Nice, France

"You're going to have to talk to her, she's been completely impossible. She doesn't believe me."

Listening to Rebecca's concerns, Herbert Wentworth sighed and looked away from her, taking a moment to appreciate the spectacular ocean view from their balcony.

He'd given his wife and daughter all the material goods they could ever dream of, but meeting their emotional needs was not something money could buy.

"Where is she?"

"By the pool."

"I'll see what I can do."

He didn't know what he was supposed to say, he was barely sure how he'd react to seeing her in her new state, one he'd only heard about over the phone, what he did know was that Rebecca had been struggling and his presence was needed and welcomed. He would have come sooner had he not had unmovable work commitments but he was present now and that was what mattered.

"Prepare yourself; she's not the same girl."

"No?"

"No." Stone-faced, her tone was completely serious. She'd clearly had enough of dealing with their daughter, which really said something considering the year they'd had.

Walking down the stairs from the balcony onto the patio, he spotted her, only the back of her head visible from his position as she lay sunbathing under a large blue and white umbrella beside the pool.

"Daddy."

Apparently hearing his footsteps, Katherine turned her head, standing to greet him, a smile on her face.

"Sweetheart."

Walking towards her, he almost forgot about her condition as she approached him, her loose yellow cover-up hiding more than he'd expected following Rebecca's regular updates, however, as she wrapped her arms around him and he her, the difference of just a few weeks was obvious, and a little awkward if he were completely honest.

Pulling away, he had a million questions, although he only asked the primary one.

"Who did this to you?"

She'd managed to keep a lot of secrets from them, but none more than the identity of the man responsible for her current state. She denied it was Mark, her prom date, and all the information he had led him to believe her because she hadn't made mention of him until March, at which point in time the doctors estimated she'd almost reached the end of her first trimester. Gathering whom she'd seen before then had come up empty as the weeks after returning from Switzerland had been particularly tense and neither he nor Rebecca had a good recollection of what anyone but themselves had been doing during that period.

"That's not important."

Shaking her head, walking over to sit down again, she refused again to give him any helpful information.

"You don't think he should know? That we should know?"

Sitting down beside her, he told her what he thought, knowing that she disagreed.

"No, it won't change anything."

Reiterating what she'd said from the start, that she intended to go it alone, other than with their familial support, her stance oversimplified the complexity of her situation.

"As a father myself that makes me very uncomfortable. I'd think too you'd have a little more empathy for him, after all, you found an understanding with Cliff about his past."

Obviously, he wasn't purely concerned about the feelings of the other party involved, in fact he'd had a lot of negative feelings towards whoever the man was, however, in the weeks gone by he'd had time to think, and he'd come to some conclusions.

"That was different."

"Not greatly."

Rebecca had run away from her first family, leaving them with unanswered questions and an emotional hole, and she'd neglected to mention her past to either him or Katherine, leaving them too with some questions and emotional uncertainty. Katherine had done an excellent job investigating the past and the present, showing empathy and love where appropriate and not backing away from difficult questions, but now when it came to her own situation she was making decisions that had someone else made them she'd surely judge negatively.

"It is to me."

Sounding sure, he knew that when she was like this she couldn't be told otherwise. She was choosing to move forward with deliberately avoiding an important piece of the puzzle, convinced she didn't need it, which while true, wasn't completely fair.

He saw only three possible reasons for why she was avoiding the necessary conversation, firstly, because she didn't know herself who she needed to discuss it with, secondly because she did know but didn't want to do what she knew he would, or thirdly, because she was afraid of what might happen if he knew.

"Tell me again that he didn't hurt you."

It had been one of the first things she'd said after she'd broken the news to him but he wanted to hear it again, this time face-to-face.

"Daddy, I promise, he didn't hurt me. My own actions led to this and I take responsibility for that."

"Mm."

Knowing she hadn't acted alone he didn't agree that what had come of her behaviour was entirely her doing, however he couldn't deny that she could be persuasive when she wanted to be, which uncomfortably for him might have been what she was referring to.

"Whatever happened in the past doesn't matter anymore. It only feels strange now because it's new, but soon enough everything will be back to normal."

Listening to her, her emotional state concerned him; she sounded more chipper than reasonable, which led him to believe Rebecca's concerns might be valid.

"Katherine."

"Just you wait and see. I'll be back for thanksgiving and it will be like nothing ever happened."

It was a nice thought, but it couldn't be real, life wasn't that simple.

"Sweetheart."

"You said some mail arrived for me from New York?"

Standing up again, walking over to dip her feet in the pool, she changed the subject.

"Yes, some course catalogues, housing information, clubs, dining, those sorts of things. They're inside."

"I'll be sure to read them all. I'm so excited."

