I worked my way through the room, praying that no one would learn my secret. The tall distinguished handsome man next to me was not my date, or my husband, as everyone seemed to think, but my Daddy. He worked the room of his company Christmas party with ease and confidence, I tried my best to show the same poise, but it was difficult for me.
Five months ago, my mother came home from a weekend with some friends. That means that she was drinking and swinging at a party held at someone's house. It was really my fault, I lost track of the time and Peter my boyfriend and I had fallen asleep. Mom found us in my bed, naked and in each other's arms. We were both still virgins at that point, just a little oral sex was as far as we had gotten, but Mom did not care, she went ballistic.
She barely gave us time to dress before she through us out of the house, calling me every name in the book along the way. At eighteen I found myself alone with nothing but my backpack and the clothes on my back. I did the only thing I could think of, I called my Daddy.
Mom and Dad divorced when I was eight. I had not seen him in person since. I had no contact with him for about four years, and I had no idea how to reach him. Mom had been awarded complete custody and she cut me off from him at that point. Daddy had moved to the west coast and gotten a good job out there. When I was about twelve I was home sick one day and Mom called from work, she needed a file from the home computer and she wanted me to email it to her.
I sent her the file and just before I shut down the computer I saw an email with my father's name on it. Curious I opened it. It was a letter asking for an update on me and what I wanted for my birthday. I checked her sent email and read the reply; she said that I was fine and that I wanted a new computer. If he sent the money, Mom would take me shopping. The only problem was that my birthday was two months ago and we had not gone shopping. I made a note of the address and closed the computer.
Returning to my room, I opened my own email on my computer and sent Daddy a letter. I did not mention my birthday present, but gave him an update on what I was up to. I only had to wait about twenty minutes and a reply appeared in my box. Daddy was thrilled to receive my note and looked forward to talking directly to me. He asked about the computer, what make, how fast, all the usual tech questions. I replied that I did not have a new computer, but rather Mom's old one. She had gotten a new dress and several pairs of shoes and a new desk top computer, but I was not allowed to touch it.
Daddy's response blistered the screen when I read it. He was really pissed that she had taken the money he sent for me and spent it on her. He was going to call her directly that night and take a strip off her. I replied quickly, that she did not know that I had his email and was communicating with him. I did not want to get into trouble. That set him off again. He said that he had asked for his email to be given to me and Mom told him she had, but I was too busy to email him, I forgot, I did not want to talk to him; she had a list of excuses.
I responded that since Mom wanted to keep us apart so much, we should just not tell her we were talking, but just keep doing it privately. Daddy agreed and told me to get a private post office box and give him the address. He would set up a private bank account and send me the bank card there. I was already babysitting in the neighborhood, so the money would be easy to hide in with that. Within three weeks, I started to receive an allowance from him that made babysitting unnecessary, but I did it anyway.
We started talking regularly after that and one day he told me to go to the post office as there was a package for me. I went and picked it up and when I got home I opened the box to find a brand new laptop and backpack waiting for me. The instructions for opening the programs and passwords were emailed to me on the old computer. I quickly reset everything to my own passwords and started the system. I was thrilled when the online camera came up and there was Daddy sitting in his office.
We talked in real time for about an hour before Mom came home. I hid everything under my bed, except the backpack. I knew that Mom would want to see it so I just put my school stuff in it. She looked it over and asked where I got it. I told her at the mall, my old one needed to be replaced. She knew that I paid for things like that from my own money so she let it go. I immediately packed the laptop into it and went on about my day.
This continued until I turned eighteen, Daddy and I hiding our communications from Mom, but I think she started to suspect. I would catch her watching me, and she would walk into my room at the oddest times without warning. She did find the laptop eventually, but by then it was older and used and she did not realize how expensive it was. I told her I got it at a computer repair shop and it did not cost much.
When she caught me with Peter, it was the excuse she was looking for to get rid of me. I had known for some time that she wanted me out of the house, so I had applied to university on the west coast near Daddy, I had been accepted and had told him, but not Mom. She thought that I was going to work right out of high school and amount to nothing.
When I called Daddy I was in tears, I had nothing with me and did not know what to do. Daddy was cool as always. He asked me if I had my computer and my id. I told him yes, he told me to take a cab to the airport and call him when I got there. I told him Peter would take me and I would call him in about an hour.