Anthony continued to stare at the wedding invitation. He was feeling so shocked that he could hardly even move. So Jim had been hiding something all this time. Something extremely big. How many other things was he also hiding?
So Cassie was now married. Though that normally would have been something extremely difficult to comprehend, there was so much else that was already difficult to comprehend. Anthony refused to leave Jim's house until he had heard every last detail of what was going on.
"It all started about two and a half years ago," Jim begun. "It started out as an ordinary day of work. Actually, the majority of the day was pretty much an ordinary day of work. I was supposed to get off my shift in an hour, although...let's just say that I ended up getting off a little more earlier than usual. Anyway, the guy doing register that day needed to use the restroom, so I took his spot briefly. I was really tired since work had been pretty busy that day, so I was hardly paying any attention to the customers at first. But as I was taking one of the orders, the customer paused for a really long right after I told them the price of their order.
"The customer was this very young blonde woman who was with this brown-haired young man. I had already taken the man's order but the young woman was just staring at me for the longest time. I asked if there was a problem and then she asked me where I had gotten the scar on my face. I just sort of froze after she asked that. Why was this random woman who I was taking an order for asking me about my scar? Not to mention that it already upsets me when people I know ask me about the scar since it brings back so many painful memories. I at first thought this woman was just being really, really nosy. I eventually just repeated the price to the woman and tried my hardest not to sound rude. I had thought that this would have been enough of a clue that the woman needed to mind her own business and just pay for her order and leave. But then she suddenly asked me if I had ever heard of a game called Castle. And I...and I think you know where this is going. The woman was Cassie."
Jim started to wipe his eyes. A cringing feeling suddenly formed inside Anthony.
"Yeah, who could have seen that coming?," Jim continued. "It took me over a minute to even realize and process it. Because I hadn't seen Cassie in nearly fifteen years, it was very hard to recognize her at first. I actually thought I was going crazy. But as I took a much closer look, it soon hit me. Knowing all of the photos I have of Cassie by memory, it perfectly matched up. This woman looked almost exactly how I imagined Cassie would look as an adult. Only much more beautiful.
"I don't usually judge random people I see on their looks, so I didn't think much of the woman when I first saw her. Like I said, I was hardly even paying any attention to any of the customers at first. But the instant I realized that this woman was my daughter, I thought that she was one of the most gorgeous women on the planet. I legitimately wanted to grab her and give her the largest hug ever and then kiss her about a million times. Let me tell you, that moment was one of the most difficult moments for me to go through. I was full of so much emotion that I could hardly even breathe. It's actually kind of hard to even put into words about how I felt at that moment. I will say that I began to cry much harder than I had in a long time at that moment. Tears also began to pour from Cassie's eyes as well."
Jim began to wipe his eyes much harder than ever. Anthony grabbed a box of tissues off a nearby table. Anthony could also feel tears forming in his own eyes.
"To make a long story short," Jim continued. "The next manager was willing to come in a little earlier than he was scheduled to. But yeah, I just couldn't continue working right after that. I wouldn't have been able to focus. But before I called the next manager, I just needed a moment to hug my daughter. We hugged each other right there in the store for over five minutes. My chest became soaking wet from all of Cassie's tears. I needed at least twelve napkins to wipe away all of my tears. People at Starbucks were staring at us and giving us weird looks, but we didn't care. It had been way too long since we had been able to hug each other. I didn't even want to let go.
"I hugged Cassie for at least another ten minutes even after I got off of my shift. I also kissed her about a hundred times within one hour. But how could you freaking blame me? I could not even decide on what I first wanted to say to her. I spent almost an entire minute babbling. Then she finally spoke to me. She said: 'I missed you so much.'
"It took me at least two hours to even process the fact that Cassie was here in my presence. Like I said, finding the first question to ask her was beyond hard. But it soon finally hit me. Though I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to ask, I asked her if she finally trusted me again. Honestly, all the hugging and kissing should have been enough of a clue, but I just had to hear it from her lips. She told me that she had trusted me for a very long time. She then told me that had been wanting to see me again for a very long time.
"Cassie told me that she had moved out of her mother's house on the exact day that she had turned eighteen. She then told me that she and her mother's relationship had been strained for several years due to a number of reasons. First off, Julia was living with boyfriend number fifty at that point. Cassie had grown sick and tired of Julia's constant boyfriends years earlier. The main reason being that Julia, after all those years, was still putting all her attention on them. Yep, hardly anything had changed about Julia since day one of her issues. She was still putting all her boyfriends first and her own daughters second. Because putting your own children second behind a boyfriend or girlfriend is definitely what's best for them. Sure Julia, I believe you! I freaking believe you! You've always done what's best for our girls! It makes perfect sense that you think it's absolutely terrible for your children to have a relationship with their father, but that it's perfectly fine to put your million lovers above your children! It all freaking adds up!"
