A Lie Unraveled by Constance Masters

which wouldn’t have been so bad if she were wearing the skirt and blouse she’d started out in but no, she was now wearing a creation designed by her nine-year-old. She was wearing a low sheen silver dress and black belt, with six-inch hooker heels that she’d forgotten she even owned. How could she possibly explain this without hurting Sophia’s feelings? Simple, she couldn’t. She held her head up high and started stepping, very precariously down the stairs. “Hi,” she said.
    “Doesn’t she look beautiful?” Sophia said, her eyes shining with pride.
    “She does,” Justin said with a giant grin. “Did you help her pick out that outfit?”
    “Uh huh and I did her make up too.”
    “I thought you might have.” Justin gave Destiny a discreet wink and she smiled.
    God I love that kid. “Aren’t I lucky my girl knows so much about fashion and make up?”
    “A skill every girl must learn one day I guess,” he said. “Now why don’t we sit somewhere we can all talk.” He took Destiny’s hand to help her down the rest of the stairs.
    “Thanks,” she said.
    * * *
    “What’s all this about?” Sophia asked. “This is weird, all sitting at the table like this with no food.”
    “Well, sometimes when people want to talk about things that are important, they want to be able to concentrate on each other’s faces,” Destiny said.
    “That’s right,” Justin said. “Your mom and I need to talk to you about something important.”
    Sophia looked from one face to another. “Well, somebody better just spit it out because I might just have a heart attack here; you’re scaring me.”
    “Okay, you’re right, I’ll just say it,” Destiny said. She looked at Justin who was looking as scared as she was. “We’ll just say it. A long time ago, when we were in high school…”
    “Mom! This doesn’t sound like a quick story. That was a thousand years ago and what do you mean when you say when we were in high school?”
    “You have to stop interrupting me, Soph, or I’ll never get it out.”
    “It means exactly what it sounds like,” Justin said. “The two of us knew each other in high school, well we more than knew each other and I wasn’t technically in high school I was in college.”
    “Yes, except we started dating when Justin was still in high school. When he went to college, we were still boyfriend and girlfriend, only mostly just on the phone, until he came home for breaks.” Destiny added. “We loved each other.”
    “Okay, I guess. This is weird.”
    “No, it’s not, not really.”
    “Then why didn’t you say something? I knew you were acting funny that first day he came here. Why didn’t you just introduce him as your old boyfriend?”
    “It’s complicated,” Destiny said.
    “What your mom is trying to tell you, Soph, is that when we were in love, we made you.” He sat there looking from Destiny to Sophia, waiting for someone to say something.
    “So what you’re telling me is, you’re my father?” She looked at her mom. “He’s my father? You said my father was too young, that there were hard choices that had to be made. Now I know why you would never say what they were!”
    “There were hard choices to be made,” Destiny said, her eyes filled with tears. “It was just that—” This was so hard and she was so scared to say the words. “I was the one that made them. Your daddy, Justin, didn’t know about you until yesterday.”
    “Why didn’t you tell him? Why? I could have had a daddy; been one of the chosen ones who was lucky enough to have a complete family and you chose to not tell me or him but to keep it to yourself?”
    All of her worst fears crashed down and she felt her heart sinking.
    “I can understand that you're upset right now and that you have a lot of questions, Sophia, but your mother had her reasons for doing things the way she did. You’re just a little girl and you haven’t had to make any real grown up decisions yet and that’s great. You