The important thing is that he’s home. And he’s safe. This is what I try to tell myself.
"There is much to discuss, my dearest Isabella," he continues on. "But we have all the time in the world for that. First, I must know. Are you okay?"
He glances at Javi again as he asks.
I swallow and nod. It doesn't look natural, but I really do feel okay. Dad isn’t buying what I’m selling either though. His eyes are roaming over my scratched face and arms.
"They are nothing," I assure him. "I'm okay, Dad. I promise. I'm just so happy to have you home. I thought… I thought I would never see you again."
My voice cracks and he reaches out to take my hand in his, squeezing with reassurance.
"I am okay, Isa," he assures me too. "I promise."
I choke back my emotion to give him a watery smile. Beside me, Javi squeezes my other hand. A gesture of comfort and possession. I glance at him and smile too. He wraps his hand around my knee, staking his claim on me in a way that provokes my father even further.
"Isa," my father commands. "I would like to speak to Javi alone."
Javi sneers, and he does not break eye contact from my father when he tells me it’s okay. I rise to give myself distance from both of them.
"No."
"No?" they both ask in unison.
"I said no," I reiterate. "I'm done with the secrets. With the lies. Whatever has happened between you, I deserve to know the truth. The whole truth. And I'm not going anywhere until I do."
My father shifts in his chair, unbuttoning the top of his shirt and rubbing at his throat. Javi is still calm, but now his eyes are on me. Concerned. I don't like it. But it only makes my point that much more valid.
My father does not miss Javi’s concern, and he seems to relax if only a little.
"Would you like to start, Javier?"
Javi scoffs at him and then paces the length of the floor.
“You would like that,” he says. “You would like me to be the one to hurt her this way. Because you are a coward.”
My father does not answer. His easiness is gone now, and all that remains is the flint in his eyes.Neither one of them is backing down from this silent war of wills. Javi moves towards me and tucks me back into his side.
"This is where we stand," Javi says. "Bella has been with me for the duration of your long absence. Much has changed since you were gone. Because she has been with me, and she has fallen in love with me."
The guardianship in his tone and body language can’t be denied. Even his stance is fierce. Protective. For some reason, he feels the need to safeguard me from my own father. But his eyes are soft and warm when he looks in my direction.
“And I have fallen for her, as well.”
My father shakes his head in disgust, but I can only focus on Javi’s words.
He just admitted that he’s in love with me. In front of my father. I don’t know what this means. But my stomach won’t stop fluttering, and my head is all fuzzy. I’m smiling, and I can’t help it.
Even though my father’s face is tomato red. Even though he looks so disappointed in me right now. He curses in Italian and scrapes a hand through his balding hair.
"I suppose you feel as though you have served your just desserts then."
"I will not deny that it is precisely what I set out to do with Bella,” Javi admits with shame in his eyes.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell them both. “None of that matters now. It’s the past. Dad, you are back home now. And Javi and I… we love each other.”
"What have you done to my little girl?" My father howls.
His eyes are teary when he looks at me, pleading.