“You can say that again.”
“I served five years for armed robbery, which was crazy because I’d never even held a gun or so much as stolen a look from anyone. I always kept my head down and minded my own business, which is exactly what I tried to do in jail. But it doesn’t really work that way inside the bars that cage you and other men up. Inside I met hardened thugs and learned the underground scene, and not only that I learned a lot of the people in there had also been locked up on charges that lacked as much evidence as mine did.” I pause. “All these years I’ve been trying to think of a way to take him down, but nothing came to mind. Nothing that I could accomplish successfully.”
“Until I walked in.”
“Until you walked in and made everything perfect, although getting revenge on him was never part of the game. Getting you was everything. The revenge was just an added bonus.”
“You like how I planned it out to the end, how I showed up knowing you’d be in the backroom watching?” she asks with a mischievous smile on her face.
“What plan did you have you naughty little girl?”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why I didn’t ask why you happened to be outside my house that night?”
“Because you already know the answer. I followed you from the gun shop.”
“Did you really think I thought I was going to buy a gun, when I used Feddy’s against him?”
I say nothing, waiting for my little planner to reveal more of the ways she heisted my heart.
“I watched your shop for weeks, knew the hours you kept, and who worked behind the counter at what times. And at what times you were in the backroom, surely watching those security cameras you had everywhere.”
“You what?”
“I was looking through a list of people that my dad had put away, someone who wouldn’t like him and who might be able to help me. When I saw your picture my heart stopped. At that moment thoughts of hate and revenge went away and I felt other things for the first time in my life. I felt like there was a man out there who was destined to protect me, one who was so perfect, the father I’d wished I’d always had…a real Daddy. This was my chance to literally pick my own Daddy out of thin air. But I didn’t want to go to you until I was eighteen.”
“Because of the gun permit.”
“And other things,” she smirks.
“You set me up!” I play along, although she knows I admire her ingenuity.
“I gave you a nudge to see if you’d follow and I knew you had cameras in your shop so if anything happened to me that night there would be video evidence of where I was and how I’d been driven, emotionally, to do what I might have to do.”
“You used me,” I gasp, having fun but loving her big reveal, just like I love everything about her.
“I didn’t trick you, I chose you. And I gave you a chance to choose me right back, or not. That’s all. I’m a lady after all and I prefer to be the pursued, not the pursuer. But at least I should get a say in who’s doing the pursuing…right?”
“Like I always say, I might be bigger and stronger physically, and have more life experience, but you’re the one in charge of what you want. I’ll never ask you to do anything you don’t want to do, nor press you in any direction you don’t want to go. And you know that if anyone did, I’d wreck them. But back to the story. How did you know I’d follow you?”
“I didn’t, but I made sure not to make it hard. And at first, I didn’t think you’d followed me. Your tailing skills are good, Daddy.”
“That’s what sleek motorcycles are for, precious.”
“And before I did anything I also did some checking and saw that you’d never been married and hadn’t been linked to any other women.”
“Because you were my destiny, and I was waiting all these years for you and only you, even though I didn’t know it.”
“Daddy’s Destiny?”
“You know it. And I also know that as my destiny, this, what we have, you…it’s guaranteed to last forever.”
“Just like my love for you, Daddy.”
“Just like my love for you, angel.”
I give her a kiss and just shake my head in appreciation and a bit of surprise at my little girl. These days nothing she does surprises me. At least that’s what I thought until…
“Oh, and I’ve got one more thing to reveal.”