Caitlin loved school. She came home every day happily chattering about painting, learning to write her name, playing with a parachute, taking a trip to Central Park. Olivia set up play dates for Caitlin every weekend, glad that her daughter was making friends in school, unlike Olivia had at that age. Caitlin interacted so easily with people that Olivia marveled at it, considering Olivia didn't exactly model such sociable behavior.

One day, though, Caitlin came home in tears. "What's the matter, sweetheart?" asked Olivia.

"Mommy, where's my daddy?"

Olivia's heart raced. She knew that this was inevitable; soon enough, her daughter would realize that other kids had fathers and she didn't. How could she explain rape to her little girl? She didn't want to lie and say he was dead – as Caitlin grew older, she would hate her mother for it. She didn't want to explain that she was raped and traumatize her daughter as her own mother had traumatized her.

"Well, sweetheart," began Olivia. "Your father did something very, very bad to me and I didn't want you to ever go through that. It's my job to protect you. And when someone does something bad, what happens?"

"They get a consequence."

"Right. So your daddy's consequence was that he had to go to jail. But that doesn't mean I love you any less, sweetie. You're still my beautiful, wonderful little girl and I love you more than anything else in the whole wide world."

Caitlin considered this, then accepted it with a nod. "I love you, too, Mommy. More than anything else in the whole wide world." She flashed Olivia an impish grin. "Except maybe chocolate ice cream."

"That's good to hear," said Olivia with a smile. "I am so proud that I am loved, second only to chocolate ice cream."

Caitlin giggled. "Can we pick some up on the way home?"

"Sure, baby. Do you want to stop at Dairy Queen?"

"Yeah."

Olivia breathed a deep sigh, relieved that her daughter hadn't been overly curious or upset by the revelation. She just accepted it and moved on, making a joke about ice cream. Olivia marveled at how easy it had been. She guessed that it had a lot to do with how it was said, though. Her mother had made such a big deal of it, even blaming Olivia herself for the rape. So her father the rapist had been a major part of Olivia's life, always hanging over her like a dark, stormy cloud. Olivia, though, had answered her daughter's question honestly, without placing any blame or making much of a big deal out of it. Hopefully, her daughter would not be damaged by her lack of a father.

They ordered their ice cream. Caitlin licked her chocolate cone contentedly, seemingly unbothered by Olivia's revelation. Olivia tried not to dwell as she sipped her milkshake.

Caitlin changed the subject. "You know what we did at school today?"

"What did you do?"

Caitlin beamed. "We made fruit smoothies!"

"That sounds like fun. Were they yummy?"

"Yeah. I got to do the strawberries. Ms. Riley sent home the recipe for all the mommies. Can we make a smoothie this weekend?"

"Sure, sweetie. Do we need to go shopping?"

Caitlin shook her head. "No. We just need strawberries, bananas, orange juice, and apple juice."

"That sounds easy enough."

"Yeah. It was cool. Oh, and next week we're going to the pumpkin patch! We can each get a little pumpkin and Ms. Riley's gonna help us carve them. I'm gonna make a princess pumpkin!"

Olivia smiled. "How are you going to do that?"

"I'm gonna give her a tiara."

"The pumpkin?"

"Yeah!"

"Good luck with that," said Olivia with a laugh.

Caitlin finished her ice cream cone and threw out her napkin. "I got a new library book. Will you read it to me when we get home?"

"Sure."

Olivia drove them back home, trying to push thoughts of the man who raped her from her mind, trying not to think of the trauma his absence might cause in the future.