Forbidden Love

Chapter 43

It had been several minutes since Richie practically dragged Freen and Becky to his room. But all he had done was pace back and forth.

By now Becky could feel her patience thinning, "Richie, you said we needed to talk. So talk."

He abruptly stops in his tracks, he looks at Becky his panic clearly showing, "That man..he was our mum's best friend."

"Oh!" Realization dawns on her, as she could feel the weight of it crushing, "He... he is my father?" She asked, her voice trembles.

Freen suspected as much. She could swear, the similarity was uncanny. When she first saw him it felt like looking at someone she knows.

"Mmhmm." He hums.

"I came as soon as I heard." Aunt Rhea rushes into the room, the same panic evident. She was in scrubs, clearly indicating wherever she was she rushed here.

"Does he know?" Becky asks looking between the two.

"Not until today." Aunt Rhea answers before looking at Richie silently asking him what happened today.

"I don't think he knows." He says releasing a heavy breath before looking back at Becky, "But I saw the way he looked at her. I'm sure he suspects something."

"Wait!" Becky says which draws everyone's attention back to her, "What do you mean he doesn't know? Mum never told him?"

"Your mum didn't even tell Robert. Do you really think she would have told him?"

There was a lingering silence.

Freen was silently observing everything, all she wanted was to run to Becky and wrap her arms around her, comfort her. But she stood there, feeling helpless.

"All these years he had no idea he had a daughter?" Becky's voice was thick with emotion.

Both of them lowers their heads, she looks at Richie before speaking again, "You...why did you keep telling me that he didn't want me? Why did you make me believe that I was unwanted by both my parents. So worthless..." She said raising a finger, accusing him.

"Becky, it wouldn't have made a difference." He defended.

Becky's frustration boils over as she throws her hands up in despair, "How the fuck would you know? It would have made all the difference. Maybe I could have had a father."

"You have a father."

She clenches her jaw, "Robert? He has never been one to me."

"Becky your mum made a mistake." Aunt Rhea cuts in.

"I'm this fucking mistake you are talking about." Becky's words come out in a choked breath.

"No baby. The relationship. She never should've..."

"Stop!" Becky's voice pierce through the air.

Freen shakes her head in dismay. It's heartbreaking to see Becky like this. To think she was blaming herself for circumstances beyond her control pained her. But then again she did the same thing. She kept punishing Becky for something she had nothing to do with. As realization sets in Freen's hands trembles in fear.

The look on Becky's face sending her over the edge. It's so empty, so dark.

"I'm done! You people...you call yourselves family. But all you have done is hurt me." She spits with venom in her words.

"My mum, she waited until she was on her death bed to tell me the truth. My supposed father chose distance rather than telling me the truth. And you all let me drown in self loathing, I nearly died and still chose to lie to me. You kept punishing me while the only mistake I have done is being born." Becky says, her voice edged with frustration and self-reproach.

Becky's words falter, emotion constricting her throat, momentarily robbing her of speech, "....I'm done with you all. I'm done with you people letting me down."

She walks around them not even sparing another glance before stopping in front of Freen. Freen could feel her heart beating out of her chest.

"And you...you were supposed to be my lifeline. But I guess I'm not that lucky." Her voice so broken that it barely carries.

The defeated look on her face sending Freen down a spiral. "Becky..." She tries to reach out.

"Don't." Becky's voice rises, a storm of anguish swirling in her eyes, daring Freen.

"I'm tired......I really am fucking tired Freen...waiting for you to come around."

Freen's body tenses, her eyes widening in shock at the admission.

"I gave you space...I gave you time....I gave you my everything, every step of the way. But you, you lied to me from the beginning about your marriage, you almost broke my heart going back to her, you nearly died for me, and I almost did the same for you." The words tumbling out of her in a mix of regret and pain, she drops her head into her hands.

"We went through so much together and yet none of it was enough for you to realize that I'm not the enemy. That I had nothing to do with...." Becky didn't dare finish her sentence but Freen knew she meant so say her parents. She had nothing to do with her parents death. It was clear as day. Yet she chose to ignore the obvious all this time, hurting the same person she loved, more than herself even.

"Becky, please." Freen was in tears. Her voice cracking, her broken attempt to comfort Becky goes in vain as Becky turns her gaze away.

"I don't have it in me anymore, Freen. I can't wait around for you to let me down again." Guilt surges through Freen and she looks away as tears well in her eyes. How could she be so stupid? Becky has always been there for her but the first sign of trouble and Freen ran. Far away.

"Maybe this is for the best." Becky says her words a broken whisper, as she looks down at her finger. A look of longing in her eyes before she tears her eyes away and pull the ring from her finger.

Freen flinches, Oh god! Freen's eyes dart back up to meet hers in an instant."Please Becky...let's talk about this."

"Take it." Freen's mouth closes, perplexed by the sudden shift, she grabs Becky's hand in a desperate attempt to stop this, "Please think this through."

"I can't..." Becky says, pulling her hand from Freen's before placing the ring on the table and brushes past her not looking back.

Freen almost fell to her knees if not for Richie holding her, she puts a hand to her mouth to muffle her sobs.

"Let me go. I have to talk to her. I...I have to change her mind." Freen stammers feeling the weight of it all crushing her, suffocating her, drowning her, "I can't lose her."

"Whatever you did, now is not the time. I know her." Richie insists trying to get through to Freen. Becky wouldn't listen to her even if she tried, he knew that too well. The wound is too fresh and Becky has this tendency to completely shut down. He didn't want Freen to make things worse than it is.

"Oh God! What have I done!" Freen burst into tears.