Jim's tone of voice was filled with so much anger and disgust. It didn't at all come as a surprise to Anthony that Jim would talk about Julia this way. Anthony would have been a lot more surprised to hear Jim speak calmly about Julia's antics.
"Sorry, lost my cool there," Jim said. "Anyway, it soon got to the point where Cassie hated being at home and would always try to be away from home just so she didn't have to be around another one of Julia's boyfriends. I'm not even going to get into how horrible the boyfriends were to her and Meagan at times. It makes me sick just thinking about it. But yeah, Julia's refusal to put her daughters first lead to Cassie developing a bitter attitude towards her mother. Or, that was partly why she did.
"Just as I and anyone could have predicted, Cassie and Meagan began to hate me all those years ago because of all the lies that Julia had practically forced into their heads. According to Cassie, Julia would talk trash about me to the girls almost every single day. She would constantly tell them that I was the worst person on the planet and that I only wanted them for money. And because I wasn't around to tell them the truth, they had no choice but to believe every little thing she said. Or, at least make Julia think that they believed everything she said. Cassie told me that even when she was little she refused to believe that all of Julia's stories were true. She still had plenty of memories of all the happy times that she had with me and she just couldn't believe that it was all fake. But with Julia constantly shoving those lies in her face, she pretty much had to act like she believed Julia because she was afraid that Julia would get angry with her if she didn't. Cassie had to practically force herself to hate me and believe all of the lies in order to keep her mother happy. That was why she acted afraid of me and said she wanted nothing to do with me. Because Julia would have probably reprimanded her in some way if she acted any different.
"Cassie continued to live in denial for at least a few years. But she eventually couldn't take it any longer. She one day finally admitted to herself that everything that Julia had been telling her all those years was a giant lie. She decided that on the exact day she turned eighteen, she would finally stand up to her mother and leave her house for good. And that's exactly what she did. Before leaving, Cassie first laid down the line on Julia. She went out of her way to call Julia a spiteful, hateful woman for everything she had done to me. She also reprimanded her for all her boyfriends, going as far to call her an awful mother who doesn't care about her own children. Julia, of course, didn't take this very well. She started shouting at Cassie and tried to manipulate her into staying, going as far as to threaten to send the police after Cassie if she left. But Cassie wasn't that easy to manipulate. She knew that her mother was full of lies and had absolutely no control of what she wanted to do. Cassie moved in with her boyfriend, Chris Wheatley, and continued to live at his house up until she graduated from high school. Cassie hasn't seen or spoken to her mother since.
"Cassie decided long ago that she was going to try her hardest to form a relationship with me again, but she had no idea where to start since she had no idea where I was living or what I was doing. She tried looking me up in several phone books, but had no luck since I'm not listed in any recent ones. She then thought about traveling to Mom and Dad's house, but she also had no idea where they were living since she's only visited them twice in her entire life. She also didn't know Mom and Dad's names, so she couldn't look them up in phone books either. Yeah, she only recently found at that Dad and I have the same name. Anyway, Cassie didn't know the address to our old house in College Station or even remembered that we used to live in College Station. Yeah, Cassie had completely forgotten that College Station was where we had used to live. She still had all the memories of the house and us playing together, but she didn't remember the name of the city. So Cassie couldn't just go back to our old house. Not that doing so would have helped.
"The only lead that Cassie had in finding me was her remembering me telling her that I had grown up in Houston. Yeah, during our one and only visit, I had mentioned to her at one point that I grew up in Houston. It was during one of the several conversations we had, I don't exactly remember why I brought it up exactly. Anyway, the only chance that Cassie had at meeting up with me again was moving to Houston and just hoping that she bumped into me eventually. Basically, she was doing a gamble. And quite a large gamble since Houston is such a big city."
"And she still found you," Anthony said, smiling.
"I know right," Jim said, chuckling. "In a Starbucks of all places. Not one of the popular tourist attractions or Houston landmarks, but a random Starbucks. Talk about lucky, am I right?"
"That wasn't luck, that was a miracle."
"Yeah, that's exactly what Cassie said to me. I'm actually starting to believe the same the same thing." Jim was now finally smiling.
