They Said I Was Adopted, but I Was Always the Real Daughter novel · Chapter 17 of 24
Chapter 17: Three Hundred Programs
My father came to the print shop on Wednesday with a pillow under his arm.
He was still walking.
Gael set a stool for him in the back room, under the work light, and went to find something to do at the front.
My father looked at the floor where my hair had fallen, now swept clean.
"I want to tell your grandmother first," he said. "Then the partners, one by one, before the dinner. Quietly. So nobody is ambushed."
"No," I said.
He looked up.
"You've said everything quietly for eighteen years, Dad."
"I know."
"You said it to the hallway wall, and you said it to your pillow, and you said it once out loud in a cafeteria."
"There were people in the cafeteria."
"There were twenty. You stood up for twenty."
He turned the pillow over in his hands.
"Saturday there will be two hundred," I said. "You stand up first. Before Mom finishes her toast, before anyone else speaks. You say it in plain words, loud enough for the back row."
"Inés."
"I'm not asking you to be sorry. I'm asking you to be seen."
He was quiet a long time.
His mouth worked, and I saw him get frightened and decide to go on anyway.
"All right," he said. "First."
"Not second."
"First."
The bell rang over the shop door.
I knew the sound of her heels before I saw her.
My mother came in, and the room that Gael had kept so neat suddenly looked smaller.
She wore a gray suit and sunglasses pushed up in her hair, and she carried the leather handbag.
She stopped when she saw my father on the stool.
"I should have known," she said. "Humberto, the car is outside. We're going home."
Keep reading free with an account. Start They Said I Was Adopted, but I Was Always the Real Daughter from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
← Chapter 16 · All chapters · Chapter 18 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend