Daniel's Daddy

Realizing she had yet to answer his question, Hannah said, “Just set them inside the front door. It’s never locked. Father Lopez or one of the other parishioners will find them.”

“What about me, Daddy?” Daniel said, tugging on Jess’s shirtsleeve. “Do I get to stay at Hannah’s?”

“Of course you can,” Hannah told the boy before Jess had a chance to protest. “Come on and we’ll feed Albert.”

“You’re sure about this?” Jess asked her while unbuckling Daniel’s seat belt. “I wouldn’t want either of us to be imposing on you.”

Hannah held her arms up to Daniel. The boy scrambled across the seat and straight to Hannah. She helped him down to the ground, then held on to his hand while glancing over to Jess.

“I’m happy for Daniel to visit. And don’t worry. I might not be a mother, but I do know how to take care of children.”

Jess wasn’t worried about that. He was more concerned about Daniel’s hanging his sights on having Hannah for a mother.

“I’m not worried,” he assured her, then started the truck and backed onto the street.

As he pulled away from the curb, he watched Hannah and Daniel walking hand in hand onto the porch. By the time they reached the door, Hannah was laughing and Daniel was grinning. So much for not worrying, Jess groaned to himself.

Chapter Three

For the next hour, Daniel talked nonstop. But Hannah was used to a child’s chatter. Indeed, she was far more comfortable communicating with children than adults—children appreciated her companionship. They didn’t expect her to look a certain way and they didn’t judge her because she wasn’t exactly like their mothers or sisters or aunts.

“I have a tricycle at home,” Daniel said as he followed Hannah around the huge old kitchen. “Daddy says it won’t be long ‘til I can have a bicycle.”

“Then you’ll be riding on two wheels instead of three,” Hannah said as she wiped the front of the refrigerator with a damp sponge.

“Why are you doing that?”

“To make it clean,” Hannah explained.

Daniel shook his head. “You’re just like my daddy. He makes me wash my hands even when you can’t see dirt.”

Hannah smiled to herself. “And do you always do what your daddy tells you to do?”

Daniel’s chin bobbed up and down. “Yes. ‘Cause I’m a good boy.”

Hannah squatted on her heels to wash the lower part of the appliance. “I’m sure that you are,” she agreed.

“Your hair looks like an apple.”

She’d been called carrot top before, but never an apple. “That’s because it’s red. Do you know what yours looks like?”

She glanced from her work to see Daniel’s hands plop on the top of his head.

“No. What does it look like?” he asked, his little face all grins.

“A piece of chocolate.”

He giggled loudly over that, then marched over to the kitchen table and sat down. At that moment, Hannah felt a terrible pang of regret. A child had never been in this house. Not much of anybody had been in this house. She hadn’t really wanted it that way. For a while after her mother’s accident, she thought, even hoped, that some man, a nice, kind man who would appreciate her, would come into her life, give her love and children. It had never happened. Now, after all these years, she knew it never would.

“Are you still hungry?” she asked him, while telling herself she was wrong in feeling a little bit sorry for herself.

“Nope. My daddy will be back soon and then I’ll have to leave.”

“Then maybe we should go outside and find Oscar before you have to go,” Hannah suggested.

Daniel eagerly agreed and followed Hannah out a door leading to the backyard. They found the gray tabby curled up on a ledge of brick surrounding a flower bed. While Daniel made friends with the cat, Hannah sat on the wooden steps and enjoyed the warmth of the bright sunshine.

Nearly a half hour later, Daniel was still playing with Oscar when Hannah heard a vehicle stop in the driveway. By the time she’d herded Daniel and the cat around to the front, Jess had already climbed from the truck and was walking to the porch. When he spotted the three of them, he stopped and gave them all a grin.

“Hey, what’s that blob of gray fur you’re carrying there?” he asked his son.

Daniel raced to his father. “He’s my new friend. His name is Oscar,” Daniel told him.