The Unexpected Heir

An Unpleasant History

Chapter Nine: An Unpleasant History.

"What are you doing here, dad! You could have called instead." Lesley finally uttered, her expression showing complete displeasure.

She looked at her father, Burner Stooge from head to toe. His face looked hollow and pale, his sleeveless jacket hung loosely over a faded shirt on his bony collarbone. He had a torn jeans on that wobbled as he walked. Homeless was the perfect description.

A frown suddenly distorted Burner's face. He nodded his head in agony.

"I disgust you now? Yeah...? I'm still your father, girl. Me... Your father! Yeah, you got my genes in you... remember that! and yeah, I called you, many many times but it went straight to voicemail..." he blotted out in a slur.

"What do you want? Mom wouldn't like it if she knows you are here." Lesley winced in disgust as she looked towards the mansion with concern. Margaret would raise hell at the sight of Burner.

Burner sneered. "That b***h!" He spat.

"You know...she...she ruined me! She ruined your old man..." He spoke with so much rage as he demonstrated in anger. His frail frame looking unsteady.

"And she, she left...poof away with her rich lover... For all these." He continued, pointing at the scenic environment of the mansion.

"You're a mess, dad! State why you're here or Just leave." Lesley responded impatiently.

Burner sensing her impatience, dissed the theatrics and went straight to business.

"I need some cash." He demanded, his look pitiful.

"I gave you some... few weeks back." Lesley said with a lowered tone as she c****d her head back looking towards the mansion instinctively to make sure no one could hear her. Although she was some good distance away.

"Well, it's gone. I spent it..."

Before he could finish, Lesley completed his statement for him.

"Spent it on booze obviously. All that money, dad!" Lesley shook her head.

"You giving me or not" Burner inquired nonchalantly.

Lesley looked at the miserable man for a moment with a mixture of sympathy and disgust. Then she suddenly addressed.

"I don't have cash with me right here. If I go in to get some, Mom will figure out you're here. I'm sure she would be out any moment, anyways, and there goes your cash. How about I call you tomorrow to meet somewhere and I give you the cash... deal?"

Burner observed his daughter to decipher if he was being tricked. Seeing her sincerity, he nodded.

"Deal..." Burner smiled weakly. That brief moment revealed a tinge of handsomeness that reminded Lesley she had gotten her good looks from him. If only the man was proper, she reasoned.

Burner brought out a cigarette and lit it; puffing the smoke elaborately before showing Lesley his back. He walked to the gate with an unsteady gait. The gate was auto locked and he couldn't go further, he turned to her.

"You got to let me out, girl."

Lesley moved to the button mounted on the piller beside the gate and pressed it, the gate slid aside.

"Atta girl!" Burner enthused, "And send my regrets to the old wench" he added before disappearing.

"Regrets?" Lesley mused.

Some seconds later, Lesley could hear the coughing sound of a dilapidated car engine struggling to start. Then she heard the heavy groans of the engine as it jerked away. Burner was gone.

A dispirited Lesley walked slowly back to the house.

Suddenly a scene flashed before her like a vision. It was like she momentarily saw her future with Cruz. She had become her mom and Cruz, her dad. Lesley froze as she came to a halt. No child deserved a father like hers, she reasoned.

She now understood better why Margaret was hellbent on making her divorce Cruz.

Her mother always said Burner was her biggest mistake. Like Lesley, she was carried away by his charms and good looks until the debts started piling and mortgages went unpaid.

Not long after, he had succumbed to alcohol and fast became a drunk and Margaret had left on a whim.

Cruz wasn't like her father at the moment, but it was just a matter of time.

She doubted she had an inheritance with Bill as she was just a stepdaughter. If anything happened to Margaret, she might end up having to struggle on her own since Bill had not officially adopted her.

The reality sunk hard for Lesley.

Lesley thought to herself that it was a good thing she didn't have a child with Cruz yet.

If she owed her kids anything, it would be a father who would give them financial security and an assured future; not leech on them.

Shivers surged through her as a sudden dread made goosebumps appear all over her arms.

In that moment, a decision was made in her heart. There was no way she would let history repeat itself.