Forever My Girl

Just Sleep.

Colin was enraged, there was no other word for it. He was angry at Penelope for keeping this from him, but he was angrier at his own flesh and blood.

He was a father, he had been a father for seven years, and he had no idea. That's all that floated around his thoughts as he cycled home from town. He needed to hear their excuses, whatever they could muster up, he needed to understand.

Colin cycled to the front of the house and heard Daphne, his mother and Anthony around the back of the house. He stomped towards the yard and threw his bicycle down in a fit of rage,

"HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME?"

Daphne was startled, and she quickly gathered his niece and nephew and took them into the house. Her face was knowing, all their faces were knowing, they all knew exactly what he was on about... he didn't need to provide context.

As his sister shut the porch door, he was glad for it, as he was certainly going to be using a few explicit words of language towards his eldest brother and as angry as he was he wouldn't curse like that in front of children.

His brother Anthony didn't even look at him, this was the brother who always lectured him on 'doing the right thing', and for the life of Colin he couldn't understand just how keeping a secret like this 'the right thing to do?'.

His mother rose from the table and tried to Colin down,

"Colin please."

He shook his head and backed away from her embrace,

She was complicit. His own bloody mother.

"No. NO. no. I have a daughter and all of you thought not to tell me? I have a seven, SEVEN, year old daughter and all of you decided to play some type of God and..."

Anthony threw his fists on the table, obviously in frustration, however, Colin was affronted that his brother thought he had any leg to stand on in this situation,

"You will not use God's name in vain, and you will NOT speak like that around our mother."

Anthony told his mother to head inside, and that he would deal with his younger brother. Colin watched his mother begrudgingly head up the stairs with a guilty look wash across her face,

"How fucking dare you Anthony..."

Colin raked his hands through his hair and clenched his jaw, he wanted to punch something, anything. So instead he kicked the fence in sheer anger,

"FUCK! How could you all keep this from me?"

Colin roared at the top of his lungs.

"HOW DARE I? Are you kidding brother? You left us, I repeat, YOU were the one who left."

Colin laughed at him, there was no way he could justify him leaving as an excuse,

"So because I left, I don't deserve to know I have a daughter?"

He let out a humorous laugh, which seemed to the wrong move as Anthony approached him aggressively and grabbed him by the back of neck with force, and threw him into a chair,

"YOU WILL SIT, and you WILL listen to me, is that understood?"

Colin rolled his eyes as Anthony was trying to control his anger,

"IS IT?"

"You aren't my father, Anthony."

Colin said through his gritted teeth. He knew that he probably shouldn't have said that, but he wanted Anthony to hurt. He wanted him to hurt the same way he was,

"I know that. You just be glad that our dear father isn't here to witness this, that he isn't here to witness you like this."

Anthony raked his eyes over Colin's form and pointed his finger towards him. Colin's jaw clenched again in anger. How dare he. Anthony using the dead dad card, I mean, he shouldn't be surprised that his elder brother would stoop so low.