Pushing my plate away, I shook my head. Grabbing my napkin from the table, I dabbed at my mouth and tossed it back onto the table.
“Can we please just have a Merry Christmas for once?” Harlow plead.
“Yes, Steve, leave it alone,” my mother chimed in, to my surprise.
But the anger brewing in my father’s eyes let me know that would not be the case.
“No, I think if our son has something to say, he should say it.”
“I don’t know why I even bothered to come,” I said, pushing my chair back.
“Please, Lake...for me,” Harlow said.
“You don’t have to beg him to do anything,” my father scolded her.
Clenching my teeth and fists, I refused to say anything.
“Dad, I don’t come home often for this reason. I’d like to spend time with my family for once without the arguing, the tension, and the strain. Can’t we all sit down for a simple meal once a year and show a little love?”
My father looked at my sister with disdain. “You barely come home, and when you do, this is how you show respect to us?”
“Dad, I’m just asking for peace for once between you and Lake.”
“If Lake would show me the respect I deserve, then maybe, I just might have peace. This is my home; you are guests here!”
“Maybe that’s the problem, Dad! You never learned how to make us feel like a part of the family. Your children! We were always guests in this home, in your life, as though we were infringing on it. As though we should be grateful that we could breathe!” I said. “You never treated us like your children. Just another accomplishment or accolade that people should applaud you for.”
“Is that what you think? I busted my ass for this family!”
“You busted your ass for you. Reaping the rewards of that was just a byproduct for us! We never asked all of that from you. We wanted your love.”
“You didn’t complain when you were wrecking expensive cars, wracking up bills on your black card, or flying to exotic vacations across the world!”
Scoffing, I shook my head. “You missed the message in all of that, I guess,” I said sarcastically.
“Message?”
“Dad, Lake wrecked all of those cars to get your attention. We felt it was convenient for you to send us on those trips; to get us out of your hair. And it was only because Nana Rose begged that you didn’t send us back to boarding school after we turned thirteen.”
“You were just spoiled brats that couldn’t see the truth in front of you!” he snarled at her. “And look at you. You’re still not satisfied. When it was time for you to grow up, instead of being responsible for your life, you went out there and found someone to do the same things for you I was doing. Taking care of you like a child, being responsible for your wellbeing as if you couldn’t do it. At least, if that would be your route, you could’ve married someone your age. Someone compatible! Cavorting around the world with a man the same age as your mother and me. Being some older man’s whore! We didn’t raise you that way! You should be ashamed of yourself, Harlow Marie!”
I glanced at my sister, whose bottom lip was trembling and then to my mother, who cast her gaze down onto her plate. She would never defy my father. He was her money source, and her fear of being cut off was too great to go against anything he said, whether he was right or wrong.
“Harlow, let’s go. You don’t deserve this shit,” I said as I stood from my chair.
Laughing, he said, “You’re the problem. It’s always been your way or no way, huh, Lake? Do you think you’re so much better than me? Well, you’re not! You’ve always been selfish, too, just like me. You can’t think beyond what you want to do; what’s best for someone else. That poor little Indian-black girl you used to hang around—”
“You know what, I can take whatever you dish out to me, but I will not stand by and let you speak that way to Harlow. And it’s bad enough that you don’t respect your daughter. But don’t you dare speak another word against Xiomara,” I warned, pointing my finger at him.
Laughing, he said, “Yes, I’d heard that she’d returned. Still got you by the balls, huh, son? That was the only one that you didn’t seem to control. Running up behind her...a half-breed, as if you couldn’t do better. What’s the matter? You don’t measure up to that little Indian boy she’s marrying? What, you didn’t know that she was getting married? Surely if you’re sniffing in her panties, you should know that much.”
“Harlow,” I grunted, meeting my sister’s gaze.
Pushing her chair back, Harlow stood and glanced at my mother, whose pleading gaze was begging her not to leave. But she was too scared to say it out of fear of risking my father’s ire.
“Mom?” she called out.
“Guys, can’t we all just have peace today? It’s Christmas, Lake?”
Shaking my head, I said, “It’s always me, isn’t it, Mom?”
Turning her gaze away from me, she glanced at my dad and said, “Steven?”
“Jenna, what are you asking of me?”
“Can we just please finish Christmas? It’s been nice,” she said, giving him a weary smile.
Harlow and I arrived a couple of hours earlier and enjoyed sitting and talking with them for a while. It had seemed as if the issue about Harlow not letting them know that she was in town might go ignored. We’d talked about my team and the chances of them going to the playoffs, skirting Harlow’s modeling career because it wasn’t a safe topic, and moving on to discuss business surrounding the family’s company.
Though things were a bit tense when we first arrived, that tension disappeared when we exchanged gifts. But I should have known it was too good to be true.
“When Lake learns some respect and
