Free Prowl by Amber Garza

about it.
    Setting down her fork she said, “Mackenzie, I wanted to talk with you about something.” She squared her shoulders, narrowed her eyes. “I’ve thought a lot about our conversation this morning about your dad.”
    I nodded, held my breath as I waited for her to continue.
    “You were right. He’s your dad. You have a right to know about him.”
    My mouth dropped in shock. No adult had ever told me I was right before.
    “I talked with your mom today and told her I was going to tell you what I know about your dad. I thought it was only fair to warn her.”
    “How’d she take it?”
    Grandma pursed her mouth like she’d sucked on lemon. “Not so well. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve made my decision.”
    I wiped my clammy hands on my thighs. My heart hammered in my chest. Finally someone was going to give me information on my dad. I sat forward in anticipation.

9
     
    “Y our mom met your dad when she was just your age. I remember her coming home from an outing with her friends one day and she was walking around with her head in the clouds. Not like that was unusual, but I could just tell she’d met someone. I guess you could call it a mother’s intuition. I pressed her about it but she wouldn’t tell me a thing.”
    I remembered all the secret phone calls she’d been getting before I left.
    “Pretty soon the phone started ringing a lot and your mom would race to get it before your grandpa or I could answer it. One day I got to it before her and a boy was on the line. I asked his name and he said it was David.”
    I pictured my dad on the phone waiting for my mom to get on the line. He must have really liked her. I wondered if he treated her like Isaac treated me.
    “Of course your mother was livid. I asked her about him when she hung up and she told me it was none of my business. Well, that didn’t fly with your grandpa so he grounded her. The next night I went into her room to talk with her and she was gone.”
    “She ran away?”
    “Well, that’s what we thought. We got in our car and drove around looking for her with no luck.
    In the middle of the night we heard her stumble in through her window. I marched right in there fully prepared to punish her but what I saw was so awful I never ended up doing it.”
    I leaned forward. “What happened?”
    “She was a mess. All scratched up, tears streaming down her cheeks, snot running down her nose, hair tangled. I asked her what was wrong but she just cried. For the longest time I just held her and let her cry.”
    “What was wrong with her?”
    “I honestly don’t know. I begged her to tell me but she never would. In fact she told me she never wanted to talk about that night ever again.”
    “And you just let it go?”
    Grandma snorted. “Of course not. She was my daughter. I wanted to help. I made her see a counselor and had her talk with our pastor, but she never opened up to anyone. Shortly after that we found out she was pregnant. We assumed the two things were related but she never actually told us that they were.”
    “Do you think she was raped?” It burned my throat to ask the question.
    “I asked her that many times but she assured me she wasn’t.”
    “And you bought it?”
    “I really don’t know. Part of me believed her because she seemed so adamant, but I know what I saw that night and something bad occurred.”
    “Did you ever see David after that?”
    Grandma shook her head.
    “How do you know he’s even my dad?”
    “I don’t. I just assumed.”
    I thought back to the night I found the picture of Mom and David. When I showed it to her and demanded an answer she told me that he was my dad, but she could’ve been lying.
    “Grandma, did Mom know anyone named Wesley?”
    Grandma furrowed her brow, deep in thought. “That name does sound familiar. Yeah, I think maybe she did. Why?”
    I shook my head. “No reason.”
    Grandma eyed me skeptically.
    My mind swirled from everything she’d told me. Was it possible that