Her Prince (A Sequel to "His Princess")

23. Made of Glass.

"How are you feeling my little princess?"

I look at my dad and I'm suddenly brought back to my eight year old self.

• • •

"Mommy! When is daddy coming home? We have to watch our American Idol together." I ask, swinging my legs back and forth as I sit patiently on the couch.

My mom paces back and forth in the kitchen. "I don't know dear."

Suddenly the kitchen phone starts to ring. Curious, I look at my mother to see who it is. Maybe it's daddy calling from the ice cream parlor asking what we wanted... I always love when he does that.

      I watch as my mothers face goes from happy to devastated in a matter of seconds her hand flies up to her mouth as she chokes back a sob. Seeing my mom sad automatically made me sad. I hop off the couch and walk over to my mom, tears filling my eyes.

"Mommy, what's wrong?" I ask.

"Daddy isn't going to come home for a very long time..."

I didn't want to tell mommy that I didn't know what that meant. But over the next few months, I came to learn. He wasn't coming back.

Ever.

• • •

      My eyes widen and I sit up in bed. Ryder rubs my back comfortingly as I shake the memory out of my head.

"I'm uh... Feeling better. I'm sorry, what the hell are you doing here?"

My mother flinches at my tone. "Sweetie, what has gotten into you?"

"What has gotten into me? Mom, how long as he even been here?"

She lowers her head and whispers, "About a month."

I gasp and stand up. "He's been here for a month and you didn't even think of telling me?! Mom, as far as I was concerned, he's been dead since I was eight!" I yell, grabbing a jacket from my closet. I pull it on and slip on a pair of sneakers.

Just as I'm about to walk out of the room my mom stops me. "Ave, that's not the worst part."

I raise my eyebrows, signaling for her to continue.

She clears her throat as my dad wears a pained expression on his face. "I knew that he was never really dead. That night was crazy-"

I hold my hand up to stop her. "I don't want to hear anymore. I'll be out."

Ryder grabs my arm. "Avery wait."

I turn back and glare at him. "I spent a long time crying over the fact that my dad was gone. Dead or not. He was gone. Now all of a sudden, ten years later, he's back?" My voice cracks at the end.

My dad looks at me. "Please, let me explain."

I sigh and plop onto my bed. "You have five minutes."

My dad shifts uncomfortably in his spot. He clears his throat. "So it was late on a Friday night. I went out to work, and afterwards I met up with a coworker. Things didn't go as planned and I accidentally did something bad. I felt guilty so I stayed away for a while... The same coworker called me about a month later and said she was pregnant. Ever since then I was helping her raise the baby. I called to check up on you guys. Your mother was livid when I told her what happened. I don't blame her though..."