Chapter Thirty-Five
Reed
I was desperate for things to do to keep myself from getting too lost in my own thoughts. Trinity was usually a great help with things like this, but even she wasn’t herself after everything that had happened. The two of us walked around feeling sorry for ourselves most of the time. And the worst part was that Trinity did not stop talking about Kennedy. Sometimes I wanted to scream and beg her to stop bringing up Kennedy’s name. But that wouldn’t be fair to her. We all had our own way of dealing with things. Mine was to ignore the problem, while hers was clearly to talk about it non-stop.
When I received a call from my cousin Josh asking if I wanted to come to a gala on Saturday, I immediately said yes even though the whole thing sounded utterly boring. I was sure that I wouldn’t usually say yes, but it felt good to at least have something to do.
“Who is Josh?” Trinity was asking me as we were getting ready to go. She was enjoying the distraction as she would be getting a chance to wear one of her new dresses again, and I was glad to see a smile on her face.
“Josh is my cousin. He met you a very long time ago, but you probably don’t remember because you were too small.”
“I don’t remember. Is he also a doctor? Are we going to the same place where you got a reward? Are you getting another one?” she asked.
“No, he’s not a doctor. And this thing today has nothing to do with me. So no rewards. Actually, Josh is a senator.”
“A what?”
I chuckled and tried to explain to her what a senator was and what they did. But by the end of my explanation, I could see that she was none the wiser. In the end, I just told her that he was a very important person in the community and she seemed to accept that explanation.
“And we’re going to watch him?”
“Yeah, his gala is in our area for a change, and he thought it would be nice to see us. He wanted to see how all grown up you were.”
“Do you think he’s going to like me in this dress?” she asked coyly.
“Oh yes. I think he’s going to love you in that dress. You look beautiful.”
She sighed. “I wonder what Kennedy is wearing today. Do you think we should invite her?”
I shook my head. “No, the invitation was just for you and me. But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll have a lot of fun together, and I’m sure there will be yummy food.”
“Okay,” she said.
We made our way over to the gala and took our seats. The place was filled with men in suits, and serious faces, and I had a feeling that the event was going to be incredibly dull. I looked around and couldn’t find many other children around. I felt worse for Trinity than I did for me. She still didn’t even know what a senator was. I saw Josh walking toward me and forced myself to smile.
“Hey, Josh. Good to see you, man. Thanks for inviting us.”
“And thanks for coming. Oh wow, don’t tell me this is little Trinity who is not so little anymore!”
“I know! She’s growing so much. Trinity, this is my cousin Josh.”
“Hello,” she said shyly.
“I love your dress,” Josh said, and I shot him a grateful smile.
Trinity perked up immediately. “You do?”
“Oh yeah, you look absolutely beautiful.”
“Thank you,” she said as her confidence came back. “And my daddy says you are a very important man.”
“He did, huh? Well, thank you. I sure hope so.”
“So, how’ve you been doing?” Josh asked me.
I forced a smile. “Not bad. Not bad. Busy as usual.”
“Well, you are a neurosurgeon. I don’t think work is ever quiet for you. I don’t know how you do it sometimes. You’re so busy, and yet you still make time for you daughter. You’re the real hero around here.”
“Ah, she’s such an easy daughter to have. I’m lucky.”
We talked for a while, catching up on hold times, and he asked me a little about my life. He’d somehow heard about Angela, and tried to ask me about it without being too obvious in front of Trinity. Thankfully I saw that she was busy talking to someone at the table and I quickly replied.
“Long story, but basically she’s not allowed in our lives anymore. She kidnapped Trinity and hit our nanny over the head.”
“What? Are you serious?”
“Yeah, the whole thing was such a mess. I mean, it’s been six years! Six years and she comes back and causes all this in our lives. It’s not fair to Trinity. But we’re finally coming through the worst of it. It’s been a tough two weeks, but I’m sure life will go back to how it was before,” I said and tried not to think about Kennedy.
“If you ever need anything, just give me a shout,” he said.
I smiled. I only saw Josh about once or twice a year. There was no way I would call him if I needed a helping hand, but it was nice of him to say.
“You never liked Angela, did you?” I asked. I had a vague recollection of him saying something once before.
He shook his head. “There was always something off about her. I always thought that you deserved better than her. I told you once, and you got angry with me.”
I chuckled. “Oh yeah, I remember that now. Sorry about that.”
“Nah, it wasn’t my place to say anything. Anyway, I’m glad you got rid of her. And at least you can have some closure with this whole thing,” he said. “Oh, I better get going. I have a few people to talk to before I take the stage. Nice seeing you again,” he said.
“You too,” I said and watched as he moved onto the next person. He was right about one thing—the closure had been good for me. Despite everything that had happened, I was almost glad to have seen Angela again. That chapter of my life was officially closed now.
I sat down with Trinity and smiled at her.
“I’m bored,” she said to me in a whisper.
I chuckled. “Me too,” I whispered back. “Let’s just listen to the first few speeches and see how it goes,” I said.
The gala began with a few speeches, and two hours later they paused to say there would be a break. I had barely heard a thing that anyone had said. Not because I was distracted but because I had found the speeches to be incredibly dull. Trinity looked at me and smiled politely.
