Dark Creations: Hell on Earth (Part 5) Read Free

would have been rude.  She had been raised better.
    Thoughts of the person who’d raised her reminded her of the other man in her life.  Her eyes scanned each table for her father.  Face after smiling face meant everyone was enjoying themselves, and happy for she and Gabriel, all except one.  In the far corner of the room, her father sat at a small round table sipping from a beer bottle and tugging at the knot of his tie uncomfortably.  With his brow furrowed and his mouth set in a hard line, Melissa could tell he was not happy.  She made her way to him immediately.
    “Hey dad!” she said and sidled up beside him.  “Why so glum, chum?” she joked.
    “Oh hey Missy,” he said and smiled.  But his smile did not reach his eyes.  “You look pretty.  I guess engaged life is treating you good.”
    His words were meant to be complimentary, but his tone was anything but.  Disapproval laced his every word, disapproval and disappointment. 
    “What’s the matter?” Melissa asked, a bit afraid to hear his answer.  The last thing she wanted to hear was that she and Gabriel did not have his blessing to marry.  “You look miserable.  Aren’t you happy that Gabriel and I are getting married?”
    Please say you’re happy!  Please say you’re happy, she thought. 
    “You know I am,” her father said and looked wounded.  “He’s a great guy.  It’s just that, well, you know,” he fumbled.
    “No, dad, I really don’t,” she said gently.  “Help me out here.”
    “It’s just that, well, you’re my little girl,” he said and his voice faltered.  “And I’m losing you.”
    Melissa’s father’s eyes were glassy with emotion.  She felt her own brim with tears.
    “You’re not losing me, dad.  Everything is going to be the same.”
    “No, no it won’t.  You’ll be living with him.  You won’t come home at night,” he said and looked at his lap dejectedly.
    “I’m not really home that much as it is.  Most nights I’m at his place.”
    “Yeah, but still, some nights you’re home.  I’m going to miss those nights, that’s all.”
    Melissa swallowed hard against the lump that had gathered in her throat and blinked back tears.
    “Oh dad,” she said and clasped his hand in hers.  His hand was rough and calloused, exactly as she’d always known it to be.  He gave hers a gentle squeeze.  “We will have to make a point of getting together once a week or something, just you and me, okay?  We can get a movie, or takeout, whatever you want.”
    She’d expected his face to brighten at her suggestion, but, instead, his eyes welled with tears.
    “The last thing I want is for you to feel obligated to hang around with your old man.  I don’t want to hold you back from, you know, living your life.  I want you to be happy.  Not feel guilty because I’m having trouble with the whole you being a woman thing.”  Her father smiled and a single tear slipped from his eye.  He brushed it with the back of his hand.  “Turns out, you’re good at this growing up business, really good at it.  I’m so proud of you, Missy.  Your mother would be, too.”
    Tears streamed from Melissa’s eyes unapologetically.  “Thanks dad.”
    “What’s all this about,” a familiar voice bellowed.  “This does not look like a party over here.  This looks like a depressing-ass made-for-T.V. moment,” Alexandra said as she swept over to them with Yoshi in tow.
    Her father arched a brow at Alexandra.  “Must you always curse?”
    “Sorry Mr. Martin,” Alexandra apologized.  “Things just look a bit depressing over here.  I wanted to lighten the mood.”
    “Well thanks for that,” her father said.  Then to Yoshi, he said, “How’s it going?’
    “Great!” Yoshi said and nodded toward Alexandra.  “Couldn’t be better.”
    Melissa watched as Alexandra smirked and reached a hand around and patted Yoshi’s backside playfully.  “Yep, things are going good with the Y man.  He’s a