Daddy's Baby Girl

I fluffed my paper and asked her what she felt like for dinner tomorrow. The note my baby girl rang went from a high E to a very low E. I watched the blush flood her face. As those bright green drill bits slid to the table. I sipped my coffee, rustled my paper and settled down to read for a bit. Let her stew in her own juices for a while. Sometimes baby girls have a hard time understanding a father's love. 'When you go to the store pick out something really nice for dinner this weekend.' Those bright green drill bits are back.

Well you'll want something really nice to fix, when you ask Kevin over for dinner.

My Ce's smile rose like the sun and she flew into my arms.

I know that I'll never understand women. We've spend years in limbo, because of her fear, her doubt of me. Sure Kevin's older than her, quite a bit older. I don't know him, personally. I knew Ce's listen to some of his lectures and talks to the schools. I don't know how they became so close.

But Kevin's a good man, a good solid person. Even before I connected the dots, I would have said that he was good people. Sure he's rich, but it's his money. He worked for it, earned it. Maybe it wasn't with a hammer or shovel. But nobody gave it to him, he's earned it, and the respect that goes with it.

He works with the kids at the schools. Trying to motivate them into the sciences and math. Can't get enough math and science into kids these days, in my opinion. He's set a good example for everyone in our community. So I can understand her want for discretion. A lot of people wouldn't understand him escorting a young school girl around. They'd think he was taking advantage of her. I bet that lawyer doesn't think anyone can take advantage of Ce.

I can understand his reasoning too. People would think she was getting special consideration at college. By being with him, or she'd always be in his shadow. Maybe they were right in hiding from the sight of everyone. But they should have talked to me. It hurts that she felt she couldn't talk to me. It's always been just Ce and I. But maybe that's changing; I know it will have too, sooner or later.

Up close he was a big, tall, good looking man. Fit, you could tell he took care of himself. He might even have some Irish in him. The dinner was really nice. I felt calm and relaxed. But you could cut the tension around those two. They didn't know which way I would jump. At least for the first part of the meal. After they relaxed it got real enjoyable. There is something primal about breaking bread, eating together.

Some of the time their talk went way over my head. So I just watched them, their interactions. They always came back to include me in the conversation. Soon my daddy mind settled into peace. He was a good man, a very caring man. It was very easy to see that he loved her. Much like I loved my Cecilla. More importantly Ce loved him. She was lying to herself about how much she loved him. She tried to play it off as kind of casual, but she was lying to her heart. But her heart wasn't listening.

She offered Kevin and I some wine in the front room. While she cleaned up in the kitchen. I know she wanted me to get to know him and like him. But I already did, we didn't talk much. He mostly watched me; I could see he had something on his mind. He was thinking hard, so I just waited him out. He went to his coat pocket and came back with an open ring box. Wanted to ask my permission to marry Ce. I watched him for a little while. Then asked, if he knew that they couldn't hide any more. He just nodded, waiting for my answer. So I gave him my hand to shake and my blessing. A lot of the air settled out of him then.

Laughing in my head, I just watched him gather himself. So I said, "Now". He sat up taller,"Yeah". So we sat and waited for my baby girl. She got about half way into the front room when he opened the ring box and knelt. I don't think she even heard what he said, but she knew. She couldn't look fast enough between us two.

"Well, you better answer the man, Ce."

"YES...yes...yes...YES."

All a daddy's love wants, is for his baby girl to be happy. She's still my baby girl. She'll be his wife, maybe the mother of his children. She'll still be my baby girl, always will be.