Chapter 6: The First Meeting
Emily didn't remember ending the call.
One moment she was standing beside the storage locker, holding the phone against her ear.
The next, she was sitting on a bench outside the bus station while Jace crouched in front of her.
“Kid, look at me.””
She blinked.
“I'm okay.””
“You don't look okay.””
“My father answered.””
Jace nodded.
“I heard.””
“He knew it was me.””
“He did.””
Emily stared at the pavement.
“He said Mom told him I would call.””
Jace sat beside her.
“Did he ask to meet?””
Emily nodded.
“He wants to see me.””
“And what do you want?””
She didn't answer immediately.
She had imagined this moment hundreds of times.
Sometimes her father appeared at the apartment with flowers.
Sometimes he stood outside her school.
Sometimes he called on Christmas Eve and apologized.
In every version, Emily ran into his arms.
But now that the possibility was real, she couldn't imagine what she would do.
“I want to know why,” she whispered.
Jace nodded.
“Then that's where you start.””
Thomas Carter suggested meeting at a small coffee shop on the east side of town.
He offered to come alone.
Emily agreed, but only after Jace promised to wait outside.
Maggie insisted on driving her.
“I'm not trying to interfere,” she said as they pulled into the parking lot.
“I just want you to know someone is nearby.””
Emily smiled weakly.
“Thank you.””
Maggie reached over and squeezed her hand.
“Whatever happens in there, you don't have to forgive anyone today.””
Emily nodded.
She opened the car door.
The coffee shop was warm and quiet.
A bell rang as she entered.
Then she saw him.
A man sat near the window.
His hair had turned mostly gray. His face was thinner than in the photographs. He wore a brown jacket and held a paper cup between both hands.
When he saw her, he stood so quickly that his chair scraped backward.
“Emily?””
She stopped.
For a moment, neither moved.
Thomas looked at her face.
Then at the silver brooch pinned to her jacket.
“Rachel's flower,” he whispered.
Emily nodded.
He covered his mouth.
“You look just like her.””
Emily pulled out the chair opposite him.
“Hello, Dad.””
Thomas sat slowly.
His eyes were already wet.
“Hello, sweetheart.””
The word felt strange.
Like an old song she remembered but no longer knew how to sing.
A waitress approached.
“Can I get you anything?””
Thomas shook his head.
“We're fine, thank you.””
Emily ordered hot chocolate.
When the waitress left, silence filled the table.
Thomas looked at her diploma bag.
“You graduated?””
“Yes.””
“That's wonderful.””
“I got a full scholarship.””
His face brightened.
“Emily, that's incredible.””
She nodded.
Then he noticed the small photograph sticking out of her bag.
The one of Rachel and Jace.
His expression changed.
“You've been talking to Jace Miller?””
“Yes.””
Thomas leaned back.
“Of course you have.””
Emily frowned.
“What does that mean?””
He rubbed his forehead.
“Nothing. I just didn't expect him to still be involved.””
“Mom trusted him.””
“I know.””
“Did you?””
Thomas looked down.
“I used to.””
Emily stared at him.
“Why did you leave?””
He closed his eyes.
“I was ashamed.””
“Of what?””
“Of the things I had done. The debts. The people I had associated with. The way I'd failed your mother.””
Emily's voice grew sharper.
“So you left your four-year-old daughter?””
Thomas flinched.
“I thought leaving was safer.””
“For who?””
He had no answer.
Emily leaned forward.
“You missed my first day of school. My birthdays. My graduation. You weren't there when Mom died.””
Thomas's eyes filled.
“I know.””
“No, you don't.””
Her voice trembled.
“You don't know what it was like sitting in a hospital waiting room while other kids went home with their parents. You don't know what it was like when my electricity got shut off and I had to finish homework by candlelight.””
Thomas lowered his head.
“You're right.””
“You don't know how many times I wondered what was wrong with me.””
He looked up.
“Nothing was wrong with you.””
“Then why wasn't I enough?””
Thomas began crying.
And for the first time, Emily saw him as something other than the man in the old photographs.
He was just a person.
A flawed, frightened person who had made choices that had hurt a child.
“I didn't leave because of you,” he whispered.
Emily looked at him.
“I know that now.””
He reached across the table.
She pulled her hand away.
Thomas stopped immediately.
“I'm sorry.””
Emily looked through the window.
Outside, Maggie sat in her car.
Jace stood beside her, talking to Bear.
They were close enough to help.
Far enough to let Emily make her own decision.
Thomas followed her gaze.
“Those bikers have been good to you?””
“Yes.””
“Jace has always been a decent man.””
Emily turned back.
“Then why didn't you become one?””
Thomas looked as though she had struck him.
He stared at his hands.
“Because I was weak.””
Emily waited.
He continued.
“When your mother gave me a chance to come home, I was still involved with Victor Hale. I was afraid he'd come after you if I got close to your family.””
“Were you actually in danger?””
“Yes.””
“Did you go to the police?””
Thomas shook his head.
“I was ashamed. I thought I could fix everything myself.””
