The next morning, he was gone, but as I stretched in bed, I got a text immediately.
Dex: Morning, heartbreaker. Breakfast is in the kitchen for you. I took that engagement ring off your finger too. You’ll get a real one soon. A car will be by to pick you up at 3. People will be at your door soon enough.
Me: People? Only Olive and Pink, right?
Dex: Say I do today. Don’t worry about anything else.
I didn’t know how to respond because the man knew I was going to say yes. I just wasn’t saying yes to a freaking whole happily ever after when I knew that soon I’d be saying no to the record label, that I’d be turning my life upside down, that I wouldn’t know how to take care of everything in my family. But I’d find a way.
I grabbed the food in the fridge and started to heat it up. That was when I saw a small piece of paper next to a box with one single lilac placed over it.
The paper said Put it on.
And when I opened the box, a large jewel the exact same colors as lilacs glinted at me.
I stared at it. Then I snapped it shut and set it down to take a deep breath, because I knew what this meant. I looked up to find where the camera was and shook my head.
Immediately, my phone rang.
When I answered, his voice growled into it. “Do I have to come there and see you before the fucking walk down the aisle, Kee?”
“No,” I croaked, and then I pointed at the box. “You can’t get me things like that when we’re not even really doing this—”
“I am doing this. You are too,” he told me. Then he whispered out, “What are you so afraid of?”
“I’m going to be a mess.”
“I like your messes.”
“I’m going to be without a job most likely too. The record label is—”
“They were a terrible label to do business with anyway.”
“I ruined you once, Dex. And then you ruined me. We’re all broken up and—”
“And so we’re putting each other back together.” He sighed and then said, “Put the ring on, Kee. Don’t worry about anything else.”
He always said it so easily, like he had everything taken care of, and finally, I believed him. I believed him more than anyone else in my life. I opened the box back up and stared at it. “Did you line this with security measures too?”
“You’d be proud to know that I did not. I’m also done looking at you for the day. I’ll wait until the actual wedding. That ring there is just the ring you want without any secrets…for now.”
“For now?”
“Until you say I do…and then I’m going to ask you exactly what you want, if I can stalk you with your permission.” His tone was exasperated, but I could hear his smile. “This agreement between us will be different than before.”
“You like control,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but with you, I only like it if you allow it,” he threw back.
I nodded over and over because I was trying my best not to cry. “I can’t get married without my family, Dex.”
“Good thing I invited them then.” He hung up right as there was a knock at the door.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered out, almost jumping back in shock at my father standing at my hotel suite’s door in a three-piece suit. “Dad?” I whispered out in confusion.
“You’re getting married, Kee.” He frowned at me like I should have known he’d be there, like he wouldn’t miss it for the world.
“But no. This isn’t real, and Mom needs you at—”
“Mom’s at home, but she’s getting ready too. She’s managing with the nurses. Dex worked out extra accommodations for us, and there’s a whole team catering to her every need today. I think she’ll be able to make it even if she won’t know it’s your wedding. You should…” He cleared his throat. “Come by the house too. I… You should see her today, even if it’s hard. She should see her daughter in her wedding dress. She’d want that.”
“Dad,” I whispered, “this isn’t a real wedding.”
He smiled softly and touched my cheek. “Ah, Keelani. He called me. He’s been calling me all week. His voice shook when he asked for your hand in marriage.”
“But he can’t—”
“He wants us all there.” He sighed. “He talked to me again about the finances too.”
My heart dropped. Dex would have done just that. He would have tried to fix this when it wasn’t fixable. Offering my father money just meant it went down the drain. And suddenly, standing there with him in that moment, I felt anger that I knew my father would take it too. He wouldn’t even hesitate.
“He’s not helping us with anything financially.” I said the words slowly but with emphasis. “You’re not taking any money from him.”
“Well, now, Kee—”
“Don’t start, Dad.” I held up a hand and it shook but I still did it. Something in my snapped as I thought of him taking advantage of Dex. “I know you’re my dad and I know you love Mom, okay? But what we’ve been doing… It’s not right.”
The words tasted like acid in my mouth but a weight lifted from my chest as I let them slip from my lips.
“What’s not right?” He frowned as if he was confused. He was daring me to say it because in the past I never had.
“Your gambling. You handling our money like it’s an investment when it’s not, Dad.” My voice shook, but still, I felt like suddenly I knew I had to say them.
“Kee, that’s a large accusation. You can’t possibly believe that.” He huffed, trying again to make me feel guilt and shame for speaking his discretions out into the world.
This time, I threw it back at him though. “What else should I believe? Are you claiming you raised me to be that naïve?”
I saw the moment he realized I wasn’t backing down. His shoulders slumped, his eyes turned down. “I’ve only been trying to help.” The man shrank before me. He looked older, more tired, and like life hadn’t given him much of a break.
But I had. I’d tried to give him everything for so long. And knowing he would take from a man who’d done nothing lately but comfort me shined light on the fact that he was troubled, that he had a problem. “You’re not helping by taking money again and again, Dad. And it’s been millions. I’ve calculated what you’ve lost to what? Bets? Loans?”
His mouth opened and closed a few times, emotions shuttering across his face. “You don’t understand. I lost my job. I was trying to make enough to help your mother.”
“We had enough with just what I made.” I looked away, hating that I saw hurt in his eyes.
“You’re not grateful.” He voice broke.
“Grateful?” I frowned at him and tried to control the anger building in me. “How can you even be focused on that right now when I just told you that millions have been lost?”
He searched my eyes again. Moments of silence passed between us before he finally whispered, “It’s all I know how to do.”
It wasn’t a sorry but it was an admission.
And that was a start.
A tear in my eye escaped as he said it. “No, it’s not, Dad. You just need help. You can do something else.”
He nodded over and over. “I don’t know how to leave her and get help.”
“We’ll find a way,” I told him, and then I pulled him in for a hug. We’d all find a way together because family didn’t leave family behind.
“He told me that too, you know?” my father said gruffly against my head and then pulled back to explain, “Dex offered to help with the gambling and finances. That’s what I was going to say. I want to get well. I want to make things right.”
I choked out a laugh that turned to a sort of cry. “I might really actually marry him, Dad.”
“As you should. He loves the hell out of you, I can tell. He sounds like me when I met your mom. And you love the boy, don’t you?”
“Yes.” I nodded.
“Then, let’s go to the house when you’re ready.”
“Just me and you. I don’t want to upset her.”
“Yeah, just me and you, kid. I’ll be ready when you are.”
He left me standing there with every nerve-racking thought flowing through my body. I turned back to the ring on the counter. I went over to it and slid it on. It fit perfectly.
Like this was meant to be, forever and ever.
