A Daughter's Love -- chapter one
Welcome once again to my fantasy world. Something to keep in mind with this story is that the category is Incest/Taboo; all incest is taboo, but not all that is taboo is incest. Comments and votes are always welcome...please enjoy.
"OK class, time is up. If you haven't turned in your test packet yet, please bring it up now." The voice of Dani's grad school professor that she TA'd for broke her from her daydream. It was a recurring dream, one where she and her parents lived a great life, full of hope, promise and fun. That all changed years ago when her mom finally succumbed to her five-year battle with cancer. Now 24, Dani had lived her teen years with the specter of cancer tainting everything. At first it was not bad, as her mom had completed her chemo treatments and was in remission for several years. The following year was one of the last times her entire family was happy together. A spring break trip to Disney World, a months long summer trip through several National Parks and finally a Christmas trip to Hawaii were some of the best of times of her life.
But looking back, Dani could see that her mom knew what her final outcome would be. All the time she took teaching Dani to cook was fun at the time, but it was so Dani would be able to help her father deal with the loss of his wife when the time came. Different things her mom would say or do became clear in retrospect. She knew she was dying, but wouldn't let that take her away from her family until she was ready. Even during their Hawaii trip her mom kept up the façade, never showing the family that her cancer had returned with a vengeance. She had been to her oncologist the week before the trip when he told her the news that her cancer was back, and had spread throughout her body; she swore him and his staff to silence until after their trip. It was only then that she broke the news to her family, and within six months she was dead.
Shaking her head to clear it, Dani left the room with her friends, all chattering about the semester being finished and about their plans for graduation and the summer. Some were going to take classes and others were going to take summer jobs. Dani was going to continue working at her father's company. He owned one of the largest construction companies in the state and he wanted her to get a taste of what he did, with an eye to retiring sometime and leaving her in charge of the company.
"Hey, Dani. Want to join us tonight for a movie and pizza? My folks aren't going to be home, so we can watch anything we want. Jodi and Anne are in -- how about you? Say 6:00 ish?"
"I'd love to, but tonight doesn't work for me. I already promised my dad I'd spend the evening with him. Any other night I'd say yes, but today would've been my mom's birthday, and dad still gets really sad. How about we get together tomorrow at my house, spend the day in the pool and then do something tomorrow night?"
Her friends all agreed and gave her a hug.
"Tell your dad we all say 'hi', and give him a hug for us. Text us tomorrow with the time details. See you later!"
Dani walked to her car smiling. Her dad was a really great guy, and all her friends loved him and loved coming over. Unlike some of their parents, he treated them as adults and mostly let them do what they wanted. Usually it was time in and around their pool, but study times, sleepovers, pizza parties and movie nights were still the norm with their group. And like he said, what normal man would mind having a group of beautiful young women hanging out wearing the almost-there bikinis she and her friends all wore.
But tonight would be different. Today was her mom's birthday, and her dad always got depressed on those days. At first he would spend the day (and night) sitting alone, usually with a bottle of Jack Daniels, drinking himself into a stupor. That finally ended three years ago when Dani found him in their pool, almost drowned. He had been on the pool deck drinking when he decided he wanted to go for a swim. Dani had been alerted when she heard the splash of him falling into the pool. She ran outside in time to see him floating face down, not moving. She jumped in and pulled him to the side of the pool. He was too heavy to pull up by herself, so she just held him, crying until he finally woke up. With his help she finally got him out of the pool and frantically called 911. By the time the EMTs arrived he had passed out again. The next day he woke up in the hospital, his daughter asleep in the chair beside the bed, holding his hand. He could tell she'd been crying, and couldn't think of why he was in the hospital.
Tears streamed from his eyes and his body was wracked by sobs as the realization hit him. He had nearly killed himself, and the thought of leaving his baby girl an orphan tore though him like a knife. Waking, Dani saw the grief on her father's face and hugged him tight.
"Oh baby, I am so sorry for what I did. I didn't mean to drink that much and certainly didn't mean to almost drown. I don't know what I was thinking. Thank you for saving me, Dani. I love you so much."
"Don't you ever do that to me again. I barely coped with losing mom, even though we knew it was going to happen. But you! You know better, or at least I thought you did. How dare you do that to me!"
"Sweetie, I am so, so sorry. I promise to not drink so much ever again."
"No, not good enough. You are not going to drink ever again, and if you do, the last thing you will see is my ass walking out the front door. Never again, you hear me? Not one drop. I see how much you've been drinking. Who do you think takes the recycling out every week? I see the bottles, and that is just what you do at home. I've heard from Pete and MaryAnn at the office. They see it as well, and are just as worried about you as I am. I'm just as sorry as you that mom died. I loved her as well, but I am not going to let her dying kill me too. No. You are stopping now, and you know my terms if you don't."
Unseen, Jake's doctor, who was a long-time family friend, was standing in the doorway, listening to Dani's verbal lashing of her father.
"I agree with every word, Dani. And Jake, you really are an ass. You have no idea how close you came to leaving your daughter alone in the world. And what would Sue say? She would be devastated to see you like this, not to mention being angry as hell with you. So, later today you are going to meet with one of our staff counselors, and we are going to get you the help you need. It won't be easy, it won't be fun, and you're probably going to hate both me and Dani for awhile, but it will be worth it to get your life back."
The doctor stepped to Dani and embraced her in a hug. Then all three hugged while the tears flowed from all of them. The doctor then walked towards the door with a quiet 'see you later', and left Dani and her dad alone. Looking at him with a hard glare and tears streaming from her eyes, Dani quietly spoke.
"I love you, dad. You know that. But I can't live like this anymore. I won't live like this anymore. So what's it going to be? Are you going to listen to Joann and the counselors and turn this around? Or are you going to turn your back on me and everyone you know and keep up the drinking?"
Jake pulled Dani close and held her tight against his chest. She was amazing. With all the crap he put her through, she still loved him. And he knew there was only one answer.
"Oh sweetie, I love you too. I'm so sorry to have put you through all this. I had no idea what I was doing to you. And yes, I promise to see this through. I love you too much to let you down again. I promise."
That was all three years ago. Since then, Jake stayed on the up and up and didn't touch any alcohol. He even went on several dates over the years to keep Dani off his back about getting out. She still lived at home to save money on rent. She and her dad normally lived separate lives, getting together occasionally for dinner during the week, and spending more time together on the weekends. Her friends still lived and worked in town, so they would see each other often, still spending time around her pool. Jake would try to make himself scarce when they were around to give them the privacy they deserved. However, he still made time to watch them. Who wouldn't want to watch Dani and her friends as they grew from pretty teenagers into devastatingly beautiful young women? But no matter who was over, his eyes always seemed to hover on Dani.