"Are you sure you'll be ready to start in the fall?"

Crouching down beside her, his shoes preventing him from dipping his feet in the pool, he asked her a difficult question.

"Of course I will be. I'll only be a few weeks late but that's better than a whole semester."

Agreeing in principle, her education important to him, he also had experience as a father and respected Rebecca's opinion as a mother and woman, leading him to believe Katherine had an unrealistic expectation of what the future held. It was one thing to expect everything would be back to normal come thanksgiving, two and a half months after her due date, but to start college in late September or early October seemed optimistic.

"Your mother thinks you're underestimating the recovery time."

He hadn't known it at the time, but Rebecca's pregnancy with Katherine had been her fifth, so when she'd spoken of the birth as painful but not awful and later taken to parenting naturally he'd been impressed but not questioned it. Katherine on the other hand had no experience with anything of the sort, nor did they have any experience as a family with how to cope with the state of loss she was willingly entering.

"I'm healthy."

"Physically now, maybe so, maybe not so much afterwards. Emotionally too, I'm not sure you understand the significance of the decision you're making."

She was adamant about heading from the hospital to the dorms, not wanting to miss anything on campus, but as Rebecca told him, the reality of the ordeal was sure to be quite different and it would be best to have a backup plan for that.

"Of course I do. Adoption is my choice and my choice alone. I won't discuss it again."

"We're just trying to help."

Understanding that she was stubborn, he still found her refusal to listen to sound advice frustrating.

"I know, but I've made up my mind, the only help I need is with packing my things and having them ready for me in September."

"The option for a spring semester start is always there."

"I'll keep that in mind."

Smiling, seeming to accept his offer, she looked at him for only a few seconds before murmuring a distracted, "oh."

Immediately recognising the smile and hand movement to her abdomen as one that mirrored Rebecca many years ago, a different side to her situation was revealed.

"Sweetheart, we could figure something else out if you have any doubts."

She had spoken of nothing but adoption since revealing the news, but he knew the look on her face, there was a connection between mother and baby and she would need to deal with that before she could say goodbye.

"That's different to anything mother has ever told me."

Looking up, hand still on her abdomen, she sounded curious, which led him to believe he was correct in assuming there were more feelings involved than they were aware of.

"From what I understand you haven't made it easy for her to speak to you."

The relationship between mother and daughter had been strained for months but it had become particularly bad since the latest development in her life had been revealed, especially since Rebecca was keen not to indulge unrealistic ideas while Katherine seemed to be living in the ideal world that existed only in her mind at times.

"All I ever asked for was support, it shouldn't be so difficult."

Shaking her head, she used the same tone she had in every petty argument she and Rebecca had had in the past. Clearly, she didn't see herself as in the wrong, even if it was entirely possible that she was.

"Katherine, your mother and I support you in whatever you choose."

"Yes, but mother told me that you wouldn't raise this baby while I went away to college…"

Leaving her sentence hanging, her comment indicated her thoughts about the situation were black-and-white. It seemed to have never occurred to her that she might act as a mother to her own son or daughter, only that if she didn't choose adoption they would by default become parents again, but neither those nor adoption were the only options.

"I didn't suggest that."

"What are you suggesting?"

"An arrangement."

Surprised Rebecca hadn't mentioned it, he had to assume that Katherine hadn't given her much opportunity.

"We have an arrangement already."

"You're talking about something very permanent; I'm talking about something less so. We can't bring the baby home to Houston, it would be far too difficult to explain, but that doesn't mean we couldn't organise alternative arrangements elsewhere, perhaps in Aspen or Southampton, somewhere we're familiar with, somewhere we already have reason to make visits to."

He and Rebecca had had the assistance of baby nurses and nannies while Katherine was young and he saw no reason why they couldn't expand on that now, making regular visits until such time where Katherine was ready to take over herself. She'd always spoken of hopes to meet her future husband in college, and if that happened he expected they'd want children. Knowing how she felt about Rebecca's deception about her past he expected she wouldn't repeat the same mistake, that she would be honest about her own past, and with that might come a willingness to engage in what she was so certain she was ready to give up now.

"That's too complicated."

"You wouldn't have to do a thing."

"Other than figure out where I fit in my baby's life as they grow up. I appear at holidays and special occasions as what? A mother? An aunt? A sister? No, I can't."

Defiant, she stood up, shook the water off her feet and walked back over to sit under the umbrella.

Following her again, he didn't push, just reminded her it was an option.

"Just think about it. You have another three months before any decision is permanent."

"For you, I will."

Not convinced he'd changed a single opinion of hers, he left it for now. His vacation had only just started and she still had plenty of time to live with her thoughts, so nothing had to be decided immediately.

To be continued…