Treasure Hunt (boyxboy)

Treasure Hunt | Chapter Forty-Six

     Both of the kids were at school. Ariel was at work, and so was Logan, which left Loran and I to ourselves. The events of last night's "dream" played back every time I shut my eyes. And Loran was noticing that something was off.

     He started to massage my shoulders, leaning down to kiss my temple, but I pulled away form him. I just didn't want to be touched. "What's bothering you?"

     What was bothering me? More like what wasn't bothering me. "I'm going crazy, Loran." I couldn't help but start crying, which was the last thing I wanted to do. "I was so wrong. So wrong about everything!"

     "Shh, shh," He sat across from me at the table. "It's alright, Dal, just...explain it from the beginning."

     So I told him everything. From what happened in the school parking lot, to talking with my brother, to last night's "dream." And he just...sat there.

     "So then what does that mean?" He asked, emotionless. It reminded me of the Loran he was before we started dating, cold, emotionless, hard as a stone.

     "It means I was wrong, that's what it means." I wanted to scream. "I've completely hated, and feared this man - the wrong man - for the last seven years."

     He didn't say anything for the longest time, just looked down at the table. "What do you want to do?" He voice matched his expression.

     "I want to apologize." I said, "And I want to tell Treasure the truth."

     "Of course you do," He scoffed under his breath, and I don't think I wanted supposed to hear it. But I did. He let out an annoyed sigh and stood up from the table, shaking his head as he turned to look out the sliding door to outside.

     I followed him though, and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head against his back. He didn't shake me off like I thought he was going to. Instead, he just put one of his hands over mine. "I don't want her to continue thinking that she was conceived from rape. Is that so bad?"

     "Guess not." He shrugged. 

     "I love you." I kissed his back.

     He hesitated. "You know what I think pisses me off so much, about this whole thing."

    "What?"

     "The fact that you were so in love with him." I wasn't expecting him to say that. "It's the dumbest thing ever, and I know it is it, but I can't help it." And just like that, he sounded like himself again. "It's just whenever you talk about younger him and you, you get this look in your eye and you just still sound like you're in love with him."

     "Well I'm not." I turned him around. "What happened in the past is the past. After I thought it was him...I lost everything I had for him. I hated him. But now...I wanna apologize, why? I don't know...maybe because it'll make younger me feel better? To know that the one person I loved so much didn't actually do it...I don't know...but I want to."

     He hesitated and then wrapped his arms around me. "Okay."

     I always felt so safe in his arms. "Thank you."

     

     That night, Treasure decided she wanted to play tea party, so Loran and I took it as the perfect opportunity to talk to her.

     We were sitting at a wooden table about five times too small for either of us, with our daughter dressed in a frilly-pink princess dress and serving us pretend tea in plastic pink tea glasses the size of our palms. 

     "Do you want more tea, daddy?" She smiled at me, her crown tipping to the left on her head. She held up the plastic tea pot.

     I reluctantly held up my cup and she poured my air into it. "You know, Treasure, dad and I wanted to talk to you about something important."

     "Like what?" She took the time to refill Loran's, plus the other stuffed animals' glasses that she'd trapped at the table.

     "T, baby, you know that...I'm not your real dad," It killed Loran to say it, and she tensed for a second before going back to playing.

     "I know, dad." 

     "But you know that just means I didn't make you. You know that I still love you, and that even  though I'm not your dad by blood...I'm still your dad? You're still my daughter, just like Zach's my son."

     "I know, dad." She repeated herself.

     "Well, it's kind of hard to understand know, because you're so young, but when you get older, it'll make more sense, Treasure, okay. But, your real dad, isn't a bad person like we thought he was." I blurted.

     She whipped her head up to look at me. "You mean he didn't hurt you?"

     "No," I shook my head. "He didn't hurt me."

     She looked back and forth between the two of us, and I didn't know how to read the look on her face. "So...what does that mean, then?"

     Loran and I looked at each other. "It means that...if you want...you can meet him." I was taken back. That was the last thing I had ever expected Loran to say. 

     "Really?" She looked at me. 

     I looked at Loran and he nodded. "Yeah, T, you can.

     She hesitated, taking off the crown, and then looking between the two of us again. She took in a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. I do."