Here it is, the final chapter. It's still too long, but I wasn't going to break it up again. This one has a lot of emotions in it, and was a little difficult to finish. Parts of this story may not make sense if you haven't read the previous chapters.
I didn't intend my first story printed here to be so long and involved, but I'm glad it turned out this way. Please leave feedback and let me know what you think. I have some other projects on the horizon, so hopefully you'll be seeing them soon.
Finally, the Friday before Labor Day was here. Both girls were flying into the airport – Catherine first, about an hour ahead of Ciara. Charles decided he would go to the airport by himself to pick up the girls. He wanted his first initial contact with them to be him alone, since he felt like he had so much to make up to them.
He was so excited that he got the airport about an hour early. He didn't want to take any chances that he wasn't there when Catherine landed. It gave him time to work on how he was going to tell them that their Aunt Karen was more than just his sister. He knew it had to be done delicately, and he tried to prepare himself for any possible reaction that might occur.
He figured that Catherine would eventually be okay with it. Even if she had initial concerns, once she analyzed all of the factors involved, he felt confident she could see it from his and Karen's viewpoint. But Ciara was a different story. Her emotions sometimes ran hot and cold, and if she reacted poorly, it would be difficult to get her to change her mind. His biggest fear was that Ciara was the one that had a closer relationship to her mom. He was afraid she would be angry that he was stepping on her mom's memory in a sick and perverted way.
He looked at the arrival board and saw that both flights were on time, and Catherine's was scheduled to land in 10 minutes. His began to feel his nerves flare just a little. The excitement of seeing his daughters was tempered with the fear of their reactions to the news he was about to share. He knew telling them was the right thing to do. He and Karen could have probably strung it along for a while, figuring out ways they could have hid it from the girls. But that meant they would have to carry out a perpetual deception, and his girls deserved better than that from their dad. Even though it wasn't going to be comfortable, it was the best thing to do.
Catherine's plane had landed by now, so he moved to the passenger arrival area and waited. As the passengers began to stream in, he was becoming excited with the anticipation that was building. Finally he saw her, and at the same time, she spotted him and began to pick up her pace toward him, before finally running. He went to her and they met as she jumped into his arms. The emotion became too much, and Charles began to cry as they held each other.
Charles was the first to speak. "Catherine, it's so good to see you. I've missed you!"
"I've missed you too, daddy. You look great! I'm so excited to hear that you have climbed out of your funk and are doing better!"
He replied, "I'm glad as well, and I'm so sorry I haven't been there for you and Ciara these last two years. How are you doing with all of that?"
"I'm doing okay. It's been great having Ciara being just a couple of hours away. We've leaned on each other pretty hard trying to deal with our grief. Without her, I'm not sure I could have handled it. Steven has also been great to me. He didn't push me to try and resolve all the issues of grief and loss. Instead, he allowed me to take the time I needed. He supported me every step of the way."
Charles said, "I'm so glad to hear that. I'm glad to hear he was strong enough to let you deal with this in your own way."
"I couldn't have done it without the help of others. Without Steven, and Ciara and Craig, I'm afraid I would have ended up as lost as you were. I wish there had been somebody for you to help you through your grief."
"Oh, there were plenty of people. Even you and Ciara tried to reach out to me, but I just shut everybody out. I don't know how long I could have gone on that way, but it wasn't living. I'm so grateful to Aunt Karen for helping me see what I had become, and that even though I missed your mom, it was no reason to keep my love away from my family, especially when they needed me."
Catherine hugged her dad again. "That's all in the past. What's more important now is the future. I hope we get to see more of you, daddy – we've all certainly missed you!"
By this time, her bag had made it to them on the luggage carousel. Charles picked it up, and they headed back to the waiting area to wait on Ciara.
Catherine's curiosity finally got the better of her. "So what's the family meeting all about? You certainly were mysterious on the phone the other day."
"Ah, patience, my child," he replied. "I'm not sharing anything until we get back to the condo. You're just going to have to wait a while!"
Catherine sighed, then said, "Okay, okay – I'll wait. I'm not going to like it, but I'll wait."
Soon they saw Ciara as she made her way into the terminal. Like her sister, she dropped her bag and ran up to the two of them, jumping into her daddy's arms and planting a kiss on his cheek as they hugged. Catherine came and joined in, and the little family shared their first close moment together in quite some time.
The three of them walked together to the luggage return, Charles carrying Catherine's bag. The girls walked a couple of steps ahead of him, holding hands as they busily chatted. He couldn't help but think how close to each other they must have gotten after their mother's death, especially since he had basically been an absentee father those two years as he struggled with his own darkness. He knew tonight was going to be a huge turning point in his relationship with his girls. He longed to be close to them again, but was afraid that what he had to tell them might actually drive them further apart, creating a chasm that might not be repairable.
His heart was heavy as they approached the luggage carousel to wait for Ciara's bag. The girls turned around and saw that his head was hung down, looking at the floor. Ciara went immediately to him. "What's wrong, daddy? It's ok – we're here together."
"I know, babe, but I just can't help the fact that I feel so shitty for having abandoned you girls the last two years. I see your close relationship that has formed because you didn't have anybody else to help you through your grief. I want to be a part of that again. I hope you can forgive me."
"Oh, daddy, I know how hard mommy's death was on you. Yes, I wish you had been around more, but that's in the past. Catherine texted me on the plan before I landed that you looked great, and she's right. We're both ready to welcome you into our lives again. There's still lots of time in our lives. Let's learn from the past and make sure we never repeat it."
