It hadn't been the greatest decade. If I had planned to destroy my life, I couldn't have done it any better than mere chance, fate, fortune or whatever, did. Ten years ago, after a 15-year marriage, my wife decided that I just wasn't doing it for her. Under the pretense of going to visit her elderly parents in North Carolina, and "get her head back together" to make our marriage work, she took our 9-year-old daughter, Elena, and flew down South for a "visit". Two weeks later, I received divorce papers and a protective order preventing me from contacting our daughter because she said I was a "very bad parent".
Two years later, the divorce was final and to say I had been taken to the cleaners would be putting it very mildly. My business was ruined; the decree made me sell all the assets to be largely given to my ex, the rest to go to child support for our daughter. Downsizing and trying to find employment that would pay the bills and the huge child support payments took all of my time. It was two more years before her mother let me have contact with Elena, starting with just occasional postcards, back and forth, and finally, working up to a once-a-month phone call. Elena got around the restrictions, once her mom allowed phone calls, by going to a girlfriends' house and calling me collect. It was very good hearing from my beloved daughter after so long, I treasured every minute we talked. Yes, she was still daddy's princess. The news I received from her wasn't all that good, though. Her mother had lost interest in being a single parent and for all intents and purposes, had kicked Elena out of her house. She survived by running the streets and staying here and there with friends, returning home only at the most dire need. Her mother didn't really pay attention and tended to complain and yell at her when their paths crossed. Elena would show up once a month at her momma's home to make her "official call" to her daddy. She would stay for the briefest of times, then do her best to keep clear of her mom.
I have to say, I am very proud of her because she did manage to stay in school and make good grades. She even managed to graduate halfway through her Senior Year. Six months before her classmates, Elena found herself truly on her own. With graduation, her mother officially kicked her out of the house so she decided to travel back out West "to seek her fortune" like so many other young people have, over the years. Elena ended up in the LA area, far away from the Pacific Northwest and her daddy, for a time. Still, LA is a lot closer than North Carolina. She was staying with a friend and had found a good job to pay the bills. All in all, a very capable young lady. Her mother, meanwhile, had gotten fed up with her controlling parents, and also moved back to the West Coast. It was quite an unpleasant surprise to find out she was back in town.
Some months later, I was presented with another surprise, although this one being much more enjoyable. Answering my door, late one evening, standing in the glare of the cheap apartment porch light, was my now, gorgeous daughter. To say I was overwhelmed with joy would be an understatement. Elena shouted "Daddy!!!!" and was suddenly wrapped tightly in my arms, both of us trying to put all the suppressed emotion of those long years into such a simple thing like a hug. After what could have been hours, days, months or years, time kind of stood still during our reunion, we separated and I held my sweet little girl at arms length, trying to get a good look at her. Realising that the porch light was too weak to get a good look, I dragged that beautiful young lady into the apartment where I could get a good look at her. What I saw amazed me. The gawky little girl, all knees and elbows and stringy hair had metamorphosed into something to behold. She was still tiny or maybe petite would be a better description. Probably no more than 5' tall and maybe 90 pounds, except for a very womanly figure hidden under baggy jeans and sweater, a quick glance would show a girl who looked who looked much younger than her age. Her hair, worn long and curling below her shoulders, was a shining, deep auburn. Eyes the deepest shade of green, shifted to brown as the lighting around her changed (I would find, later on, that her moods also made her eyes change colour from green to grey to brown). Her face was a perfect oval, her lips full, wide and very red, even without lipstick.
It was difficult to judge her figure, with her dressed in such loose clothing, but for such a tiny girl, her breasts were large, round and heavy and her hips were wide and flaring with a tiny waist in between. Later, when she was wearing tight britches, I was to notice that she has a perfect heart-shaped bottom. But, at this point, I was a daddy who had been given the best gift ever; his daughter, his princess returned to him after so long. A daddy very proud of the beautiful lady his daughter had become. And suddenly, logistics became a very important subject.
To survive and save money, I had downsized to a very cheap, one bedroom apartment, tiny by my former standards. I had been able to keep a few pieces of furniture but the rooms were still somewhat bare. And I didn't have a 'guest room'. Elena said, "Daddy, it is so good to see you and I have a lot to tell you and talk with you about, but right now, I am exhausted from traveling, the last three days." We had dragged her duffel bag inside and had arranged ourselves on the couch, in anticipation of a long conversation, but I could seen she was having a difficult time keeping her eyes open.
Making a quick decision, I said, "Follow me" and led her into my bedroom where I grabbed a pillow and blankets from the closet and deposited them on the sofa. Moving back into the bedroom, I said to Elena, "Let's get you to bed, young lady, daddy will take the couch and, if you will give me a quick hand changing the linen, you will take the bed in here." Over her protests, I started stripping the used linens off of the bed and began remaking it for her comfort. "No more arguments, baby girl, this will be your room for as long as you are here," I told her, trying to sound stern and resolved. My little girl was too tired to argue, so while she went to the bathroom to do her evening ablutions, I grabbed a few things from the closet and dresser so I wouldn't have to disturb her later, or in the morning, when I had to head out to work.