Becca's Father looked at everyone and gave a big toothy smile. "Thank you all for support me. I know I made a lot of mistakes in the past and those mistakes will never go away, but I will try my absolute best to atone for my sins.
On that note, there is one more sin I want to reveal. It has something to do with Samantha as well, so she can chime in when she feels it's appropriate…"
Everyone at the table started looked at each other in surprise. Becca's Mother obviously had no idea what her husband was talking about. When Becca looked at me, I just nodded and held her hand. I knew the coming revelation would be very emotional for Becca, so I wanted to be by her side.
Becca's Father continued, "I have gotten Nick's understanding on this subject, so I will not beat around the bush. For a long time, I felt that I made a big mistake when I decided to get Becca engaged to Nick.
At the time, I truly believed that she would definitely have a good life because she would be able to secure a high noble position. However, once Nick started to ignore Becca's wishes by not letting her work as a Royal mage, I decided to take action.
From the outside looking in, it looked like I was completely loyal to the Duke and would do anything to curry favor with him. However, in the background, Samantha and I were trying to enact plans to help get Rebecca out of the engagement."
Becca was obviously shocked, but Becca's Father didn't stop his explaination. "I went around to all the noble boys around Rebecca's age to try to find someone who would love and treat her well. Unfortunately, I was repeatively rejected.
I don't want to hurt your feelings Rebecca…but the reason all the noble boys I asked rejected marriage with you was because they said you were known to all the nobles your age as plain, so they didn't want to be associated with you. Anyone that was okay with you being plain, said they did not want to be with you because they didn't want to have a wife who was not obedient to them."
Becca was frowning, but she replied, "I don't care how people see me as long as Nick still cares and loves me, but it does tick me off that all the noble boys thought they were better than me…I want to make them all regret it in the future."
I was glad Becca's feistiness made it, so she didn't get hung up on all the rejection. I encouraged her, "The best way to make someone regret their decision would be for you to show off how happy you are with your current life. Much happier than they are with the life they chose for themselves."
"Yeah, let's make them all jealous."
Becca's Mother decided to jump in too. "Rebecca, I'm sorry for being so strict on you during our studies. I did it because your Father kept telling me about how you were getting rejected because you were too headstrong. I tried everything I could to get you to turn over a new leaf because we were getting desperate and running out of options. Now I know it was all going to work out because of your stubbornness and I was hard on you all those years for nothing. I'm sorry…"
Becca had always known that her mother was strict on her out of love, so she did not hold a grudge. "It's okay Mother, we already agreed to move forward as a family earlier today, right?"
Her Mother wiped away the tears forming on the edge of her eyes. "Thank you for being so understanding, Becky…you are too good to me."
After smiling at her Mother, Becca turned to look at her Father with hesitance in her eyes. "Father…for a long time I have hated you for forcing me to get engaged to Nick and taking his side when we disagreed. I've always felt that you were using me as a pawn to get more power from the Duke's Family.
Are you saying that all that was my own misunderstanding? Why didn't you tell me the truth sooner?! I've missed the loving Father I had in my childhood for so long! All I had was a Father who would give me short emotionless responses and avoid me as much as he could."
Becca's Father had a constant stream of tears flowing down his face now. "I'm sorry…I'm so sorry. Everything I've done so far was a mistake…I didn't want to tell you before I found a candidate because I didn't want to get your hopes up.
Later, I couldn't tell you because I didn't want to hurt you by revealing that not a single noble boy wanted to marry you…all my conversations with you were short and I ended up avoiding you because I felt so unbelievably guilty for the position I put you in. I didn't feel like I deserved to be in your life. That I wasn't good enough of a Father…"
His final words made Becca explode, "THE ONLY WAY FOR A FATHER TO BE NOT GOOD ENOUGH IS BY GIVING UP!! BY CHOOSING TO AVOID AND NEGLECT THEIR DAUGHTER!! HOW COULD YOU FIX ANY OF YOUR MISTAKES, IF YOU CONTINUED TO RUN FROM THEM, INSTEAD OF FACING THEM HEAD ON?! WERE YOU JUST GOING TO SIT WITH YOUR GUILT AND SELF-PITY AND DO NOTHING?!"
Becca Father was determined to do his best to take a step forward today. He looked her directly in the eye as she screamed at him and replied in a low voice after, "I understand now. Nick explained to me how much my cowardice hurt you. How much you longed for the relationship we had when you were a child. I know it will take time for me to repent for my sins, but I need you to know that I have always loved you, my daughter.
I might have gone about it the wrong way, but I was always working hard to give you a better life…You and the rest of our Family is the most important thing to me in the world. I don't care about getting power from the Duke's Family or being a noble at all. I only did all the things I've done in my life because I thought it would make my family happier."