“Think we can sneak out of here without Josh noticing?” I said to her.
She giggled and seemed delighted that she wasn’t the only bored one. She was just about to say something when I saw her eyes widen.
“Kennedy!” she said.
“What?”
“Look over there,” she said and pointed to a woman sitting at a corner table. I squinted to see if it really was Kennedy and reminded myself to get my eyes checked again. But Trinity was right. It was her. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest at just the thought of being so near to her again. Then, before I knew what was happening, Trinity had run off to see her.
I ran after her.
“Trinity?” Kennedy said in surprise. Then she looked up and saw me. “Reed? What are you guys doing here?”
“Josh is my daddy’s cousin. He’s an important man,” Trinity said.
“He sure is,” Kennedy said and smiled. “Wow, small world. Oh Trinity, come here and give me a hug. I’ve missed you so much.”
“You have?”
“Are you kidding me? You’re all I have thought about. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch. I didn’t know if you wanted to see me again.”
“I did. I’m sorry for saying I hated you. I don’t hate you, Kennedy. I was just sad. And mad.”
Kennedy smiled at Trinity, and the love between the two of them almost took my breath away. “I was sad too,” Kennedy said. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been okay. My real mom is not allowed to see me again. But she hasn’t tried to, anyway. I was so scared when I saw you lying on the floor.”
“You saw that? Oh no, that’s horrible. I still can’t believe it happened. And we were so good about always locking the door. I don’t know what happened.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I interrupted. “It’s over now. So, what are you doing here?” I asked.
“I’m working for Camille now.”
“But I thought she only did weddings?”
“Oh, yeah, she primarily does weddings. But she often gets asked to do other functions. She asked me to help her with the catering, and I said yes. Good to keep myself busy, you know,” she said and smiled sadly at me.
“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. That’s why we’re here. I’ve been saying yes to everything just to keep busy.”
“I’ve missed you,” Trinity said.
“I’ve missed you too,” Kennedy replied and hugged her again.
“Did you miss Daddy?”
I laughed nervously. “You don’t have to answer that.”
“It’s okay,” she said. “Of course I’ve missed him,” she said. Then she looked up at me. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too. It hasn’t been the same without you. Trinity and I have been moping around the house without you.”
“Yeah, it’s been boring,” Trinity said and then quickly looked up at me to make sure that she didn’t offend me.
“Boring, boring, boring,” I agreed, and she chuckled.
“So, are you enjoying the gala?” she asked.
“No,” Trinity and I both said at the same time.
Kennedy laughed. “Neither am I. It’s so dull. I almost fell asleep during the speeches, and there are still so many to go through. Well, I’ve finished with the food, and they don’t need me anymore. They won’t even notice if I sneak out. This place is full. Any chance you want to get out of here?”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“YES!” Trinity said in delight.
“Yes, please,” I said.
We quickly walked out before anyone could see us, and then we all burst out laughing the moment we were outside.
“Phew, I think we dodged a bullet. I love my cousin, but I do not think I could’ve stayed the whole night. Although I’m sad I missed out on your food.”
“Actually, you’ll be pleased to know I made too much. The leftovers are in my car. I’ll bring them around to your place. That’s if . . . if you want?”
“I’d love that,” I said.
“Great. Meet you there.”
Trinity and I got into the car. The moment it was just the two of us, we looked at each other and screamed.
“She’s back!” Trinity said.
“She’s back!” I replied matching her enthusiasm.
Trinity sighed. “I love her.”
“Yeah, me too,” I agreed.
For the rest of the night, we sat together as a family, eating the delicious food from the gala and catching up on our two weeks apart. I hadn’t seen Trinity that happy in a while, and it made me feel relieved to see her smiling again. Trinity was so excited all night that by the end of the evening, she could barely keep her eyes open. I kept telling her that I would put her to sleep but she kept refusing. Eventually, I realized why she was so reluctant to fall asleep.
“Trin,” I said. “You can go to sleep. Kennedy is not going anywhere.”
“She’s not?” she asked.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I promise to make sure that we see her tomorrow, one way or another,” I said.
“Okay, Daddy. I am pretty tired.”
I took her to bed, and she was asleep within minutes. When I came back downstairs, I smiled at Kennedy.
“It’s so good to see you again.”
“It feels so good to be here,” she admitted.
“Ken, the divorce has been finalized. I signed the papers, and it’s now official. And . . . I’m so sorry that I didn’t do it before. I need you to know that. And I also need you to know that I never wanted to get back together with her. It’s been six years. I forgot about the divorce. And I never thought I’d ever find someone again, anyway. I would never have lied to you on purpose. I called her my ex-wife because that’s what she was to me.”
Kennedy smiled. “I’m sorry for overreacting. I just didn’t want to get hurt again.”
“I know. But I would never hurt you. Never.”
“So,” Kennedy said. “Trinity didn’t want to go to sleep because she was worried about me leaving again?”
“Yeah, poor thing. She really loves you.”
“There’s one way we can make sure that she sees me again.”
“Oh yeah? And what’s that?” I asked.
“Well, I could sleep over,” she said.
I grinned at her. “Now that is a very good plan. It’s good to see you again, Petunia,” I teased.
“Peter? Is that you? Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”
I leaned in and kissed her.