“As you all know, I, with the support of my loving family, and hopefully your support as well, hope to be your president this time next year.” Daniel stood up in front of the fireplace, holding a glass of champagne. “
Not a chance in hell.
“I must thank my wife and daughters, who have filled me with so much pride—”
“Governor Ford, aren’t you missing a daughter?” I questioned, taking a glass of champagne from the server’s tray.
“I’m sorry—”
“You first daughter, Felicity.” I smiled before drinking. His eyes widened for a second, as did his wife’s.
“You have another daughter?” someone asked.
He nodded. “Yes, Felicity, with my first wife who, as you know, died sixteen years ago. She’s somewhere in Los Angeles now, trying to become an actress. She wants to do it all on her own—”
“Actually,” I cut through his bullshit, “she’s a dancer. One of my company’s dancers. She opened at my entertainment gala two weeks ago. It was amazing. In fact, she’s the talk of the west. I’m surprised you haven’t gone to see her yet.”
“Sadly, the governor has been busy, but we are all so proud of her.” His wife smiled brightly beside him. “Honestly, she has so much talent. We hope she eventually comes back home. Mr. Rogers, your son is also in California, right?”
I didn’t say anything as they quickly deflected. Governor Ford’s eyes met mine, and I drank the rest of the champagne, rising to my feet, knowing from how his nose flared and how tense his fists were that he would follow me out.
“Thank you,” I said to the maid, who opened the front door for me.
“Mr. Darcy, you only just arrived,” he said, standing at the doorway behind me.
“I came to see what type of man you are, and I saw. Why stay any longer?”
“I’m not sure what you think you know—”
“I know your daughter has spent eight years with no contact from you. I know you basically shipped her off the moment you realized she was sick. And I know you seem to have all but forgotten her for the new family you’ve built for yourself,” I said, facing him.
He clenched his jaw. “Felicity is a troubled young woman who needed—”
“Her father not to kick her across the country at sixteen and turn his back on her.”
“How dare you judge me!” he snapped. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to deal with people like them? I was married to her mother for fourteen years, and then three years after we were married, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. I should have seen it. She was often depressed and her moods would randomly change. The worst was when she had no apathy for anything, not even her own child! Came home one day, and no one had fed or changed Felicity for hours! Where was her mother? Smoking in the backyard! You have no idea the hell that life was. The insomnia, lack of hygiene, lack of appetite—she was dying in front of me every goddamned day. When she died, I was relieved. Every day did not feel like a battle. Then Felicity started to act the same, and I could not do it again. I couldn’t!”
I couldn’t help but picture the life he had just painted and how Felicity lived it. She got a poor set of cards to deal with from the beginning.
“She’s your daughter. When it goes bad, when there is nothing left but her crying in a lonely apartment, you should be the one thing she can count on. Isn’t that what it means to be a parent? What is it with you people, thinking you matter more than your children? So it’s okay to abandon them because it’s hard? Everything you said sounds horrible, but not for you. For her mother, who couldn’t help it. And for Felicity to spend six years believing she had loving, caring friends and then for me to come along and rip that out of her hands.”
My driver opened the door for me, and Governor Ford called out to me.
“Don’t be all high and mighty. Now you have two choices: stay with her, since you obviously love her, and deal with everything I had to. Then you’ll understand what I mean when I say I couldn’t watch her like that. Or you’ll be like me and be another man who has to walk away. Either you suffer with her, or she suffers alone. Either way she still suffers.”
Saying nothing, I got into the car. When the door closed, I punched the front of my seat, “Goddamn it!”
At first I was in shock. Then I wanted to make sure Felicity got help. Now I was just so fucking pissed off and confused.
How did it get this bad so quickly?
Felicity
1:15 p.m.
I could deal with the horrible medicine that made me groggy. I could even handle all the healthy food. The no-wine part I was even starting to calm down over. But therapy was the worst.
“Felicity.” Dr. Butler, an old and large man, who only had hair on the sides of his head and wore the most annoying bow ties, called out to me. He had been my doctor when I was sixteen as well. I looked out the window, staring at the rose bushes. I really wanted to go back to fifteen days ago… when I’d thought I was just a normal girl with some baggage.