Shelter Me(41)

Her eyes get wide. My little girl stands up and smoothes out her dress, staring at the vehicle until Luke puts it in park.

Luke climbs down and strides toward us, giving me a polite smile and then locking his gaze onto Lucy. Lucy lifts her eyes to Luke at the same time he lifts his, and he freezes. They both stay still for several seconds until Luke shakes himself out of his trance and continues up onto the porch, his eyes never leaving his daughter’s.

He squats down right in front of Lucy and sticks out his hand.

“Hello, Lucy. My name is Luke. How are you?”

Lucy looks from me to Luke. With the innocence that only child can convey, she lifts both of her hands to cup Luke’s face.

“You’re not Luke,” she says, looking him right in the eyes. “You’re my Daddy.”

I don’t know what it is about seeing a man cry. I’ve surely witnessed it a lot lately, but seeing Luke’s tears is wreaking havoc on my emotions, pulling at my heartstrings with a force like no other.

“Why are you crying, Daddy?” Lucy asks, patting her father on the cheek.

“They’re happy tears, Lucy,” he says, wiping his face with the back of his hand. “I am so glad to meet you. You are so pretty.”

Lucy smiles at him. “I cried happy tears today too when Mommy told me about you.”

“You did? Well let’s not cry any more tears, shall we? Let’s sit down here by your Mommy so you can tell me all about you. I want to know everything.”

Lucy grabs a hold of his hand and pulls him down to sit on the front steps. I am so proud of my little girl; she isn’t scared at all. Luke slowly turns around to face me with tears still in his eyes.

“Thank you,” he whispers.

I acknowledge him with a smile and a slight nod of my head, then he turns back to face Lucy.

“So, Lucy. How old are you?” he asks.

“Six years old! I will be seven on June thirtieth. Do you want to come to my birthday party?”

“I wouldn’t miss your party for the world. In fact, I want to be at all of your birthday parties.”

Turning around and looking at me with eyes as big as saucers, Lucy says, “Did you hear that, Mommy? Daddy is coming to all of my parties!”

“I did hear that, and you know what? I think that would be wonderful.” Looking down at my watch, I realize I have not fed Lucy dinner yet. I invite Luke in to eat with us.

“Yeah, Daddy! You can eat Mommy’s mac and cheese! It’s the best and she puts hot dogs in it too. Do you like hot dogs?”

Luke grins down at his daughter. “I love hot dogs, Lucy.”

Grabbing his hand again, she leads him into the house and sits down beside him on the couch. Lucy picks up the remote and turns on the television while I go to the kitchen and prepare my daughter’s favorite dish.

Luke and Lucy continue to talk with each other. I answer when the conversation is directed toward me but I give them space, wanting the two of them to have time to talk and get to know each other. Lucy doesn’t seem to be shy or bashful at all. I am so pleased about this and the way she is handing everything makes my heart swell even more for this amazing little girl.

I put a lid on the saucepan and wander back into the living room just as Luke is asking Lucy about school and her favorite activities.

“Your Mommy tells me you like to swim?”

“Yup, that is my favorite thing to do. My friend has a pool at her house and Mommy takes me there to swim all the time. Do you like to swim, too?”

“I love to swim and I have a pool at my house.”

Lucy instantly starts jumping up and down. “Oh, Mommy! Can we go to Daddy’s house and see his pool? I want to show him how I can swim.”

I smile at her enthusiasm, shaking my head. “Not tonight, sweetheart. If Daddy doesn’t have plans for tomorrow then you can.”

“Can we, Daddy?” she asks with an extra bounce.

“You sure can. I took the rest of the week off of work just so I could be with you, so you can come over any time you want to.”

I slant Luke a glance but his attention is all on Lucy. I hadn’t known he was taking the week off. I can tell just by the way he looks at her and really listens to everything she has to say that Luke has already fallen in love with her. I also the notice the looks he keeps sending my way; are they from thankfulness, or happiness? I can’t tell. All I know is that telling him about her has to be the best decision of my life.



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Cleaning up the table was quite easy tonight with my little helper trying to show off. Like any typical child, my daughter doesn’t like to clean up. But then again, it’s not every day that you meet your father either, so she can show off all she likes.