I called Dad as soon as I got up, hoping to catch him before eating breakfast to invite him to eat with me. He sounded surprised at the early invitation but accepted, naturally. We went to the steakhouse in Oasis Springs because they had a killer brunch menu. Once seated, Dad asked about Sophia, and I told him she was back at full capacity, which was why I was comfortable leaving her for a few hours. That wasn’t what he meant, though. He said I needed to keep an eye on her because many women fell into a depression after giving birth. No one really knew why it happened, but apparently it was very common. He thought Sophia seemed withdrawn at my birthday party and didn’t interact with the baby much. Though I knew he only expressed concern out of his love for her, I felt my defenses and anger rising because it felt like he accused me of not taking care of my wife when that was all I had done since she was pregnant. I told him I took it upon myself to care for Desiree while Sophia recovered, and that’s why she didn’t have the baby much. And as far as being withdrawn, she was just very introverted and often preferred to observe. He understood, being an introvert himself, but just wanted to bring it up so I was aware, especially because she’s really good at hiding what’s going on inside.
I refused to believe the possibility of her being depressed. I knew all her facial expressions, body language, and tones of voice. We were always honest with each other, especially about big stuff like that. She’d tell me if she felt off. Even though I knew in my gut she was fine, just the possibility of him being right made me feel sick, and I didn’t want to talk about it anymore and switched gears to raving about Less and the babies. I told him about how good she was with them, and how she did actual chores now. That part shocked him, and he halfway believed me.
“In all seriousness, though,” he began, “I knew she had it in her.”
“Me too, but how did you know?”
“She might be spoiled, but she’s not a princess.”
I snorted.
“She’s not,” he continued. “She behaves the way she does because we all allowed it. But what did she do when she went to Mt. Komorebi? She found a place to live when she got tired of living with that family and got a job. She did what she needed to do to make things happen.”
“Yeah…I guess you’re right.”
“I know why you invited me here,” he said.
I’m sure my eyes were as large as saucers because that caught me ALL the way off guard. What kind of segue was that?
“I just wanted to spend time with you, Dad.”
“You’re gonna be okay, you know. You’re a good man, and you have a good woman by your side. As long as you keep communicating like you do, everything will be just fine. You’ll miss us, but you don’t need us.”
“That’s not true. I’ll always need you. I want all that parenting advice you promised me.”
I sounded like a whiny little kid. Obviously, I knew my parents wouldn’t be around forever, but it’s one thing to know it and another to actually experience it. I wished I could go back to the time when I teased them for trying to hide their age.
“Parenting is a journey, son. It never ends. Every time you think you have it figured out, your oldest goes through something new and you’re back to square one again. Don’t complicate things by trying to be the best parent in the world. Be the best parent for your children. Get to know them and treat them as individuals because if you treat them all the same, someone’s going to feel misunderstood. Just be the parent you would have wanted. We weren’t perfect. Be better than us. You already got a head-start by being with the right person for the right reasons.”
All of that was gold, and I appreciated it, but that last bit stirred up all those questions I wanted to ask Mama. Although they weren’t meant for him, I still wanted to know something.
“Dad?”
“Yes, son?”
“Do you still think Mama was the right sim for you?”
He sighed and stared at the table for a while.
“I do.”
“Seriously?”
“You don’t?”
“No, it’s not that. I just thought that maybe after all this time… I don’t know. Maybe you had some new revelation or something.”
He was so insightful, and I wanted to know everything that went on in his head. I wanted to listen to him talk until my brain could hold no more words.
“You’re right. I have had a long time to consider this, and that’s how I know it’s true. She was the right woman for me, but we didn’t get married for the right reasons.”
“Both of you?”
“I told you, I’m not perfect. Your mom told you why she wanted to get married?”
“Yeah. She wanted to have children.”
“Right. I got married to appease her.”
“Wait…what?”
If he was about to tell me one more bad thing about them, I swear… Good thing I got over all that insecurity because it never ended with these two.
“That night, I was telling her about an article I read about conservation, and she came from left field, suggesting we go to Sulani and elope the next day. It was so random, and I thought she had lost her mind. I knew she was my soulmate, but I wasn’t thinking about getting married yet.”
“Seriously, I mean, who would?”
He chuckled.
“Your mother, that’s who. I tried to talk some sense into her, but you know her. She has an answer for everything. But there came a moment when she realized how crazy this plan sounded and she backtracked. She took it all back, and she was so embarrassed. She started crying and beating herself up, and I hated seeing her like that. I had to do it.”
“Wow. You married her to make her feel better.”
“Basically. Remember what I said about women using their emotions to get what they want?”
“You think she played you?”
“No. I don’t. She was really bothered and very serious about waiting. Your mother… I would have done anything for her. Yeah, she was a spoiled brat, but she was so sweet and had a way of making you want to give her the world. I didn’t have much, but I could give her what she wanted. I spent the rest of the night trying to make her believe I wanted to do it and that she wasn’t crazy.”
“But you loved her, right?”
“Yeah, I did… I do. She wasn’t trying to dupe me, but sometimes I couldn’t help but think, if only I could have been stronger that night, maybe we’d still be married. But the fact is, we still could have divorced. Maybe over the same thing, maybe something else. Or maybe we wouldn’t have gotten married at all. I spent a long time thinking it was my fault when the fact is no one knows what’s going to happen in the future. Happily ever after isn’t a guarantee, so don’t get comfortable, Luca. Marriage is hard work.”
He said so many things. The little boy inside me was satisfied just being in his company, but the man I aspired to be wished I had taken notes or something. How could I remember all those gold nuggets? Amid everything he said, one thing stood out. It fascinated me to hear that even though Mama was wrong for what she did, he recognized the mistakes made on both sides. It got me thinking. Could we ever truly cast 100% of the blame on one sim? I had been thinking about Jace and Alessia a lot lately. I was still angry with him, but I didn’t want to be, really. He did my sister dirty, and I would probably never forgive him. But if I ever got to a point where I could pause my anger and put away my bias, maybe I could see the mistakes Less made. After all, I only knew what she told me. But that was an assignment for another day. Heh, maybe even another year. Probably a decade.
To be continued…
