Page 235 of Broken Brothers

It was wonderful. I felt even more pain that I hadn’t reached out before, but that was more than erased by the joy of being with my biological mother.

The day reached its late afternoon when my biological mom offered me the chance to do something I should have done five years prior.

“Do you want to visit your father?” she said.

We pulled up to the graveyard where my father rested just as the sun began to set. Melanie drove, Carl sat in the front, and Bethany and I sat in the back. She swiped through and showed me photos of my father; the resemblance was a bit uncanny. I could see a similar face and build to me, the muscular, tall, lean type. She shared stories of him and his humor nonstop; apparently, he had quite the charm.

Thanks for that, Dad.

Melanie parked, and we all piled out. Melanie held Carl back, and Bethany and I approached the tomb marking my father’s final resting spot.

I couldn’t say that I started crying, nor could I say I had some profound emotional moment seeing my father’s burial spot. But it was certainly a strongly meaningful moment. I stood in silence, reading the tombstone.

“Here lies Parker Givens. A husband, a father, and a fighter.”

And a fighter.

He really is my father.

I ran my hand over the tombstone, smiled, and patted.

“If you’re listening to this, Dad,” I said. “Thanks for everything you’ve given me. I’m sorry I’m doing this now instead of before. But hopefully, you can hear me and you can know you did all that you could. I’m doing alright, Dad. I’m doing alright.”

I stood as Bethany remained just a little bit longer. I put my arm around her, and she leaned into me. I looked back to see Melanie and Carl watching from a distance, a sweet smile on my adoptive mother’s face.How lucky I am to have two women I can call Mom. They both have had such a strong impact on my life.

As I stood there, looking at the grave for my father, I remembered what Bethany had said to me earlier in the afternoon. “Sometimes I needed to be left alone. But he was always there for me, and when you have someone like that in your corner, it’s a wonderful thing.”

Even though Mom didn’t know, she knew. She knew what I was going through.

She knew that until I was forced away, until I was truly rejected, until Layla stopped taking me in…

I had to keep going all-in.

I couldn’t quit.

No matter what it took, no matter what I had to do to get her and keep her in my life…

I had to do it.

I had to love her with all of the bold, audacious spirit that I had within me.

93

MONTHS BEFORE

About an hour into my work, I realized I had to get some documentation we kept in a file downstairs for security reasons. Without a care, I locked my computer, exited my cubicle, and made haste to the basement files, through which I’d have to pass through the lobby.

All seemed normal.

And then I saw her.

Layla Taylor.

I didn’t even have to think to remember her name. Someone as magnetic as her, you remembered everything about after a single visit. Of course, it probably helped that the only thing I knew of her was that she was the CEO’s daughter, her name, and her goddamn impressive physical beauty… but even still, she could have given me a novel of her life and I would have read it over twice.

Sarah Hill was a distant, fading memory compared to the glittering gold that was Layla.

Present Day