Dillon had been so hoping that the idea of getting drunk last night and having to spend the night at his sister and brother-in-law’s had been nothing more than a bad dream, but sadly, this was his reality. Then there was the whole Raven fiasco that Alicia had told him about earlier. Could it really be? Could Raven actually have proof that he’d been having an affair on her? If she did, who was it that she’d found out about? He still doubted that it was Taylor, but there was just no way to be sure until he questioned Raven. Worse than that, though, was her threat of exposing him to his congregation unless she got what she wanted.
Dillon wasn’t sure how he’d allowed this thing to happen, but he knew he had to do something. This was part of the reason he’d asked Alicia if he could lie back down for a few more hours, as he’d needed some time to gather his thoughts and plan a way out of the mess he’d created. He’d, of course, told his sister something different, that the reason he wasn’t ready to go home was because he needed to sleep off more of his hangover. But as it had turned out, he hadn’t come up with anything and had dropped off to sleep after all. Now, however, he was awake and knew he had to think, and think fast.
When he heard a knock at the door, he sat up. He hoped it was Alicia and not Levi, because he just wasn’t ready to face him again. His brother-in-law was hurt, disappointed, and furious with him, and Dillon didn’t blame him.
“Come in.”
Alicia opened the door. “I know I probably should’ve asked you first, but I didn’t want to give you the chance to say no.”
“About what?”
“Someone’s downstairs to see you.”
“Who? Raven? Please tell me you didn’t call her over here.”
“No, it’s not Raven, it’s Daddy.”
Dillon wasn’t sure whether to jump for joy or tell her he wanted nothing to do with the man. “Why is he here?”
“I called him.”
“Why?”
“Because enough is enough. The two of you need to sit down and talk, man to man, once and for all.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Dillon, please. Do this so you can stop hurting. You’d said you were going to go see him anyway.”
“Yeah, but then I also told you that I decided not to, and that I was done with him for good.”
“I know, but we’ve all made mistakes. Daddy has, I have, and so have you. None of us are innocent, and until we can fix this, things will never get better for us as a family. So I really need you to do this. Just talk to him.”
Dillon didn’t see how this meeting of the minds was going to help anything, and he honestly wasn’t interested. But it was the pleading look on his sister’s face that he had a hard time ignoring.
“Why is it so important to you?” Dillon asked. “You’ve repaired your relationship with him, and that’s all that matters.”
“No, that’s not all that matters. You’re my brother, and you’re in trouble. You have a drinking problem, and you said yourself that you drink because of your issues with Daddy.”
“I’ll get over it, trust me.”
“Oh yeah? And what about all the drama that’s building with Raven? How will you deal with that?”
“I told you, I’m going to fix things.”
“Look, D, all I’m asking is for you to do this one thing. Even if you don’t have anything to say, just come downstairs and listen to Daddy. Let him do all the talking.”
“You’re not going to let up on this, are you?”
“No, so please.”
Dillon sighed loudly. His father was the last person he wanted to see and talk to, but he got up and followed Alicia out of the room. When they arrived down on the main floor, Dillon glanced toward the family room, half looking out for Levi, but thankfully he didn’t see him.
Alicia pointed toward the kitchen. “Daddy’s outside.”
Dillon headed in that direction and walked through the patio doors. Then he went inside the gazebo. “You wanted to see me?”
Curtis was sitting on the padded sofa dressed in a pair of white shorts and a navy-blue-and-white-striped T-shirt. “Son, have a seat.”
Dillon sat as far away from his dad as possible in one of the chairs.
“We have to stop this.”
Dillon stared at him as though he couldn’t care less.
But Curtis continued. “First I did that awful thing to your mom when she forced me to take a DNA test. Then I pretended for twenty-nine years that you’d never been born. And actually, the only reason I finally owned up to everything was because you conspired with Mariah to have me beaten nearly to death. Not to mention, you went on television and told everyone how I had denied you from the time you were born. Still, I forgave you. But then it wasn’t long before you tried to blackmail me and cause a public scandal. On top of that, you slept with your brother’s wife. Then, if that wasn’t enough, you married the woman who stole a lot of money from my church.”
“Why are you talking about things we already know? What good is that going to do for either of us?”
“Just hear me out.”
What a pure waste of time. This had been the very reason Dillon hadn’t wanted to see or talk to his father.
“The reason I’m reminding you of all of this is because neither of us is blameless. We’ve both done some heartless things to each other. But ever since Tanya got me to see how wrong I was about Alicia’s marriage to Levi, I’ve done a lot of soul-searching. I realized that I hadn’t truly forgiven you. I know I told you I had, but to be honest, I just wanted you to go away. I wanted to pretend all over again that you didn’t exist.”
Dillon rested his elbows on the arms of the chair. “So is that supposed to make me feel good or something?”
“No, but what I’m trying to say is that I was wrong for that. I teach and talk about forgiveness all the time, but somehow when it came to following my own advice, I wasn’t able to. I was just so angry at you for so many different things. And it seemed easier to simply stay away from you. But I’m very sorry about that. Alicia also told me this afternoon how you’ve always felt left out. Like I treat my other children much better than you. At first, I didn’t see that, but as I thought back to three years ago, I couldn’t deny it. I didn’t purposely try to treat you differently, it’s just that I’ve had a relationship with my two girls since birth. And with Matt since he was seven. Then when I finally met you, it happened on bad terms. But now that I know you’re struggling with alcoholism, it’s time for me to be a father to you. It’s time for me to be a loving dad to all my children, and not just Alicia, Matt, and Curtina. My own father was an alcoholic, and he made life miserable for my mom, my sister, and me. It was like I never even had a father.”
Dillon wasn’t sure what to say, and he’d had no idea his grandfather had suffered with anything.
“So you see, son,” Curtis continued, “we can’t go on the way we have been. We need to come together so you can get the help you need. And there’s one other thing I need you to understand.”
Dillon stared at him in silence, still thinking about his grandfather. Dillon had heard alcoholism was hereditary, but because he’d never seen his father drink, he hadn’t thought much about it.
His dad spoke again, though. “Alicia told me that when you first moved back to Mitchell, you always talked about how lucky she was to have grown up in the same house with me. And that had you been able to do the same, you would’ve turned out a lot differently. But truth is, you suffered because you didn’t grow up with me, and Alicia suffered because she did.”
“Why do you say that?” Dillon asked.
“Alicia had affairs on Phillip twice, but it was me who she learned that kind of behavior from. When she was growing up, she saw firsthand how to commit adultery. I slept around on Tanya, Mariah, and Charlotte, and it wasn’t a secret. On top of that, Tanya and I got a divorce and Alicia had to struggle through that, too. Then, as far as you, when I falsified that DNA test, you were forced to grow up without a mom or a dad. You’ve been searching and crying out for a parent’s love ever since. I know you had your aunt, and thank God for her, but it still wasn’t the same. And for that, son, I’m sorry. I apologized when I first met you, but I really mean it this time. I handled so many things with you in the wrong way, and I want us to start over. Can we do that?”
Dillon wanted to tell him how much he hated him and that he didn’t need him, but the words wouldn’t leave his mouth. Instead, tears fell from his eyes, and he couldn’t stop them. He was thirty-two, yet he felt more like a five-year-old who just wanted his daddy to love him. That’s all he’d ever wanted, and now that his father had finally admitted his mistakes, Dillon knew he needed to ditch his pride. It was time he and his dad stopped doing all the tit-for-tatting that Miss Brenda had talked about. Time to call a truce and be a family.
It was time to call off the vicious level of revenge Dillon had planned for his father.