"There are many things you don't know. One of them is that your mum and I are only married on paper."
"I know you are Gay Dad."
"Yeah. Whatever!" He rolled his eyes.
"Because of that we can't have sex with each other so we agreed that Daniel, your brother would be the only child we would have. But years later, your Mum started asking to have another baby. So I gave her my sperm for artificial insemination. And also signed an agreement that Daniel would be mine while you would me her's. Meaning that I am Daniel's parental guardian while she is yours. Daniel will inherit all my part of the property while you will inherit hers.
"Dad. What are you saying?" I almost screamed.
Things seemed to be going from bad to worse the more I learned about my family dynamics.
"You wanted to be treated like an adult. This is me treating you like one. Daniel will inherit everything from my side of the family while you will inherit everything from your Mum's side of the family. This is also why you can't refuse to marry Riley. Your mother is his and his sister's guardian. She also controls their inheritance. If you marry Riley, then you will have 60% of that inheritance. If you refuse to, you will only be looking for trouble."
At this point, I was beyond dazed. I was trying to process what I had just heard and talk at the same time which resulted in me stuttering. No matter how I tried, all I could get out was "what..what..i…i…i"
Then Dad checked his wrist watch.
"I have to go. We will talk more when I have time." He stood up abruptly and left the room. He was running away again. I was in so much shock, all I could do was watch him leave.
I went back to my room in great distress. Nothing was making sense. These people didn't just create me artificially, they also made a deal to share us, the kids. I am just 19 and I don't know much but I am sure whatever was going on in my family was wrong on some serious levels. Nothing about us was normal.
When I got to my room, I was too restless for my liking. Uncle Ron's birthday was in just a few days, meaning that Riley would soon be around and I was yet to figure out how to face him. I tossed around on the bed until it started feeling like I was going to have a headache, so I picked my phone and dialed Slyvester. It rang four times without him picking but I didn't give up. He had always been one with a temper. He had called me several times last night and this morning, I had placed his number on "hold." So no matter how many times he called, the call wouldn't go through. So I expected his anger.
On the 8th ring, he picked and spoke with a gruff voice. "What?!" He snapped, making me chuckle despite myself.. "Can we see?" I asked.
"Where are you right now?" He replied.
"I am at home. Can you come to my house?"
"What?! Will that be okay?" He sounded shocked.
"Uncle Liam said it's okay for you to come to the house."
"Uncle Liam?...I don't understand… Why did he say that?"
"Will you be able to come?" I was getting impatient.
"I have work now.'
"In the evening when you are done…"
"I am doing a double shift."
"Oh." I said and didn't know what else to say.
"I am free tomorrow. What about you coming to the house?" he suddenly offered. My heart leaped from a sudden surge of happiness.
"Okay. What time?"
"Anytime in the morning."
"Perfect!" I said.
"Okay. Got to go." He ended the call.
I stood there, at my window staring out but without focusing on anything in particular. I was just lost in thoughts.
Mum was incharge of Riley's inheritance, she had him under her thumb, forcing him to marry me. Does that mean that what my classmates and everyone was saying was true? I was at a party some time back and a girl who had always liked Riley made fun of me. She said I was a fool for obediently waiting for Riley. She claimed he was a popular playboy in his school and still dating Sarah. I remember coming home in tears and not calling him for days. He didn't call me either. He later gave an excuse and even though it didn't make sense then, I decided to push the whole thing to the back of my mind and just focus on getting out of Arizona first.
I planned on getting my man back once I get to New York. But now, everything is different. Riley knew about his Dad and my Mum. He is with me under duress. All the signs that I ignored started making sense. Signs that were there before he even went to school. Riley never really tried that hard to hide his disrespect for me as his woman. He flirted in front of me. Called girls he was sleeping with 'just friends', Shut me down and kept grudges with me whenever I got too jealous. To end the fight, he would make sure I was the one that would do the begging. I felt like a fool because I had loved and trusted him blindly. He is outgoing and I am reserved so it was easy for him. Reminiscing about all these, my heart clenched and my chest felt heavy like a rock had fallen on it. I suddenly felt overwhelmed with grief and couldn't breathe. I managed to get myself to my bed and the moment I collapsed on it, a dam of water broke and tears cascaded down my cheeks. I was heaving for hours, clutching at my beddings as it held-in my painful howls.