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“Morning, No,” Corey called out through a mouthful of eggs.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” I said, walking over to him. “It’s disgusting.”
Corey opened his mouth wider, giving me a full view of the chewed-up mulch.
“Real mature,” I said with a snort and sat down at the table.
“Coffee?” Milla asked, looking over at me.
“Yeah, thanks.”
She quickly grabbed a cup and poured me coffee, proceeding to add sugar into it.
“Are you sure I can’t have a cup, kiddo?” Dad asked as she passed me my coffee.
“Sorry,” Milla said, pushing a glass of orange juice at him. “No caffeine until we’re sure you’re a hundred percent okay.”
“I’ll never be a hundred percent okay at my age,” he muttered, staring at his juice like it’d deeply offended him.
“You’re barely past sixty,” Milla argued back. “You’ll be fine if you follow a strict diet.”
Sipping my coffee, I looked around the table, taking in the pouting and grinning faces. Thinking back, my family never looked this cheerful before.
In the strangest way, the truth seemed to have broken the barriers between us and the man who wasn’t really our dad. It allowed us to understand him better. A warmth pervaded our relationship as the misunderstandings waned.
Even though he’d revealed the truth to us, he remained the same as before.
It was a relief to keep calling him ‘Dad’. After all these years, it was difficult to address him as anything else. Not only that, he was still acting as a father figure to us all.
A sliver of pity went through me every time I heard Milla call him ‘Brian’.
It’d taken a lifetime for her to know the identity of her father and she was still forced to keep it a secret. Regret washed over me to think she had to hold herself back from calling him ‘Dad’.
Maybe when she marries me, she can call him ‘Dad’, I mused.
The thought startled me. How could I be thinking of marriage out of the blue?
I glanced over at Milla who was talking to Caleb and Corey. She’d always been more intimate with my brothers than me.
Not that I could blame her.
I never did anything but hurt her.
It was a painful thought but I wouldn’t blame Milla if she eventually decided to belong to them. Either way, as long as she married one of them on paper, she’d finally be able to use the word ‘Dad’ without attracting anyone’s suspicion.
I was still hopeful Milla would give me a chance again. She didn’t look at me with terror anymore and seemed comfortable in spending time with me alone.
A few days ago, we even had a late dinner together.
Our relationship was slowly rolling toward friendship.It’s a start, I decided.
She seemed to trust my advice on business decisions too and didn’t mind returning home with me late at night.There’s still hope for me, I realized, feeling lighter than I’d felt in years.
Hubert, our old valet, brought me a plate of scrambled eggs and bacon.
My spirits lifted at the sight of my favorite breakfast. Picking up my knife and fork, I dug in, only faintly listening to the conversation happening around me.
For now, I focused on enjoying my food and soaking up the moment.
