A Kiss At Midnight (Delilah and Caelum) novel Chapter 104

A A A Midnight

MAKING AMENDS

By the time I finally felt human again, the afternoon had already slipped by A shower, several hours of sleep and a ndiculous amount of staring at my ceiling had done wonders for me

I change into a pair of jeans and a fitted top, grab my bag, and headed downstairs Caelum and I were meeting any moment from now. I walk toward the front door and was already reaching for the handle when.

“Delilah” my steps halt as my fingers remains wrapped around the door handle, slowly turning around

My dad stood a few feet behind me, he wasn’t doing anything unusual, neither has he said anything else but there was something in his expression.

Something I couldn’t quite place, nervousness, maybe

!

That alone made my brows pull together, I had never seen my father nervous before. He had been many things, distant quiet, sometimes frustratingly indifferent..but nervous?

Never

“What is it?” I asked, keeping my voice steady and watched a him hesitate, which again was a weird thing to see and this made my heart skip a beat, “Is something wrong?”

He shakes his head slowly “No, nothing’s wrong.”

Giving him a skeptical look. I wondered why he looks like he was about to tell me something terrible

He lets out a breath, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck, “I wanted to apologize about what happened earlier and the little back and forth after you got home, we were just worried, so was your mother.”

My expression immediately hardened at the mention her mother and I wondered if this whole thing was about her He seemed to and containes, “I know she’s said things to you that she shouldn’t have and I know some of them have hurt you “I’m sorry, Delilah. You didn’t deserve that.”

I didn’t know what to say, this was the first time my father had ever apologized to me and once agam that made me more suspicious than angry.

Narrowing my eyes. “What are you playing at, what’s your end game? Why are you acting out of character

A faint, humorless smile touched his lips, “Yeah, I understand why you would think that”

I studied him carefully, and though he had never been the one to say the cruel things, that was the problem. he didn’t have

He simply sat there and let my mother say them, watch her tear into me with words sharp enough to leave wounds and he I rarely stopped her. Sometimes he pretended not to hear, other time he walked away or stayed silence

And somehow, his silence had always hurt almost as much as her words Just thinking about it makes my jaw clenched as well and I snapped.

“So what?” you want me to suddenly forget everything because you’re apologizing?”

“No..dear.”

“You might not have said those hurtful word like she did, but you’re no different Sitting through it all and pretending like they never happened one too many times.”

My dad looked away, his eyes closing briefly and I could see the words had landed. And after a second or two, he turned back

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to look at me, the guilt in his eyes

“I know he finally said there was no defense or excuse Just those two words and I almost didn’t know what to do with that

He sighed deeply, his shoulders drops as though some weight had finally settled on them “You’re right Delilah 1 stared at him, “I should have protected you, should have spoken up I should have been there and I wasn’t

My throat tightened, but I refused to let it show, watching as he takes a small step closer and i instinctively take one bark I could see the hurt on his face when I did that but he doesn’t make a comment about that.

Instead, he carries on “I can’t change what happened”

“No.” I said quietly, “you can’t”

“But I want things to be different,” he looked almost painfully sincere. “I want things to be better between us. Delilah”

Once again. I was left speechless, not sure of how to respond to this Maybe because I had expected him to make excuses for his short comings, but instead, he was agreeing to very thing I had just said. Taking accountability

My gaze remained on him, trying to figure out what had suddenly happened to the man standing in front of me. He and one to talk about feelings, nor acknowledge his mistakes, and he certainly won’t stand in front of me and admit that he d been a shitty father

So what had changed? What had happened

My mind started running through possibilities. Had something happened last night? Was there something I didn’t know?

Something big

I gulped as the next thought settled in my head People didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to change not usually Aryl the

the only time people seemed to have these sudden moments of clarity was when they went to

Oh God

My eyes widened “Wait my voice came out sharper than I intended, you’re not sick are you or dying

“What there was confusion in his face and then there was a brief silence before his head bops back and he laughs while stood there staring at lum in disbelief

He then shakes ins head, still looking amused Tm not sick. Delilah And I’m dehnitely not dying

Texhaled realizing only then that I had been holding my breath Okay

He smiled faintly I promise I gave him another suspicious look then his smile disappears believe it or not this is just inc realizing I’ve been a shatty father looking down at his hands. I’ve missed too much of your htc and thought providing everything you needed was enough, he admitted, a rool over you head school, food Whatever you needed tirane rally

Shaking his head Tronvinced myself that meant I was doing my job, than Lest night happened When we couldn’t reach you his voice became quieter Trealized I didn’t even know where to start looking

That hurt more than I expected

“I didn’t know where you would go or who your friends were I didn’t know who you would call or who would know where you were,” he gulped, “that scared the hell out of me, and I realized I knew practically nothing about your life that’s my

fault.

His eyes met mine again. “I kept telling myself you were old enough to take care of yourself he let out a bitter laugh “I thought as long as I gave you what you needed, you would be okay on your own., but last night made me realize how wrong I was and how I have missed so much time with you. Delilah.”

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