She's a Lady

“Where is everyone?” Zack mumbled. I decided to scare him. I walked up behind him and whispered in a ‘for bed only’ voice.

“Boo.” He jumped and I laughed.

“What was that for?” he asked pouting.

“Oh nothing.” I said looking away and making sure he was watching me and diverting his attention from Misty slipping in the water. I saw Jimmy run up behind Zack and I widened my eyes and stepped to the side just as Jimmy tackled Zack into the water. Thank god that he already set down his phone, wallet and keys on the table. Michelle and Val went inside to get the drinks and everyone else was in the pool. A while later Michelle realized that Dad was going to be home in an hour so she told everyone to go home. Everyone left except Zack.

“Why are you still here, Zacky.” I asked.

“Zacky?” He raised his eyebrow.

“Yes that is your new nickname. Zacky. But you never answered my question.” I said.

“I wanted to talk to you about something—“he said before he was interrupted by the garage opening.

“You better hurry. I’ll talk to you later. Bye!” I said pushing him out the back door.

“Melody? Where are you?” Dad yelled from what sounds like the kitchen.

“On the porch.” I yelled back. He walked up and sat next to me on the swing. He looked at me silently for a few moments then sighed.

“Melody Angel.” He sighed again. By now I was confused.

“Yes?” I urged.

“Have you heard about how me and your mother met?” he asked.

“No.”

“Well your mother was running away from an ex boyfriend who constantly beat her, when she ran into me. I thought she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I forgot all about the ‘complications’ of my relationship with my wife and I walked up to her and asked a simple question. ‘Are you okay?’ She looked me in the eyes holding back tears and said no. She then burst out crying and I held her. I let her cry until she couldn’t anymore. She said she was sorry and I assured her it was alright. I liked having her in my arms. I told her that and she smiled and kissed me. One thing lead to another and well… you probably don’t want to know about that. When I woke up that morning, all she left was a piece of paper with a number on it. Every night after that I would meet up with her somewhere and love her until night turned to day. The night before I left I gave her my phone number incase anything happened. When I found out about you, I immediately came to see her. My wife wasn’t happy at all. Don’t get me wrong, I love Michelle and Val, just I loved your mother more then I loved my wife. I spent every day that I could with you after you were born. Then when you turned two, my wife put a final stop to seeing you. She had to be there when it happened and so did Michelle and Val. That’s why I suddenly left and I couldn’t see you or your mother. Not because I didn’t love you. Because I had to.” He explained wiping tears.

“Do you remember the ex’s name?” I asked.

“Jason-“he started

“Patterson” We finished together. He looked at me strangely I sighed and began to explain.

“After you left, mom couldn’t handle being alone, so she went back to Jason who she thought had gotten better. He started out great, like anyone sane should be. But then it happened, or I had just realized it happened. I didn’t know why mom always wore the scarves and long sleeves and catered to his every whim. But one day I was crying because something happened at school. Mom was comforting me and I wouldn’t stop crying. Jason walked into the room, drunk, and told me to ‘shut the fuck up before I kill you.’ I was scared so I cried even harder. He pushed mom out of the way, she fell to the floor unconscious. And he took off his belt and hit me repeatedly until I was unconscious. Mom tried to take me and leave but he wouldn’t let her. Each time he caught us, it would be a terrible beating, worst then the last. One day he proposed to her. She didn’t want to but she had to marry him to save me. He was going to sell me to one of his friends. When they got married, mom was crying and begged him to leave her alone. One night, I saw him hurting her and I picked up his gun and shot him in the stomach. That was the night we escaped and she got divorced. He when he got shot, he lost a lot of blood and hit his head. He ended up temporarily losing his memory. I think he was the one who killed my mother.” I said, silently sobbing as I finished the story. My dad wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. I felt safe in his arms like I should have felt as a child. I hugged him tighter as all of the emotions bottled up inside me poured out. I was sobbing hard into my dad’s chest and then everything was black.