“Sophie is your granddaughter.”
†
She had a story to tell. It was a long one. Where minutes ago he had begged her to open up to him, a flood of secrets gushed out of her now. Occasionally she paused to light another cigarette, or to gaze out the window again. But even when she stopped speaking for a minute or more Nick kept his questions to himself.
His mind, body, and soul felt numb as he listened to his daughter’s every word...
†
She said:
“When I was a teenager, I made Mom’s life a living hell. I’m not proud of it, but it’s true. I used to come home late every night smelling like pot and beer. I ran with a bad crowd, guys older than me who only wanted one thing but I was too stupid to realize it.
“I guess you can see where this is going. A few weeks before my sixteenth birthday, I got knocked up. I was such a mess I didn’t even know who the father was.
“I named the baby Sophie. Sophia Lynn. I wasn’t mature enough to raise a child. I was just a kid myself. But after Mom and I saw her for the first time, we couldn’t bring ourselves to give Sophie away to some stranger. You remember Mom’s sister, Aunt Patty? We worked things out so she would take Sophie. That way we could see her any time we wanted.
“For the first twelve years of my daughter’s life, that arrangement worked out fine...
But the summer before last, I decided to come clean with Sophie. She always knew she was adopted—up till that point, I was ‘Aunt Melissa.’ The older Sophie got, though...it hurt so much, driving up to Hickory to visit her every few months, seeing how my little girl was starting to look just like me. I couldn’t live a lie any longer.
“I was afraid she’d never wanna see me again when I told her the truth. But that wasn’t how it turned out at all. We couldn’t wait to start over, to catch up on all that mother-daughter stuff I used to worry I’d never be worth a damn at. I realized how much I had missed out on. I felt like I’d been given a chance to right all my wrongs. I didn’t want to spend another second of my life without Sophie by my side.
“I think that’s why I can’t find it inside of myself to hate you, Dad—er, Nick . God knows I wanted to hate your guts, after Mom died and I felt like I didn’t have anybody in the world who gave a shit about me. But I couldn’t. ’Cause I had done the same thing to Sophie. I checked in on her, sure, I dropped by Aunt Patty’s to see her, but it was always at my convenience.
“The first time she called me ‘Mom,’ when I took her back home one evening after we’d spent the weekend together, I stayed up all night crying into my pillow. I felt like some missing piece of me had finally been put into place.
“I really thought we were gonna make it, Sophie and me. I know we would have been okay, if it wasn’t for this guy I’d been seeing...
“I met Eddie a couple years ago. A girl I used to work with had been trying to hook us up as long as I’d known her. I finally agreed just to shut her up. Next thing I know, I’m sitting in the bleachers at the Polk County Race Track with Deb, her old man, and Eddie at a freaking demolition derby . It wasn’t the most romantic date I’ve ever been on. Should’ve been a sign right there. Something about Eddie, though...I don’t know how to explain it. I fell for him, head over heels. I let my trailer get repo’d so I could move in with him. I quit my job at the Waffle House. He told me I didn’t have to worry about anything, he’d take care of me ’cause I was his gal .
“Looking back, I knew Eddie was no good. I knew it, but I stayed with him anyway. I’ve always been like that. Ever since I reached that age when I started acting all boy-crazy, I always chased after the ones I knew were bad for me.
“When we first got together, Eddie told me he made his living doing a bunch of odd jobs around town. Painting houses, cleaning out gutters, crap like that. But I
Steve Lowe, Alan Mcarthur, Brendan Hay