The Exception(56)

Kristen put her hand up to him. “Noah, please.”

“You seriously aren’t considering it, are you?” he asked her.

“What harm would it do? I think I should at least meet my father before I die.”

I sat there and stared at the brave and beautiful woman who was my sister. She was filled with courage and strength and I admired her greatly for it.

“Are you sure, Kristen? How can you forgive him for what he did?”

A small smile crossed her lips as she reached over and took hold of my hand.

“Forgiveness is what gives us strength in life, Jill. Forgiveness sets you free.”

“I’m meeting him in Central Park. Supposedly, he wants to apologize to me.”

“What about Patricia?” she asked.

“I’m not so sure things are good between them. Not that they ever were, but he made a comment to Drew that she will no longer stand in the way of him and his daughters.”

“Speaking of Drew, how were his parents?”

“You’re never going to believe this.”

“Now what?” She cocked her head.

“You know your nurse, Andrea?”

“Yeah.” She frowned.

“She’s his mother.”

“No way! So the son she was talking about all that time was Drew?”

“Yes.”

“And you connected with her right away and even had coffee and a bagel with her?”

“Yep. I sure did.”

“Not knowing that was his mother?”

“Nope. I had no clue.” I shook my head.

She let out a long sigh. “The universe is smacking you right upside the head, Jill.”

“Yeah. Well, I said something last night that hurt Drew and I’m not sure he’ll be coming around anymore.”

“Oh for f*ck sakes. What did you do?”

“He just can’t understand that I can’t be with anyone right now.”

“Oh, Jill. Drew is the best thing that has ever happened to you.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it right now. Please understand.”

“Okay. But we’re going to talk about it soon. Oh, by the way, after the wedding, Noah and I are going on a honeymoon.” She beamed with excitement.

“Where to?” I asked.

“Italy. I know it’s last minute, but he wasn’t sure if he could get the time off work. But his boss gave him two weeks.”

“Wow. That’s great. I’m so happy for you. But are you well enough to travel?”

“I’ll never be well enough again, sis. But I’ll be okay. Italy is a place I’ve always wanted to see and my future husband is going to make sure I get to.” She smiled.

I looked at my watch. It was time to leave to go meet my father.

“Just promise me you’ll take it easy while you’re there.” I got up from the couch and gave her a hug.

“You worry too much.” She laughed.





Chapter Thirty-Five


Jillian



My stomach was a bundle of nerves as I saw my father sitting down underneath a large tree, out of the sun and away from the crowd of people who were enjoying the warm sunny day. As I slowly walked towards him, I could see the sadness that resided on his face. It was a look that I’d only seen once in my life and that was when my grandmother passed away.

“Hello, Jillian.” His lips gave way to a small subtle smile.

“Daddy,” I spoke as I sat down next to him.

“How are you?” he asked.

“I’m here. So what did you want to talk about?” I asked as I stared straight ahead, not being able to look him in the eyes.

“I want to apologize to you for the other night. After giving our discussion some serious thought, I now understand why you did it. Why you left us and Grant.”

Looking down and fidgeting with my hands, I spoke, “You do?”

“Yeah, sweetheart, I do. I need you to understand that your mother and I only wanted what was best for you. We wanted you to be a successful, well-educated adult. Unfortunately, we went about it the wrong way and I’m sorry.”

“You wanted me to be the perfect child. The daughter you and Mom could show off and boast about to all your high society friends. You never gave me the chance to be the person I wanted to be.”

“And who do you want to be?”

“I want to be me. You brainwashed me into believing that I had to do and act in such a manner, that if I didn’t, I would be nothing but a disappointment and a disgrace to you both. Did you know that I hated ballet? Yet I was forced to take years of lessons because that’s what all upper class girls took.”

“I thought you loved ballet, Jill.”

“No, I hated it. Just like I hated that damn private school you made me go to. I wanted to be like the normal kids and attend a public school. I wanted to meet kids outside of our upper class circle. Kids who weren’t given everything they ever wanted and lived in the real world. I wanted to explore what other things life had to offer. Not just what money could buy. And as for law school, I don’t even want to be a lawyer, but it was shoved down my throat since I was five years old.”

“Why didn’t you come to me with all this?”