Page 9

Odette

I stood looking out at gardens through the sliding glass door, and despite the wind and rain, I caught my reflection. I couldn’t hide the devastation I saw on my face that matched the one we saw in our daughter’s earlier this evening.

“Did she say when she would be home?” Murphy’s trembling voice called out to me from the living room, and I realized I was holding the cup of coffee I was supposed to bring to him. I directed my attention from my reflection and made my way to him.

I shook my head and handed him the cup of coffee I thought I just made, but the cold cup hinted that I’d been lost in my memories for longer than I thought. “Wynn said she would keep Lennon for the night. He and Benji were apparently putting together some sort of Lego race car track.”

For once, Murphy didn’t grimace at the sound of Benji’s name, and I knew the conversation—or should I say, confrontation—between Murphy and Lux this afternoon after school was tearing him apart.

We had always known the day would come; we just didn’t expect it to be on some random rainy September afternoon.

“And Lux?” He choked out her name.

“She made it just fine; she asked Wynn if she could spend the night. Benji is on Lennon duty, and Wynn is on Lux duty.”

I sat down next to Murphy and placed my hand over his.

His glazed-over eyes held such sadness that I couldn’t help but want to shield him from our daughter’s impending wrath.

We took pride in the fact that we raised an extremely independent daughter, a daughter who was never scared to speak her mind or stick up for what she wanted.

She was a perfect mix of Murphy, me, and of course, Wynn.

In fact, she took after Wynn so much, it was uncanny.

Her impossibly smart mouth got her into trouble more often than not, and I knew this wasn’t something she was just going to let go.

She was a daddy’s girl through and through, and this changed everything for her.

“Murph…” I whispered as I tugged him into my body. I could feel his body start to shake, knowing all I could do was hold him through his emotions.

“She hates me—” His voice was broken beyond belief as I felt the anguish in his words wash over me.

“She could never. She could never hate you, Murph. She loves you, and that’s what makes this so hard.”

“Did you see her face?” he whispered. I let myself remember what just happened a few hours ago, even though it felt like days since we’d been sitting here.

“Mom? Dad? Are you home?” Lux’s panicked voice carried from the entryway to the kitchen, where I was sitting reading some new medical journal and Murphy was sorting through emails from new potential clients.

“In the kitchen,” I hollered back while shooting Murphy a “what gives?” look, only to have him shrug at me in response.

Lux came barreling into the kitchen at high speed, and I noticed the tears in her eyes.

I immediately went into Momma Bear mode and stalked toward her.

Unfortunately, I totally missed the way she glared at her dad before meeting me halfway and throwing herself into my arms.

“What happened, my love?” I whispered into her hair. Once I said those words, I had a sobbing teenager in my arms, who was struggling to breathe through her tears. Murphy got up from his seat and started to pull both of us into him.

“No! Don’t touch me!” Lux all but screamed at her dad, and I was shocked stupid at the malice behind her words. Murphy must have felt the same because he stood frozen with his arms still outstretched.

“Lux,” I scolded her. “What has gotten into you? You don’t speak to your dad that way. Ever.”

She pulled away from me, and I couldn’t help but wince at the hatred I saw reflected in her gaze and I immediately knew...

She knows.

“Lux…what happened?”

“He cheated on you! Dad cheated on you. How…how could you forgive him? How could you? You always told me to be strong; you raised me to demand respect, and you’re with a cheater .

” She shot her dad the nastiest look I’ve ever seen, marring her beautiful features, and I couldn’t help but gasp as Murphy stumbled back as if she had physically hit him.

“You cheated on Mom.” Her words were a direct hit, leaving no room for debate—not that there would be one.

“You both lied to me,” she whispered, more to herself.

“That is not true, Lux. Despite what you think, you are the child, and you are not entitled to know everything about your father and me.”

She shook her head, and I knew nothing we would say right now would make any difference to her. She needed to wrap her mind around it first.

“I can’t be here... I’m going to Aunt Wynn’s.”

I could only nod in understanding because Wynn was who I needed at the time as well.

“Lux…”

“I can’t.” She turned on her heel, grabbed the keys to the car she and Murphy had spent last summer fixing up together, and stormed out the door. Murphy was still standing like he was frozen in time.

“She hates me,” he mumbled again, bringing me back to him in the present.

“She doesn’t hate you, Murph… She’s sixteen, and she just realized her parents are human and imperfect. That’s going to take a minute to come to terms with.”

“I deserve it... I deserve it all.” His hands wrapped around my waist as he clung to me, and as much sorrow as I felt for my daughter in finding out her father wasn’t perfect, I knew she would forgive him, because I had.

Murphy had spent her entire life making up for a mistake Lux had no idea about and being the best father and husband that he could possibly be.

If Lux wanted it, he made it happen, no questions asked.

He would not be allowed to lose sight of that.

“Murphy, look at me.”

He nuzzled his head further into me instead. “Murph. Please.”

He managed to sit upright, but his shoulders were slumped and his head was in his hands. He looked like the picture of a man who had the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I found myself sliding to the floor between his legs, forcing him to look at me instead.

“Murphy, you are the absolute love of my life. You have proved yourself over and over again. You haven’t missed one bedtime routine; you haven’t missed a single after-school activity.

You bought a shotgun and learned how to use it, just so you could clean it to scare her dates.

You have dedicated your entire life to this family.

We never intended to keep the truth from her, but it’s just never come up why we were separated.

This will be hard, but we will get through it like we always have. As a family.”

“As a family,” he said as he nestled his head in the palm of my hand.

“As a family.”

Always.