His Naughty Lessons

** Eli **

There was a time when any mention of his father would immediately sour Eli’s mood, turning his thoughts into dark directions. Or more like a long period of time, which lasted more than a decade and had become the norm for half of his life.

But at some point in the past year ... that norm had slowly started to change, and he was slightly surprised by his own reaction when he shrugged casually, not at all bothered by either the question or the answer to it.

"He’s not coming today. I think the travel might have turned out a bit inconvenient for him, for health reasons."

Well, that second part wasn’t actually the honest truth. The old man simply wasn’t invited. But it was the excuse he had invented himself on his retirement day, wasn’t it?

Eli found it ironic that he hadn’t found out about the "health issues" being fake news until months after taking over Sterling Trust. However, that was far from the only epiphany he had reached since then. Finally relieved from the burden of constantly fighting against his father’s control, he had found the time and opportunity at last to reexamine his own business plans and strategies, as well as his relationship with his father that had defined his own life for way too long.

He wasn’t shocked by what ended up turning out on the business side. The freedom to follow a vision he believed in had completely changed this career for him, turning it from a forced task he despised to a real endeavor worth living for. The personal side, on the other hand, had come out a bit confusing, leaving him with questions that he couldn’t find answers to for quite a while.

Why would someone like his father willingly step down at a time like this? Why would he give up almost all his control at the company — even his influence through the board — to allow the new CEO unrestrained power in critical decisions? Was this some sort of a peacemaking attempt to show his repentance and trust in a thirteen-years-too-late way?

Those questions had bothered Eli ... until his first trip to the west coast with Harper. Until she walked quietly with him through the old neighborhood where his parents used to live, and that was when he suddenly understood.

The past was the past. Letting the old misfortune dictate his feelings or cloud his judgment wasn’t going to get him anywhere. He probably wouldn’t ever forgive his father for what had happened, but he could let go. He didn’t need peacemaking, didn’t need to either accept it with profound gratitude or reject it simply out of spite, because that part of his life story had already ended ... and a new one had begun.

But Ronald Sterling still wasn’t invited. Not out of spite — more out of caution against him bringing bad luck to yet another marriage.

"Oh, I’m so sorry that he couldn’t make it." Harper’s mother lamented before Eli’s thoughts could wander too far. "And I hope he’ll feel better soon, whatever health issue is bothering him at the moment. We haven’t seen him ever since he sold the house five years ago ... It’d be nice if all of us can get together again at some point, as one big family this time."