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Braxton
We walk downstairs, and I leave Sophie in the living room and go in search of Jefferson after she reluctantly agrees to sit down with him before leaving. I have no idea what secrets he’s keeping, but they need to clear the air before she walks out that door.
I hear yelling from the backyard, so I follow the voices.
“You need to tell her the truth, Jefferson. It’s time,” Doreen demands.
“I don’t see the point. It’s only going to hurt her. Let her be mad at me.”
“For goodness’ sake, stop playing the martyr. That girl has been hurting her entire life because of the lies. She deserves to know. Maybe if she does, she can finally move past it.”
He throws his mug against the side of the house, and it shatters into a million shards.
“You mad?” she yells.
“You’re damn right, I’m mad.”
“Well, so am I. You didn’t just cut her out of your life. You cut her out of all our lives, and we’re not having it any longer. She is our flesh and blood, and you’re going to darn well start treating her that way, or so help me, you are going to be fending for yourself all alone out here on this ranch.”
“What good would it do now? You saw her face in that office. She doesn’t want to know.”
Jefferson, Aunt Madeline, Doreen, and Ria are in a standstill on the back deck.
“She needs to know the truth, Jeff,” Doreen iterates.
“I can’t change what happened back then, and I don’t want to cause her any more pain.”
“She’s spent her whole life in pain, and you have the power to do something about it.”
“She’s leaving,” I a
“She’s been up there, packing. I told her I would take her to the airport, but she had to face you first. It’s now or never, old man. I don’t think she’ll ever come back here if she leaves without answers.”
“Maybe that’s for the best,” he says.
“Best for who? You?”
“Son, you don’t know …”
“You’re right; I don’t know. But the man she thinks you are is not the man I know you to be. Doreen is right; she is hurting. She’s shut herself off so much that she thinks that sitting home alone on the holidays is perfectly normal. She’s content in isolation because no one can hurt her there.” I point an accusing finger at him. “That’s your fault.”
His face falls, and he stands there, facing us all.
“It will hurt; you’re right. But she’s been so confused all these years. She thinks you abandoned her, Jefferson. That you didn’t love her. It’s time to tell her. She deserves the chance to start forgiving, and maybe she’ll finally be able to heal,” Aunt Ria gently pleads.
“I know you thought the only person suffering was you, being painted the bad guy, but can’t you see how we all have suffered? Sophie most of all,” Doreen adds.
“It has to be you, sweetheart,” Aunt Madeline encourages. “She needs to hear it from you.”
He lifts his eyes to meet mine, and he focuses behind me. I see the moment he surrenders as his eyes fall on Sophie.
“I’ll be on the front porch,” she murmurs.
He nods, and I follow her.