To Protect My Honor

Inherent Resolve I

Soon, it was summer again; school ended just two months later. At that time, I decided to begin my studies anew at Pasadena City College in order to be closer to home.

I got the explanation I was looking for. As best as I understood it, Victoria had blocked me because she didn't like the fact that I had contacted her mother as part of my quest to find her. 

Was that an overreaction? Absolutely.

Would I have done the same thing if she had contacted my mom? Almost definitely not.

But people are different, and I did not hold her in contempt. I do not think it is a good thing to hold people in contempt. And up until that point, I made no effort to try to get back in touch.

I really didn't find it that big of a deal at first. It's life. People come and people go.

On July 5, one day after Independence Day, I was spending time with Michaela, who had been in Missouri with her grandfather for the past three weeks, returning two nights earlier. I was very happy that she had come back into my life, and we had some of the most entertaining conversations that day.

I told her shortly after it happened, "I don't feel betrayed. But she could have handled it better."

"Well, you can think that all you want," she said. "However, you shouldn't focus on changing the past."

And from then on, I didn't. Michaela and I got closer, Alexis and I remained good friends, and things began looking up. My grades in the spring semester were an improvement over the fall semester (still not where I would have liked them), and life just seemed happier, more peaceful from then on.

That night, owing to the fact that Eva was born on July 5, 1999, we went out to dinner at a respectable restaurant for her seventeenth birthday. 

I gave a toast to Eva before the main course arrived. My mom followed suit, and then my grandmother. 

Eva said as we awaited dessert, "I'm just glad that Milton finally has a girlfriend."

"Michaela is not  my girlfriend," I said flatly. "Just like Alexis is not. I can have friends who are girls without a romantic connection."

The familiar opening lyrics of the song played as I walked down for breakfast a few days later:

You could be the greatest
You could be the best
You could be the King Kong
Banging on your chest

"Alice, turn that stupid song off!"

"How about you leave, Milton," she said.

"Settle down," my mom said. "By the way, Ivan told me to tell you to call him anytime after noon."

"His time?"

"Yes."

It was only nine-fifty, ten-fifty in Denver. I had to wait over an hour.

The thought crossed my mind that he had some news about Victoria. Did she want to reconcile? It may have been something else entirely. But I tried to hold out hope, even at the potential cost of being wrong.

At one minute after eleven (which was one minute after noon in Denver), I called Ivan.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Well," said Ivan, "the story you are currently publishing, which you said was inspired by Nancy, has made our family uncomfortable, so can you please take it down?"

"I'm not willing to do that. She said it was fine.

"But I'm her dad, and I don't think it's fine. I'm sorry, but I won't take no for an answer. Take it down."