“And did you?””
“No.””
He looked at her.
“Jace helped me get away from those people. But by then, too much time had passed. I didn't know how to face your mother.””
Emily's eyes narrowed.
“Jace helped you?””
Thomas nodded.
“Years ago. He got me a job, helped me pay off what I owed, and made sure Victor couldn't find me.””
Emily remembered the blue notebook.
She remembered the names.
She remembered the letters.
“Why didn't Jace tell me?””
“Because he promised your mother he wouldn't tell you anything until you were ready.””
Emily leaned back.
She didn't know what to believe.
Then Thomas reached into his jacket.
“I brought something.””
He placed a small envelope on the table.
Emily recognized her mother's handwriting immediately.
Her name was written across the front.
“What is that?””
“Your mother gave it to me shortly before she died.””
Emily's chest tightened.
“Why do you have it?””
“She asked me to keep it until your sixteenth birthday.””
Emily stared.
“Why didn't you send it?””
Thomas swallowed.
“I was afraid.””
“Again?””
He nodded.
“Yes. Again.””
Emily opened the envelope.
Inside was a single folded page.
My sweet Emily,
If your father has finally found the courage to give you this letter, then I hope you will listen to what I have to say.
You do not owe him forgiveness. You do not owe him a second chance. You do not owe anyone the responsibility of fixing what they broke.
But I want you to know something about your father.
When he was a good man, he loved you more than anything in the world. I saw it in the way he held you, the way he sang to you, and the way he looked at you when you were sleeping.
People can make terrible choices. Sometimes they lose their way so badly that they don't know how to return.
That doesn't make the hurt disappear.
But it means you never have to carry their mistakes as if they were yours.
Whatever you decide, remember this: you were loved from the very beginning.
Love, Mom.
Emily pressed the letter to her heart.
Tears slipped down her cheeks.
Thomas was crying silently across from her.
“I should have been there,” he whispered.
Emily looked at him.
“Yes.””
“I should have come back.””
“Yes.””
“I can't undo any of it.””
“No, you can't.””
He nodded.
“I know.””
For a long time, they sat without speaking.
Finally, Emily asked, “Are you married?””
Thomas shook his head.
“Do you have other children?””
“No.””
“Where do you live?””
“About forty miles away. I work at an auto repair shop.””
Emily studied him.
“Are you still involved with Victor Hale?””
“No. Not for years.””
“Can you prove that?””
Thomas nodded.
“I can show you.””
She looked down at the letter.
“I don't know if I can have a relationship with you.””
Thomas swallowed.
“I understand.””
“But I might be willing to talk again.””
His face crumpled.
“That's more than I deserve.””
Emily stood.
“I need time.””
Thomas stood too, but didn't try to hug her.
“Can I call you?””
“Not yet. I'll decide when.””
He nodded.
“Okay.””
Emily walked toward the door.
Then she stopped.
“Dad?””
Thomas looked up immediately.
“Yeah, sweetheart?””
She hesitated.
“Did you ever really stop loving Mom?””
Thomas's eyes filled again.
“No.””
He reached into his wallet and removed a small photograph.
It showed Rachel standing in front of their old apartment, holding a newborn Emily.
“I carried this every day,” he whispered.
Emily looked at the photograph.
Then she walked outside.
Jace was waiting beside the motorcycle.
He didn't ask what happened.
He simply opened his arms.
Emily stepped into them.
For several seconds, she cried against his leather jacket.
“I don't know what to do,” she whispered.
“You don't have to decide today.””
“He said he loved me.””
Jace rested a hand gently on her shoulder.
“Maybe he did.””
“He also left.””
“That's true too.””
Emily pulled away.
“How can both things be true?””
Jace looked toward the coffee shop window.
“Because people can love someone and still fail them. But love doesn't erase responsibility.””
Emily nodded slowly.
Then Maggie approached with a tissue.
“Come on, sweetheart. Let's get you something to eat.””
Emily smiled faintly.
“Bear brought food?””
Maggie laughed.
“Of course he did.””
For the first time that day, Emily felt she could breathe.
But just as she climbed into Maggie's car, Jace's phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
His smile disappeared.
“What's wrong?”” Emily asked.
Jace answered.
“Yeah?””
A man's urgent voice came through the speaker.
“Jace, it's Bear. We have a problem.””
Jace straightened.
“What happened?””
“Someone came by the clubhouse looking for Emily.””
Jace's expression hardened.
“Who?””
Bear paused.
Then he said a name.
“Victor Hale.””
Emily went cold.
Jace looked at her.
“Did he say why?””
Bear's answer was barely audible.
“He brought a photograph of Thomas. And he says he knows where Emily lives.””
Jace ended the call.
Emily stared at him.
“Who is Victor Hale?””
Jace's jaw tightened.
“The man your father spent years trying to escape.””
Then his phone buzzed again.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
It showed Emily standing outside the coffee shop just minutes earlier.
Someone had taken it from across the street.
May you like
Beneath the photograph was a message.
*Tell Thomas his daughter is old enough to settle his debts.*
