Deadly Silence (complete) Chapter 26

“I can, and I do,” he nodded. “But I want an honest dialogue between us; I want to be able to trust what you’re telling me without needing to verify it. Once you graduate from high school things will change, because you’ll be an adult and keeping tabs on an adult is… a bit… more invasive… But until then, as a parent, I want to be able to say I know where my kids are without worry.”

Vivian mulled this over for a moment. Why were his rules both suffocating and freeing? It sounded like she could do almost anything she wanted, so long as he knew what was going on. Did that mean there were no rules? Or did that mean there were rules hidden under the surface, waiting for the right moment to be triggered?

Would telling Samuel she’s going shopping with friends end with them running into him, or one of her brothers, accidentally but on purpose? Was it so he could keep tabs on his kids more easily, in the guise of being a more laid back parent?

There were a lot of rabbit holes for Vivian to fall into on the topic, so she pushed all those questions aside to focus on finishing this conversation with her father. “So, you’re just asking me to be honest with you about what’s going on in my life?”

He nodded once, then paused. “I don’t want or need all the details, but a general view of what’s going on in your life would be nice. My boys were raised like this, so to them having an open dialogue with me is normal. I understand it’s not the same for you.

“You can have your secrets and things you don’t want to talk about with me, and that’s fine, but I want to know about your achievements, your failures, whether you’re doing well or not. All of these rules are my way of telling my kids that I want them to be independent, to learn how to make judgment calls without my butting in, but I’m still here if they need me.”

“Like a safety net?”

“Yes,” he nodded again, this time without pausing. “Like a safety net. Gabriel was in trouble for street racing when he was a little bit older than you; his choice earned him a hefty fine and community service, which he had to pay out of his own pocket and complete on his own time. If something bad happens to you, I will step in and make sure you’re safe, but if it’s because you did something to bring it on, knowing the potential outcome, it will be on you to pay restitution.”

“How will you know if I did or didn’t know about the potential outcome beforehand?”

“It’s obvious in most situations,” he answered with a shrug. “Gabriel’s, for instance, was his own stupidity that brought about the outcome.”

Vivian nodded slowly, still not liking it but knowing there was no room for compromise. In her former life, it was always your fault no matter what. If you were part of it, in any way, shape, or form, you were in the wrong.

It sounded like this wouldn’t be the case with Samuel, but again she had no way of verifying without first testing the limits of the rules; like sticking your hand in the fire to see if it would burn, only to be stuck with a burnt hand afterwards.

On the surface, it all seemed fair; so long as they both kept to their word it would be simple to follow the rules. Though Vivian was never one to keep a running commentary on her life with others, it couldn’t hurt to keep Samuel in the loop for now. It would help her understand his intentions, how much his words could be trusted, and give a better view of who he was as a father figure. It wasn’t as if she led an overly exciting or interesting life; all her secrets were buried in the past, after all.

Two and a half months from now she had to decide if staying with the Devreauxs, her biological family, was what she wanted. This was more than enough time to figure out the father daughter dynamic and if she could trust him at his word.

“So far these seem reasonable,” she said after a pause.

“I’m glad you think so. Do you have any questions or concerns about the rules or anything else?”

“No, I think I understand well enough,” she assured him after taking a moment to mentally review what they’d discussed.

“Good. What do you think of the school after your first day?”

Vivian held back a sigh at the question. Why did parents always want to talk about what was going on at school? Did they want a recap of the lessons that day or to be reassured their child wasn’t sneaking off to smoke in the bathrooms between periods? “It felt like school.”

Giving her another few seconds, Samuel then nodded once he realized that was all she had to offer on the topic. “I’m sure Gabriel is waiting for us to finish up in here. Make sure he has you back at a decent time, since you have school in the morning.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Getting to her feet, Vivian awkwardly stood for a second before turning and leaving the office. In the two weeks since arriving she’d managed to avoid needing to use the man’s name, and it was beginning to feel uncomfortable speaking with him because she was acutely aware of this fact.

It wasn’t because she didn’t want to, but because Vivian wasn’t sure what to call her father. Would he be upset if she used his actual name? Was he expecting her to call him Dad? Father? Her brothers called him Dad for the most part, switching it out with a polite ‘sir’ when they’d provoked his ire.

What should Vivian call him?

In all her foster homes she had called the parents by their given names, or Mr and Mrs coupled with their last name. Not giving them the parental titles, and not giving the new siblings at each home the titles that went with their spot in Vivian’s life had helped keep everyone at arm’s length.

As it was now, she’d already found herself referring to her biological brothers as ‘brothers’ without even realizing it. It was disconcerting when she had never done this with other foster siblings, but then again these were her biological brothers. Was that why it’d happened?

“You all set?” Gabriel asked, interrupting Vivian’s reminiscence.

Shaking her head free of thoughts of the past, she gave him a small smile. “Yeah.”

“Great. Let’s go.”