gave me – with him always telling me to check them for myself. That was when I really learned it so that it stayed with me. Mister Rigney, I don't think that it is accident or coincidence that of the six of us that met Dan and learned from him, all of us have not only graduated college at or near the top of our classes, but gone on to become successful in our chosen careers.'
With that, she excused herself and went to chat with the girls a little more before they left. Rigney stood there for a bit before turning to me and saying 'I have to admit that I came here tonight hoping to find out a little bit about whatever the hell it is that you and your wife have been telling our kids. Jose Delgado told us what he heard your wife telling the kids, and that sounded okay; but these last couple of weeks, I've started to see some kind of change in Crissy and Sheri, and it worried me a little. But if what you're telling them is the same thing as what you told Candice' – 'It is', I assured him – 'then I don't have any problem with them being here, any time or any day, no matter how long it is. That young lady is just the kind of person that I'd want MY girls to grow up like, and I know the other parents would, too. The only thing I'm going to ask is that if you or your wife get tired of having them around that you let them down easy, okay?'
I smiled, and said 'If that happens, we will. But I don't think it will come to that.'
'Good deal, then. Mister Marshall, this is one of the times that I'm actually glad to say that it's been a pleasure meeting someone. Thank you for letting me stay and meet Candice. After I heard what she had to say tonight, I respect her even more than I did before' he told me, before sticking his hand out for me to shake. I shook hands with him, and it seemed that he was actually pleased that I did.
The two of us went to where the girls were waiting by the front door, and Kelly opened it so they could leave. As each girl went by, Candice gave her a hug, and told her that she was happy to have met them. Rigney followed them out, and Kelly waited until we'd seen all of them get into his station wagon before closing the door.
Once we were back in the living room, I told Kelly and Candice what he'd said to me about him and the other parents not having any worries about the girls coming over. Kelly and I both smiled when Candice said 'Dan, that's going to make it a lot easier and simpler for you than when we were coming over, won't it?'
I agreed that it would before I gestured that I wanted her to come over and sit on my lap. She didn't hesitate to do so; and when I had my arms around her, I told her 'Thanks, Candice. I knew that you talking to the girls would help, but what I didn't expect was that Rigney would be here, too – and be so impressed by you.'
Candice gave me the Goober look (as if telling me 'You are such a Goober!'), and said 'Dan, after all you've done for me, and all the love you and Kelly have shown me, do you really think that I wouldn't be happy to do anything I could to help? Or that there's any reason on earth that you have to thank me?'
I smiled at her and answered 'No, of course not. I just wanted you to know that I – we! – recognize and appreciate that help.'
Mollified, she leaned close to me; and the two of us shared a loving kiss. She got back off my lap and went over to kiss Kelly, too, before sitting down so the two of them could snuggle. I turned the TV on and passed them the remote so they could find something to watch – while I watched them and thought about how lucky I was.
It was a couple of weeks before the girls were able to come over again. When they did, Kelly and I knew from the way they acted that what they'd heard from Candice had sunk in for them. When all of us were in the den, Bonita told us 'Dan, Kelly, there's something that we need to tell you.'
Kelly nodded for her to continue, and she did by saying 'Until last week, when we met Candice, none of us was really paying all that much attention to what you've been telling us. I mean, sure, we were listening and everything, but we weren't always paying attention – at least, not the way that we know we should have.'
Claire spoke up, adding 'When we had the, uh, anatomy lessens and stuff like that – yeah, we were doing what we should have. But when you were talking to us about other stuff, like being honest with ourselves, and things like that, we weren't. It was when we were listening to Candice last week that we all realized that you were trying to teach us the same things that you taught her. She's so smart and strong inside and all that – and we knew from listening to her that she got that way because of you. And we realized that unless we started really paying attention, like she did, that we probably weren't going to be anything like her.'
