*ck,’ I will and I’ll say it as many times as I want to.”

“What happened to you?” My mother narrowed her eyes in disgust at me. “What happened to my daughter?”

“The daughter you created is gone and she’s never coming back. She’s dead and buried deep down in the depths of the Earth. By the way, that man sitting over there that you keep referring to, his name is Drew Westbrook and you will respect him.”

I grabbed my purse from the table and Drew followed me to the door.

“Goodbye, Mr. and Mrs. Bell. Oh, and by the way, Patricia, Kellan helped me plan my little escape. He knew where I was the whole time. You are to stay away from him. If I even catch a hint of you going anywhere near him again, I will leak to the press about Daddy’s illegitimate child and how the two of you went to great lengths to keep her a secret.”

“You wouldn’t dare.” She glared at me.

“And you never thought I’d skip out on my wedding day either.” I smiled. “Don’t underestimate me. I learned from the best.”

Walking out the door, I let out a deep breath and fell into Drew’s arms.





Chapter Thirty-Two


Drew



I held her as tightly as I could and ran my hand up and down her back. I expected her to break down and start crying, but she didn’t.