This chapter is told from Katie's point of view, enjoy:)

Chapter 10: Life without my father

Mummy never talked about my daddy. Whenever I asked her she always told me that it was a long time ago and it was something I shouldn't worry about. But I wanted to know about my daddy.

One day I was sitting on the floor in the living room playing with my toys and I heard Mummy, she was upset. I could hear her crying. I went into her bedroom and saw her sitting on her bed. She had lots of pictures layed out on the bed. They were of people I didn't know. I think they were Mummy's friends from that place. She was sitting with her head in her hands crying. I went in and asked, "Mummy why are you crying?"

She looked up at me and answered, "Don't worry sweetie, Mummy's ok."

"Ok." I told her. I went out of her room, I sat outside the door. But it was where she couldn't see me, I was around the corner in the hall. I quietly looked in and I saw her holding a photo. I could see the photo was of a man but I didn't know who this man was. But when Mummy looked at his picture she cried, I didn't like this man for making my Mummy cry.

Everyday since I saw Mummy holding that man's picture I wanted to know who he was and why he made Mummy so upset. When I asked her she didn't tell me, Mummy does that a lot, she did it even more then. When people see me and Mummy together they always ask where my Daddy is. Mummy never answers them, just like she does with me. I wish she would tell me. When Mummy goes to work at the hospital place in town I have to go to school. Before I had to go to a place with lots of kids some of them were very small. Mummy called it Day Care. I don't think many people liked Mummy taking me there they always looked at her funny. I think it was hard for her, being without Daddy. When I asked her once why my friends didn't have to go to the Day Care place before they started at school she said it was because they had their Mummy at home to look after them. I asked her why she didn't do that with me and she said it was because we didn't have Daddy to make the money so Mummy had to do it.

When I finished school for the day I would have to wait a long time for Mummy to get me. That was because she was at the hospital place working. My Mummy's a nurse. I told my class this once during Show and Tell. We had to say what our parents did. Lots of people said their Daddy's went to work and their Mummy's stayed at home. Mine wasn't like that. I said I only had Mummy and she was a nurse at the hospital place. When they asked where Daddy worked I said I didn't have a Daddy. I don't think they liked my answer. They all whispered things to each other. I know they were talking about me and Mummy. When Mummy picked me up that day I was a bit sad because of what the other children in my class had said about her and me not being with Daddy. She asked me what was wrong and I told her what they said. Mummy was sad then too. I think being without Daddy was very hard on Mummy.

A few days later, at night when Mummy and me had come home I asked if I could see her photos she was looking at a few days before. I wanted to see the man again and ask Mummy who he was. At first she said no, but later on she said I could. So I went into her room and sat on her bed with her and we looked at them. The first one I saw was a picture of Mummy and some other people in front of a post and a tent. I asked who these people were, they all had green clothes on. Mummy said, "These are the people I was in Korea with."

"What's Korea?" I asked.

"It's a country sweetie. Mummy was there in the war, remember?" Mummy answered.

I nodded. Mummy was happy in this photo, I was happy too that she was happy. I had not seen Mummy really happy before. I looked at the photo and I saw that man again. Mummy's hands were on his shoulders so I asked her who he was. She said, "He was a doctor I used to work with."

I asked her why she had her hands on his shoulders and she said it was because they were friends in the Korea place. The next picture was of the same people but with some other ones I didn't know. Mummy said they were more people she worked with in the Korea place. They were sitting in a car, Mummy called it a Jeep. There was a sign in the background it said "MASH 4077th Best Care Anywhere" I asked Mummy what a MASH was. She told me it meant "Mobile Army Surgical Hospital" and that's where she was a nurse in the war in Korea. And the people in the Jeep were the doctors who worked with her. I noticed the man was in this photo too. I asked Mummy his name and she told me his name was Hawkeye I said that sounded like a funny name and she told me it was a nickname and his real name was Benjamin Franklin Pierce. I wondered who this man was and why Mummy had so many pictures of him and pictures of him and her together.

The next photo I saw was of Mummy, I think she looked very beautiful. She was in a dress you wear when you get married. I asked her why she wore this dress. She told me she was once married to a man in Korea and he did something not very nice to Mummy. When Mummy told me this I could see some tears in her eyes. I asked if that man was my Daddy and Mummy said no he wasn't. I was happy that my Daddy wasn't the one who made Mummy sad.

The next one was of a man I saw in the other photos. Mummy said this was my Daddy's best friend and his name was BJ. I asked her what BJ meant and she said she didn't know. She said BJ always used to say when someone asked him what his name meant "Anything you want." That made me laugh I thought this man was funny. He had a funny moustache too. Mummy said no one liked BJ's moustache, everyone thought he looked funny.

I looked through some more photos and found one of the Hawkeye man. I picked it up and asked "Mummy why do me and this man have the same eyes and hair?"

And Mummy told me "Because he is your Daddy."

I said "That's my Daddy? My Daddy's the Hawkeye man?"

Mummy laughed at what I said and she answered, "Yes he is."

"How come you never told me before?" I asked.

Mummy said she was afraid. I asked "Why?"

She told me I shouldn't worry that all of that was in the past and she had me and I had her and we would be alright. I said, "Ok Mummy we don't need the Hawkeye man. I love you." Even though I really did want to see my Daddy, I just didn't tell Mummy because she would feel better if I didn't.

Mummy smiled at me and said, "I love you too sweetie."

I was really happy then because Mummy smiled and she has such a pretty smile.

"Thankyou Mummy. For showing me these pictures." I told her.

"That's ok sweetie, sometimes it's good to look back on the past." Mummy said. "But then again it's good to look to the future. Maybe one day you will meet your Daddy. Would you like that?" she asked.

"Yes, I would. I would love to meet the Hawkeye man." I answered.

Next: It's decision time for Hawk and Margaret, what will they do? Please review, they make my day! Thanks:) and thanks to Maggie for the idea for this chapter, I hope you liked the way it turned out. :)