“No, Mom, he wants what’s best for him and for making money.”
“Bentley bought out your father’s shares. He no longer is part of the business. He wanted to wipe his hands clean of what he had done, selling you out for that company merge.”
Adel was shocked. Could her dad really have done that to make up for what he had done over a year ago? It was in that moment that she felt a bit of hope or need to have the love of her father as his only baby girl. Then she felt that twist of uncertainty. She could move on freely and without such fears and reservations with Hank, Leo, and Will, giving them her full trust, if she could forgive her father and just move on. She realized that if she saw him and even if he were only slightly remorseful that it would be enough to forgive him.
“Adel, please consider coming home for a visit. Whatever you have going on, put on hold to see your father. You mean so much to him. Not having you here has shown him that.”
Adel felt the tears reach her eyes.
“I’ll think about it. I need to go right now. I’m going to be late for work.”
“Promise me you’ll come home for a visit.”
She was hesitant but the tone of her mom’s voice, the sincerity, the sadness made her want to please her even after all this time and what her own family had done to her.
“I’ll call you later in the week to confirm when.” She disconnected the call then stared at herself in the mirror.
“I can do this. I can forgive Dad, see them in person, and let them see how well I am without Bentley in my life and I can move on with Hank, Leo, and Will.”
* * * *
“You’re out of your mind. Why would you expose yourself to their negativity and lies? What if it’s a plan to hurt you or put you down and minimize what you’ve accomplished? What if they find out about Hank, Leo, and Will?” Marlena asked Adel.
“She’s right. From what you’ve told us, your parents aren’t exactly the loving supportive types,” Alicia added.
“I know,” Adel replied as she lowered her eyes and held the coffee cup between her hands. Then she felt Mercedes’s hand cover hers.
“Then why expose yourself to their negativity? Hank, Will, Leo, and all of us are your family now. We support you, love you, and believe in you.”
Adel smiled softly.
“I love all of you, too. It’s just that I think I need to do this. To move on with Hank, Will, and Leo and truly give them all of me, including my heart and my trust. I’m still holding back.”
“So you think if you forgive your father then those insecurities will disappear?” Marlena asked her and Adel nodded her head.
“
I’m not sure that’s going to work, and what if you go there and they aren’t so kind and you can’t forgive them, then what?” Mercedes asked.
“At least I know that I tried. That I did everything in my power to make it work and to move on and have some kind of relationship with my father.”
“You’re a kind person, Adel, but I hope that you realize if this doesn’t work out and your parents try to put you down and disapprove of what your life is like without them, that you’ll know you don’t need them and that you have us,” Alicia said to her.
“It’s a risk. I know.”
“Are you going to tell them about Hank, Leo, and Will?” Mercedes asked.
“Better yet, are you going to tell Hank, Will, and Leo about what your father did, and about Bentley and this idea of forgiving your father?” Alicia asked.
Adel shook her head.
“I’ll tell them when I return. Otherwise, knowing how protective they are, they’ll want to go with me. I need to do this solo.”
Mercedes wasn’t certain that this was the right decision for Adel to make, but who was she to stand in her way and try to give an opinion? She didn’t have half the self-confidence that Adel and the others had. Mercedes was scared. She knew what it was like to be on her own, to fend for herself, and to not even get three meals a day. For a year she lived on eating once a day. Life had thrown her many curveballs and she often wished for the things other people had. She would love to have a family, relatives, someone who she could love and who could love her, but that just wasn’t the case. She looked at Adel, who had a family, and that family hurt her, sold her out, and left her with nothing but heartache. Yet still Adel wanted to forgive them so she could move on.
Mercedes’s life was so different. She’d had two disabled, sickly parents who she cared for and helped keep comfortable until they died. She couldn’t work, couldn’t go to college until much later and now here she was twenty-six years old and she was tired and felt hollow inside, but at least she had these three women as her friends. She cherished the friendship that continued to grow. She longed to have love, to find love the way the three women found it, but she wasn’t hopeful. She just didn’t think she had any more in her heart to give after all she gave and sacrificed for her parents. Living on the streets, surviving on her own, hardened her heart in many ways. Maybe she could learn from someone like Adel and her ability to forgive and forget. Maybe.
* * * *