“Make sense, as she pretty much lived off the grid and traded her art for cash. That and we jumped from place to place, and not exactly the kind that asks you to fill out an application to rent.”
“Exactly. And that’s why this had to come from your side. We just hoped she wouldn’t say enough things to make you not want to search out your dad.”
“I was always looking,” I say, squeezing dad’s hand tighter. “It’s the ultimate unanswered question that I needed answered, but I never expected…”
“I’ll be inside,” Silas says, excusing himself and giving dad and I time to…I’m not even sure what.
“It’s really you,” dad says, his eyes watering.
“And it’s really you,” I parrot, a tear streaming down my cheek.
“I can’t believe you found me…after all these years.”
“I can’t believe we found…each other.”
“I knew Silas would come through,” dad says. “He’s a pain in the ass, but that’s exactly what I need. He was the only one who never quit on me when the doctors said I was crazy.”
“Are you…?”
“Crazy? Who isn’t a little crazy these days? And who wouldn’t be crazy if someone took their only child and ran away before he ever got to know her, ever got to look into her eyes for the first time, to see her first steps, to…”
Dad’s hand gets tighter around mine before he realizes it and then the pressure eases.
“What about you?”
“I’m a bit of a quiet rebel myself, at least around Silas.”
Dad laughs. “Yeah, I’ve always wanted to punch him in the face, and a few times I tried, but the truth is that he gives me the structure I need to really not go off the deep end. Without him I’d have been dead in a dumpster long ago.”
Dad’s head turns to the side. “Scarlett, I have to go now, but can we continue this this evening.”
“But…where are you going? I just got here. We just met after all this time.”
His head motions across the grass and I see a woman wearing what looks like a nurse’s uniform.
“I’m still trying to get better, and you being here is going to help that a lot.”
“I don’t know if I’m—“
“You’re staying,” dad says, and all I can do is smile. I already know Silas isn’t letting me leave and now with dad saying the same thing it’s two against one, not that I plan on putting up any argument this time. I don’t need a rule from Silas to tell me where I belong. My heart is already here, and that’s where it’s going to stay.
“Silas is a good man, a great man. He’ll let you embrace your crazy, the part of you that produces your best work, but he’ll keep you sane at the same time. You can trust him. I trusted him with my life, and he kept me from throwing it all away. And it was all worth it because of…” His hands come up off the table and he cups my face, “This. You.”
The waterworks hit me full force, and I have to wipe the tears away with the back of my hand, dad’s thumbs not quick enough to combat the onslaught of tears.
“See you tonight,” he says, and carefully jumps from oversized brick to oversized brick in the grass, careful to stay on the path to what is apparently his nurse, or doctor.
Not a second later I feel Silas’s big hands grasping my shoulder, as he massages me gently.
I just watch as dad disappears around the corner with his caretaker, and all I can say is, “I don’t know what to say.”
“Thank you, Daddy will do,” Silas says.
I turn and stand, wrapping my arms around him. “Thank you, Daddy.”
Calling another man ‘Daddy’ moments after meeting your real dad for the first time in your life sounds like something out of a B-grade movie. It should make no sense in the world and so be the reason I’d turn off the TV to said movie, close a book with such a moment, or basically just roll my eyes at the ridiculousness of it.
But somehow, it makes sense…to me. Silas has instilled a confidence in me in short order that I never need to be embarrassed about how I am, or question it either.
Just like my dad I need a strong man in my life, regardless of his age. Silas is that man who can guide me, challenge me and fulfill me in all ways.
Home isn’t necessarily where you hang your hat at night, home is where your heart belongs. And after years of moving around with my mom, an unsettling childhood to say the least, I’ve finally found home…
…here with my Daddy.
13
Scarlett
“It’s the happiest I’ve seen him since we were homeless graffiti artists. When all we cared about was our work. When there were no women in our lives, just the love of our craft,” Silas confides.
“And now?”
“Now…well, I most certainly have a woman in my life, but I have to warn you, when it comes to her I’m possessive as you’ve never seen,” he says, tapping me on the nose.
“Maybe she likes that,” I wink. “Maybe she wants her man possessive, to show that he cares. Not jealous, per say, or petty-minded like