Next was Sheri, who said 'We all talked about it, and we realize that even though you've be honest and everything with us, we haven't been that way with you – at least, not the way you have. So we decided that the first thing we did tonight, we had to be as honest with you as you have with us; and tell you that we haven't been honest with ourselves because we haven't been doing what we knew we should have been.'
Evelyn finished it up for them by saying 'What we have to tell you is that we're sorry. We know we've let you down, and all of us feel really bad about it; and we want to ask you if you would still be willing to teach us, even though we've been slacking off the way we have. We know its a lot to ask, and that after the way we've been there really isn't any reason you should agree – but we have learned our lesson, and we really do want to learn from you.'
Kelly and I had already talked a little about the absence of some topics from their conversations with us. We shared a look before she told them 'Both of us noticed that even though you were asking us questions and talking to us, you weren't saying anything to us about the kinds of things that we know you talk to each other. Remember what I – and the others – have all told you that we talked to Dan about everything – not just about dating, and why guys do what they do, but about our bodies and what we were feeling, too. You've had your anatomy lesson, and you've learned about a guy's stuff, too. Don't you think that we didn't notice when after all that, you didn't seem to have any more questions, or anything else to say?'
Hearing that we'd already noticed the very things that they thought they were confessing to hit them pretty hard – all five of them looked sheepish, ashamed, and fearful by turns. I cleared my throat to get their attention, and I could see that all five were listening closely, even if they couldn't look me in the eye as I told them 'What you're finding out – in the same way most people do, which is to say the hard way – is that no matter how clever and smart you are, there's a pretty darn good chance that there's still somebody that knows more than you.'
All of them looked pretty miserable as I went on 'The difference is that you made that mistake with Kelly and me, and we care enough about you to not hold it against you. In fact, because you've learned it the way you have – after you had the courage and honesty to admit what you had been doing – we know that its pretty safe bet that you'll do an even better job of actually listening to us now.'
It took a couple of seconds for the last part of that to sink in; and even then, Crissy looked up at me and and asked 'You… you mean you're still going to let us come over, even after what we did?'
I gave her a smile and answered 'Yes, that's what I mean.'
On hearing that, the five of them started to quietly cry, which prompted Kelly to have to get up and go over and comfort and reassure them that everything really was okay. It was while she was doing that that I saw her and Bonita get into a whispered discussion before I heard Kelly softly tell her 'No, go on, its okay. Really.'
After giving Kelly a somewhat doubtful look, Bonita got up and came over to me and said 'Dan, I'm really sorry about the way I've acted. I'd really feel better if… if I could hug you.'
Of all of them, Bonita had always been the one that had been the most physically 'shy' with me, so when she asked me that, I didn't hesitate to answer 'Of course you can.'. What surprised me, though, was rather than waiting for me to get up, she quickly moved to sit on my lap before wrapping her arms around me and hugging me fiercely as she whispered 'I'm sorry, Dan. You and Kelly have been so nice, and I just took it without thinking about how much you were giving me.'
I put my arms around her and hugged her back; that seemed to be the trigger for her to start quietly crying on my shoulder, so I softly stroked her back as I murmured words of comfort and reassurance to her until she'd gotten herself back together. When she sat up again, she looked into my eyes for a few moments, then leaned forward again – to give me a kiss on the cheek before scrambling off my lap and rejoining the others.
Once Bonita had done it, there was nothing to do but for the rest of them to follow her example. Over the next few minutes, each of them came over to sit on my lap for a hug and a whispered apology, accompanied by a tear or ten. For the rest of them, I didn't hesitate to hug them in return, and caress them as I had Bonita.
When they were all settled down again, Kelly went back to where she had been sitting – and after a few false starts, the five of them finally started talking about the things that were really on their minds.
I had to call Bonita's father to let him know that things were going to run longer than usual, once the girls got started actually talking to us. He thanked me, and I told him that I'd let him know when they were ready to leave. As it turned out, it was a good thing I did – it was over five hours before we decided that it was time to call it a night.
The girls didn't get a chance to come over for another visit until the first Saturday after school let out. When