"So anyway," He continued. "My boss was willing to let me take the next two weeks off. I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but my boss is pretty cool. I spent the next two weeks doing nothing but spending time with Cassie. We talked to each other, ate lunch and dinner together, and went on walks together. It was definitely the best two weeks I had had in years. For obvious reasons."
Jim paused for a moment to wipe off his eyes, which had suddenly started to water again.
"But unfortunately, it was still very hard for me to listen to Cassie updating me on pretty much everything that I should have been a part of. Starting middle school, starting high school, her high school graduation, being on her high school dance team, Meagan being on the soccer team, and puberty. Yeah, we actually had a two hour conversation about nothing but her hitting puberty. Yeah, growing breasts, menstruation, becoming more dramatic, all the usual teenage girl growth spurt stuff. She went into so much detail about how all that went for her. Say it's weird that we talked about all that all you want, it was still a big moment in her life. A big moment that I was not part of and will never be part of. Because it can only happen once. All of her wonderful accomplishments, experiences, and moments could only happen once."
Jim blew his nose and then took a deep breath.
"Not helping was the fact that Julia hardly ever blinked while all of this stuff was going on," He continued. "Apparently when Cassie first got her period, Julia just said 'I'll buy you tampons later,' and then walked off to continue spending time with whatever boyfriend she was with at the time. She didn't even give Cassie an explanation about what was happening to her. I guess she just assumed that Cassie already knew what menstruation was. That was definitely not the case, as Cassie said she was terrified when she first got the period because she didn't know what the heck was going on. She said she thought she was dying at first. Thankfully, a friend she immediately called told her what was going on and helped her calm down. Still, just a brief explanation would've been nice, Julia! Always doing what's best for your daughters, just like always!"
Jim blew his nose again and then sighed.
"Got off on a tangent again," He said. "Anyway, it was very hard for me to hear Cassie go on about things that I should already know about. Thankfully, Cassie at least understood how I was feeling and told me that she wished I had been there for everything. She also appeared to be equally upset about how much I had missed out on. She then said...she then said..."
Jim paused for a long moment and then held his breath.
"She said that she wished that I had been the one who had raised her instead of her mother. I...I told her that she probably wouldn't have had all the same friends and accomplishments because we wouldn't have lived in New Hampshire. But she said that she didn't care. She would've gotten to grow up with me and would've been so much happier. She would've...she would've...she would've had a much happier childhood."
Jim began to sniffle quite a bit. Anthony handed him some more tissues.
"And...I...I...agree...with her."
Jim's eyes began to water heavily. Anthony grabbed a handful of tissues to wipe his own eyes.
"But...but...at least she was able to meet Chris Wheatley in New Hampshire. Yeah. I also really got to know Chris during those two weeks that I had off. Apparently, Cassie and Chris have known each other since they were in fourth grade. They began dating when they were only in middle school. Because I wasn't there and Julia hardly ever acknowledged her, Chris was the only person that she had for security back then. As upsetting as that is, Chris is at least a pretty good kid. He's not a stereotypical teenage boy or young adult who only cares about getting in his girlfriend's pants. He has always genuinely cared about Cassie's feelings. He would comfort her when she was feeling upset and always go out of his way to keep her happy. The things that a father should be doing..."
Jim blew his nose and then took a deep breath.
"Anyway, Chris Wheatley is a great kid. I'm glad that he was the type of young man that my daughter ended up with. Chris and I get along very well. Sometimes I'll listen to his giant movie speeches despite me not knowing half of the movies he's talking about. Yeah, Chris is a really huge fan of movies. Particularly the classics. He's gone on at least a dozen times about how much he loves Vincent Price. Jeez, how many people born after 1980 know who Vincent Price is? I didn't even know about him myself until I was in college."
One question immediately popped into Anthony's head. Something that he was surprised he hadn't asked Jim about ten minutes earlier.
"Jim," Anthony said. "If you don't mind me asking, why have you kept all of this a secret? You said this happened over two years ago. Why didn't you immediately tell your family about what happened?"
Jim sighed very deeply.
"I'll get to that in a bit," He said. "Anyway, it was really hard for me to have to go back to work after those two weeks. And I mean, really hard. But, sadly, I still had bills to pay. But Cassie promised that she would come visit me as much as possible and we could keep spending time together. And that pretty much sums up the next two years. Cassie, Chris, and I would spend time with each other as much as we possibly could. We continued to talk, have dinner, go on walks, go to farmer's markets and fairs, and even go on vacations sometimes. Last year, the three of us spent about four days in Vegas. None of us had ever been to Vegas before, so it was definitely a new, big experience all around. Oh, and Cassie and Chris were both already twenty-one, so no need to worry about anything."
