The Father She Never Knew

"Don't give me that look Ellise. I've told you before, I really don't have a freaking idea who your father is," she said while avoiding her eyes.

Ellise sits on the sofa like a statue if only her hands aren't shaking on her lap. "What do you know about Brent Windsor," she mumbled the question.

"He was my classmate in high school," she said nonchalantly.

"You knew him!!!" she shouted as she leaped from sitting on the sofa.

Joy was startled and almost spilled her wine.

"What the f*ck? You know who my father is all along, and yet you kept on saying you don't! How dare you lie to me!" she trembles as she speaks. "Why did you lie to me? You of all people. You're the only one I trust." she shouted in anguished.

Joy was dumbfounded looking at Ellise, who turned pale and visibly shaking in tormented anger, but before she could speak, Ellise grabbed the crystal on top of the coffee table and hurled it across the room.

"Hold on!, Hold it!" Joy said in a panic.

"Motherf*cker!!"

"Hey! Language!" she said as she grabbed Ellise before she could grab the vase next to the sofa.

"I thought you knew! I thought you knew!" Joy said, flustered as she tried to hold the shaking Ellise in her arms. "For the love of God, listen to me E!" she pleaded with urgency.

Ellise furiously gritted her teeth, she shuddered, boiling with rage, as Joy tightly held her and repeatedly whispered the words "Listen, listen." on her ears.

Joy was stupefied with Ellise unexpected emotional outburst, she didn't dare to attempt letting go Ellise from her tight embrace, who is grunting with hollow breathing, but surprisingly with eyes dry from tears. A frightening thought comes to her mind, on why Ellise adheres to alcohol.

This sixteen-year-old girl, with access to a perpetual cash supply, has been surviving all alone. She couldn't help the tears streaming from her eyes, for this beautiful human being, who's trying her best to endure in her small world of adult irresponsibility and selfishness. Uncontrollable fury and pity roused from her heart, but she restraint her emotion, since she knew, unleashing her own trauma to this girl is unacceptable, she's the adult at the moment.

Ellise stopped resisting, when she felt warm dampness on her shoulder, lightheaded from a blackout, she became aware of how aunt Joy is clasping her in her arms.

"I can't breath."

Joy upon hearing those words from Ellise, said "You always tell me, that your father is nothing but words on paper, God, I thought you knew! I'm so sorry baby, I'm sorry darling." frantically touching Ellise face while choking on her own tears.

"I said, my father, is nothing but words on paper because I never saw him. No one told me who he is. I searched for his name online, but I couldn't find anyone that fits with his name!" she said in anguish and disbelief.

Joy chilled in perplexity, but couldn't do anything but clutch Ellise in her arms, and for seems like an eternity, they cried on each other's arms.

When Ellise came back to her senses, she forcefully pushed Joy away. Bent down, picked up the bottle of Conti, and brought it to her lips. But before she could drink it, Joy grabs the bottle from her hands and drinks it.

Wiping her lips, Joy said, "E, I think we badly need to talk."

"You think so?" she said, taunting.

Joy breathes a sigh of relief on how quickly Ellise gets back to being sarcastic. She can handle contempt, but not another emotional meltdown from her. Especially with what they have to discuss. She doesn't have a clear grasp of everything, but she feels like she is in the breakthrough of revelation.

"Correct me if I'm wrong. No one in your family told you yet, that the name Brent Windsor on your birth certificate isn't your biological father." Joy asked as gently as she could.

"No one." Ellise in tears answered softly.

"Sh*t!" Joy cursed under her breath.

"I don't know how to do this sweetheart, I'm confused as you."

"Just tell me the truth. For once, just give me the truth," she said in anguish.

"The thing Ellise is, I, myself, don't know the truth," she answered.

Ellise's face contorted with pain, looked at her aunt's face in distrust.

Joy took a deep breath, and mentally said all the profanity she knew in ten languages for the family of this young girl.

"E, I will tell you everything I know and help you find the answer to whatever questions you have and give you all the help you need to cut your toxic relationship with your family. But baby, promise me one thing," she said in a begging tone. "Please, let me help you stop drinking."

"Why do I have to cut ties with my family?" she said in confusion.

And for a moment, Joy sees that Ellise is nothing but a child. Gone is the bravado, she wears as a thick armor all her life.

"It pained me to say this Ellise, but your family is nothing but a bunch of screwed up, greedy adults. They won't give a single f*ck, on how you will end up. No, that one is wrong. They will care if they can use you for their advantage. With your looks, even with what they considered a flaw in your birth, you still have your family name which is worth a small nation." she said in disgust.

"I'm not stupid," she answered quietly. "I already knew that. Parading me when they abhor my presence in all those parties and with me nearing sixteen, what's the odds that they're already finding me a man that would tighten the empire they're running," she said with a sad smile on her lips.

Another set of expletives in all languages she knows exploded at the back of Joy's mind for Ellise's family.

She opens her arms, looks, and waits for Ellise for an embrace.

Ellise glares at the woman stretching her arms in front of her.

But Joy didn't put down her arms and in silence waited for Ellise for a hug.

Seeing that Joy won't give up, she crawls on top of the glass table and lets herself be encircled on those waiting arms, then cries like she never cried before. In silence, her aunt's hands caress her hair. A thought comes to Ellise's mind, this must be what it feels like to be loved.