Two years ago my beloved wife Elizabeth passed away after losing her battle with cancer. Six months after she passed I was made redundant after twenty three years. I started working for myself as a consultant engineer, my office was our smallest bedroom at home.
Our daughter Annabelle, she preferred Anna, lived with her husband several hours away in the Midlands. Despite having a circle of friend's I tended to keep to myself since Elizabeth passed. Our friends meant well, I just didn't feel like socialising that much. Thanks to our insurance and my redundancy payout I could afford to work when I felt like it.
In one way Anna living so far away helped a lot, she was so much like her mother. Elizabeth was a very lively person, she always seemed happy no matter what life threw at her. Anna had the same temperament. My son-in-law Josh was the exact opposite, he was a difficult person to talk to. Josh had a few interests, his work and golf. Anything outside of that and he really wasn't bothered. Many times I wondered how he and Anna ever got together, on several occasions he made it clear he didn't want children.
My life changed one Saturday, I was sitting drinking a coffee and reading the paper. There was a knock at the door, I got up to answer it, dreading it would be a friend inviting me to a social gathering. I opened the door to be confronted with Anna crying.
"Daddy." Anna jumped inside and hugged me tightly.
I held Anna for a minute or so. "Anna, what on earth is wrong?"
"It's Josh." She sobbed.
"Is he hurt, has he had an accident?" I asked.
"No. He's leaving me, he wants a divorce." I led Anna through to the kitchen and sat her down. I poured her a cup of coffee.
I took her hand in mine. "Calm down and tell me what's wrong."
Anna wiped her eyes and calmed down. "Josh is away on a business trip. Two days ago he sent me an email saying that we need to talk when he gets back home. Naturally I asked what he wanted to talk about." Anna sniffed and blew her nose. "Eventually he answered. Apparently he has been having an affair with a woman at work, now she is pregnant. Josh said he wants to be with her and he wants a divorce. I think he is being forced to marry her."
"So, there's no chance for you? You are getting a divorce?" "Are you divorcing him?"
"Yes. Absolutely I am not staying with him after this, an affair is bad enough, but now this woman is pregnant. It's over between us, I told him that in my last email to him."
"Email? Couldn't you tell him over the phone?"
"No, because the coward refused to answer my calls." Anna was bordering on anger and bursting into tears again.
"So what will you do? You know about work and stuff?" I asked, almost sure I knew her answer.
"I have resigned from work. Can I move back here Daddy? It will only be until I am sorted out with a job and somewhere to live."
"Of course you can." Anna leapt up and hugged me. "Thank you, Daddy."
I found it strange that even as a grown woman she still referred to me as Daddy. We finished our coffee and went to get Anna's stuff from her car. Having Anna living back at home was going to be tough for me, she would be another reminder of her late mother.
I looked inside her car. "Did you leave him anything?" I laughed.
"Yes. The house is his. All I have taken is what's mine, clothes, toiletries and personal stuff like books, CD's and DVD's. He is welcome to everything else."
Anna moved into her old room, there was a wardrobe and dressing table in the room. She purchased some bookshelves for her books, CD's and DVD's. A week after Anna moved back home she found a job, an old employer took her back on a decent salary.
Many times I watched Anna as she did things at home, she reminded me a lot of her mother. I tried to put those thoughts out of my mind.
Anna arrived home from work, there was mail for her. I guessed it was the divorce papers, I was right. I sat with Anna as she read through them, it seemed that Josh had accepted Anna had taken what was hers and no more. She signed the papers and returned them the following day. I took a phone call from Josh's father one afternoon, he practically accused Anna of causing the divorce.
"Brian, has Anna taken leave of her senses, moving out while my son was away on business."
He didn't take kindly to me reminding him that it was his son who got another woman pregnant. It was his son who wanted the divorce. My final comment of 'go fuck yourself' ended the conversation.
Anna spent most evenings at home with me, she did occasionally go out with her female colleagues. I asked if there were any men she liked at work.
"Not interested, Daddy. Right now committing to another relationship is not on the cards."
Since my wife had passed away I did my own housework. Anna had taken to helping out around the house. One evening Anna was putting away clothes she had ironed, she went to put my shirt in the wardrobe. That was when she noticed I still had all of Elizabeth's clothes hanging up.
"Daddy, I thought you were getting rid of Mum's clothes?"
"I was. I just couldn't bring myself to do it."
"Do you want me to help, or do it for you?" Anna asked.
"Would you mind doing it for me, I can't bring myself to get rid of her stuff. Feel free to keep anything you want, I know she had a cocktail dress you always liked." Anna said she would sort her Mum's stuff out for me.
Anna sorted through her late Mum's clothes, she kept a jacket and the cocktail dress she liked.
"Wow, Mum had some nice lingerie." Anna remarked.
"Yes, she did. Your Mum always liked to feel good in whatever she wore." I watched as Anna admired the various sets of lingerie. Some were bra and panty sets, others included a suspender belt.
I thought back to before Elizabeth was taken ill, I used to love watching her undress for bed. She always looked gorgeous and sexy when she wore suspender belts and stockings. Undressing her when we made love always aroused me.
"I guess that's where I get my love of lingerie from." Anna said.
"Sorry, I was miles away thinking about something." I replied.
"I said, Mum must have passed her love of lingerie on to me. I bet you were thinking of Mum looking sexy in some of this." Anna giggled.
"Yes, yes I was. Your Mum looked lovely in her lingerie."
"I can remember sitting talking to her when she was getting ready to go out, she looked so hot in most of this stuff." Anna waved her hand over the lingerie. "If I was that way inclined and she wasn't my Mum, I would have been interested. I know she got admiring looks from men and women alike."
"That she did. Your Mum had the decency to never flaunt herself or make people feel bad because she looked good, that was one of many things I loved her for." I sat there and watched as Anna piled the lingerie into a black bag, it seemed a shame to throw it out. Suddenly Anna's comment about her love of lingerie struck me, perversely it got me thinking of my daughter in similar lingerie. I shook my head to get the thoughts out of my mind.
Anna sat down beside me. "Are you okay, Daddy?"
I nodded my head. "Just thinking of your Mum." I lied.