"Sounded like fun," Anthony said. "Wish I could go to Vegas."
"Yeah," Jim continued. "About a year after me and Cassie met up again, Cassie legally had her last name changed back to Burleson. Once again, happy but also upset that it should never have been that way to begin with. But a few weeks later, something happened that genuinely made me feel happy. Chris asked me for Cassie's hand in marriage. After missing out on so many milestones in my little girl's life, I was finally going to be part of probably the biggest one. I was going to walk my little girl down the aisle. Let me tell you, this particular moment was...so big and wonderful for me that I don't even know what words to use to describe it. The fact that I would more than likely never walk my daughter down the aisle was one of the numerous things that haunted my nightmares for all those painful years. But now it was going to happen. It was going to happen really soon Like I said, I don't even know how to describe how happy I was feeling the instant Chris asked me that question. Let's just say I seriously thought I was going to completely run out of tears that day.
"I'll never forget the look on Cassie's face the instant that Chris pulled out his ring. I was sitting just a few tables away. Cassie didn't know I was there until I walked over and wrapped my arms around her. I'm really glad that one of Chris' friends got that moment recorded on his phone. That's definitely a moment that I know is going to make me cry even ten years from now. Just like every other beautiful moment.
"So yeah, the wedding happened eight months ago. I don't think I even need to tell you that I was in tears practically the entire time. Especially...especially...when I walked Cassie down...the aisle."
Jim covered his hands with his face and made several sniffling sounds. After about thirty seconds, he grabbed another tissue and blew his nose. The pile of tissues on the floor was now quite large.
"I'll clean it up in a second," Jim said after catching Anthony's eye.
Of course you will, Anthony thought.
"Anyway, I walking Cassie ended up being way more beautiful than I imagined. Once again, don't know how to put into words. I will say that the smile on her face was absolutely gorgeous. You could just tell that she was happy that I was there.
"Rest of the wedding was amazing, of course. Got to meet quite a lot of new people. Chris' family is definitely one of the nicest families I've ever met. You really need to meet his sister. She's probably the funniest person I've ever met. No exaggeration."
Would like to have met her at the wedding, Anthony thought. Along with everybody else.
"As you can see on the invitation," Jim said. "Cassie decided to keep Burleson as part of her married name. She and Chris' children are still going to have the last name Wheatley, but she wanted to keep the name Burleson out of respect for me. Basically to make up for all the years that she was not considered part of the Burleson family. Not that it really would make up for anything..."
Jim took a very long deep breath before continuing.
"After the wedding, Cassie promised that she and Chris would come visit me every weekend. On Saturdays, the only day that I'm really ever free. They told me they would come visit me for as long as they could. Even if they had plans, they would still squeeze in time to just come say "Hi" to me. And they've kept their promise. For the past eight months, there hasn't been a single weekend where I haven't seen Cassie and Chris for at least a few minutes. Sometimes they come in very late at night, I'm talking like midnight or one in the morning, just to see me for a few minutes. And...and...I just...I can't be more grateful that my daughter is part of my life again."
Jim wiped off his face with a large wad of tissues.
"Also," He continued. "Cassie and Chris bought a house only about five minutes away. They purposely did so in order to see me as much as possible. Yeah...anyway, I've been to their house quite a few times. It looks pretty nice and definitely a great place for Cassie and Chris to raise their children. I'm...I...I look forward to my future with Cassie and Chris each day. Honestly, it's still only the beginning. Like I said, I can't be...I can't be anymore blessed that Cassie is part of my life again."
Jim wiped his eyes off and blew his nose again. Anthony took a deep breath.
"Well Jim," Anthony said, wiping his eyes a bit. "I'm really happy for you. I honestly can't be any more happy for you. It's really great that...that after all those years this day, or rather that day finally came. But..."
Anthony took another deep breath.
"But like I said, why did you keep something this big a secret from your family? " He asked. "We were worrying about you so much in those two years of radio silence. We would've completely understood if you had just told us."
Jim frowned and began to stare down at the floor.
"Not to mention," Anthony continued. "We all would've been just as happy to hear about this news. I would've been crying tears of joy too. So would Ellen. Can you imagine how happy Mom and Dad would've been to hear this? Heck, anybody? It probably would've been the happiest news for everybody in the Burleson family. Seriously, why didn't you-"
"That right there is why I kept it a secret," Jim said, without looking up.
"What?" Anthony asked.
"Because y'all would've been really excited to hear that Cassie was back in my life. And y'all would've made it seem like it was the greatest and happiest thing ever."
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