We walked out of my office and Mom introduced me to the two guys waiting for us. They escorted us out to a black SUV, which can I just say is so cliché? Mom and I got into the back and they got into the front. The drive took about a half and hour until we reached a security gate, and I want to say the driveway was another 30 minutes, but was probably only five. It did nothing to calm my anxiety about coming here. The place was massive.
We pulled up in front of the mansion and someone opened the door for us to get out. We were escorted inside and asked to wait in a room just off the foyer. The room was immaculately decorated, and I wondered if I should be even breathing as I walked in.
Mom came up to me, "Just breathe, honey. Everything will be fine."
"How can you be so calm?" I whispered back at her.
"Simple, I don't care what anyone thinks of me." Mom said. She had learned to never worry about what others say when I was quite young and had tried to teach me that as well. However, this was totally different because I was meeting my father. "And yes I know you are about to meet your father, but you should be yourself and not try to impress him with anything else. Because you are impressive enough."
Mom always knew what to say to me. She led me to a couch and we sat down. A few minutes later Charles Gastrell walked in the door. "Grace. Good to see you." We stood up to greet him.
"You too Charles, and this is Sera."
"Yes, she's the spitting image of you at that age." He turned to me "Hello Sera, I'm Charles, you can call me Charles, Dad, or whatever you would prefer." My guess is sperm donor isn't an option at this point, previously it was my favorite way to refer to my non-existent dad, well when Mom wasn't around, she didn't approve of it.
"Hi." I responded. I mean what was I suppose to say?
"Please sit. Let me explain why you're here." He gestured to the couch behind us and we took our seats. He sat in a chair across from us.
"Sera, it was your mother's wish that she was able to raise you. In order to honor that wish I never told anyone about you. If I had, my relatives would have never allowed you to stay with her. It also caused me a lot of pain not seeing you grow up. I know Grace never really told me about you, and that's because we didn't want it to get around you were my daughter. It would not have been safe for you or your mom if anyone knew of that relation. Since no one knew, they could not use you to get to me and my fortune. The only help Grace would accept from me was paying for your summer camp and school expenses. When you went to college you were so focused, I didn't want to take that away from you by complicating your life."
I looked at Mom, she could have gotten money so she didn't have to work so hard to support me, but she didn't. I must have looked confused because she said, "Honey, if that money would have ever been traced between your father and I, the fact you were his daughter could have come out, which is what we were avoiding."
"But you kept me away from half of my family." I said.
"I know you won't understand my choices, but you were all I had. I knew if I lost you I'd have lost the will to live. Sera, you saved me and I'm sorry your life was harder than it could have been, but you've grown into such an amazing person with a heart of gold. I don't think if you'd have been raised with everything that you would be able to relate to others like you do now."
"She's right, Sera. Your step brother and sister do not see the world the same as you. They only see what they can get from it, not what they can give, for the most part. I have seen what an amazing person you have grown up to be and am proud to be your father."
"So why now? Why are you telling me now?"
"I've wanted to tell you for a while, but now you're grown up and on your own. You have accomplished what you wanted to with your education."
"And you need her." Came a voice from the doorway.