Love Is Thicker Than Water

Chapter 2-1

2

Bella woke up mid-morning the next day. She stretched then stilled, waiting to see if there was movement in the house.

It was odd to her that Albert welcomed her in as quickly as he did. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but he never once questioned her story or its accuracy. All she had to say was she was his daughter, and that her mom was Melanie Chase, and he let her in. No questions asked.

Bella expected a fight. Hell, she went there looking for one. After her mother died, Bella felt lost. The car accident that claimed her life was sudden, and she didn’t suffer, but Bella suffered enough for both of them. She ached for her mother. Right up until she discovered her mother lied to her. For her entire life.

Bella eased her way out of bed and looked around the room she was staying in. Albert said she could stay as long as she wanted, but Bella wasn’t sure. Her home was two hours away, but it didn’t feel like home after her mom died. The people she was close to were her mom’s friends, and Bella wondered if they were all laughing at her. Thinking she was foolish for believing the lies her mother told her.

Even if they weren’t laughing, Bella couldn’t face them. Not now. Not when they’d all try to talk her out of hating her mother.

Bella opened the door quietly and peeked out. Albert’s house was small, but well-maintained. The room Bella was sleeping in was a guest room, but was clearly not used often. Boxes were stacked along the walls and the bed had piles of paperwork when she arrived. He insisted she could stay, but she still felt like she was putting him out.

Bella skipped across the hall to the bathroom. She flushed and washed her hands, rolling her eyes at herself in the mirror. She was hiding from the man she went there to meet. She needed to get over herself.

She opened the door and walked down the hall toward the living area of the house. A large, open kitchen dominated the space. He had a wall of wine that divided the kitchen from the dining room. A family room with a stiff couch and a recliner that Albert sat in at night completed the house. There was a fireplace and above it a TV, but neither were on as Bella walked into the room.

“You’re awake,” Albert said with a smile. He folded his newspaper and got up from his seat at the dining room table. “Can I make you breakfast?”

Bella shook her head. She wasn’t a morning person, and breakfast never appealed to her. She couldn’t figure out how she only ate two meals a day and still wore size sixteen jeans, but she supposed she had her mother to thank for that. Melanie had hips for days and passed them on to Bella the same way she passed on her chestnut hair and ice blue eyes. Her narrow nose, full lips, and heart-shaped face all came from her father she learned.

“I’m just going to get some coffee, if that’s okay,” Bella said.

“Of course! I was going to try to clean out some of the boxes in your room today so you have space for your things. If you don’t mind me being in there. Most of the boxes I can just move to my room or the office. But I don’t want to be in your way if you were going to be in there,” Albert said.

He smiled and ran a hand through his thinning gray hair. The pictures Bella found of him and her mom when they were younger showed a man who looked the same, but almost thirty years younger. He was handsome in that nerdy way that Bella herself never really understood. He wore glasses now, mostly for reading it appeared, but he still had a nerdy look. Pressed pants instead of jeans. Button down shirts instead of something more casual. Like he was always trying to look ready to impress, but fell short in the style department.

“The boxes are fine. You don’t have to worry about them.”

“Oh,” he said, his smile fading.

Bella sipped her coffee. She was already getting a headache. She didn’t know him well enough to know what the single word meant, but he was clearly not happy with her answer. “If you really want to, it’s fine. It’s up to you.”

Albert shrugged. “Well, if they’re not in your way, that’s okay.”

Bella drew in a breath and forced a smile. She stayed on the other side of the kitchen from him, still not sure how she felt about the man her mother said never wanted her.

“Can I ask you a question?” Bella said after a minute.

Albert nodded. “Of course. Anything.”

Bella set her coffee down on the counter and looked at him. She could definitely see the resemblance between them, but before meeting him, she never picked up on the ways she looked more like him than her mother, right down to the way the edge of his mouth twitched impatiently as she worked on how to ask the question.

“Why didn’t you want to be in my life?”

Albert blanched. He pressed his lips together and stared at the table.

Immediately, Bella regretted asking the question. Tears burned her eyes as humiliation sank into her gut. She didn’t really want to know the answer. Just that he seemed happy she was there. If he was happy she was there, why hadn’t he ever made an effort to be a part of her life before?

“Never mind,” Bella murmured. She grabbed her coffee and moved toward the hallway to escape him again. The time she’d been there was filled with enough awkward silences and uncomfortable questions, like what her name was, but she asked the hardest one so far.

Maybe it was time to move on. To accept that her father was being nice to her, but he really wasn’t a replacement for her mother.

“I never knew about you,” Albert said softly when Bella was almost to the hallway.

She froze, stunned in place. He was going to lie to her? Really?

She finally found the strength to turn and face him. “My mother said she told you. She told me you didn’t want me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Was this before or after she told you I was dead?”

Dammit. He had a point. Bella didn’t want to think about how many lies her mother told her. The biggest one of all was that her father was dead, but she only said that after Bella pestered her mom about meeting her dad one day. A father-daughter dance was coming up at school. Bella thought maybe her father would be willing to go, even though she’d never met him. Her fragile ten year old heart thought if she was good enough, he’d be willing to give her a chance. She wasn’t a baby anymore, and she could make her own lunches for school and studied hard and promised not to cry. She told her mom she wanted her to call him and invite him to the dance, but Melanie refused. When Bella pushed, Melanie shouted that her father was dead.

Bella never asked about him again.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you were growing up, Bella. I wish I could have been. I’d love to tell you I would have been a good father, but I don’t know. I’m sure your mother had reasons for not wanting me to know about you, or you to know about me. I wish I knew what they were, but I am happy you’re here now. That I have a chance to get to know you now.”

Bella nodded. She pressed her lips together to keep the emotions inside. They threatened to spill from her eyes, so she nodded again, then turned and rushed down the hall to her room so she could be alone.

He didn’t follow. She knew he wouldn’t. It was how she wanted it. She was alone. And even though she had a dad for now, she knew it wouldn’t last forever. At some point in time, she was going to have to figure out what the hell she was doing with her life.

One day.