Love and Marriage

Chapter Fifty-Five

Martin walked up the stairs and stopped in front of Claire's closed door. He still wasn't sure what he was going to say to his daughter, but knew that he had to figure out some way of making this ok for her. Knocking softly, he asked, "Can I come in please?"

"I guess so." Came the reply from the other side of the door.

He opened up the door and found her sitting on the floor near her dollhouse. She had one of her dolls in her hand and was moving it around on the floor. He sat down and leaned up against the side of her bed, motioning for her to come and join him.

She saw that he wanted her to sit next to him and reluctantly put the doll down before sliding across the floor to where he was.

He put his arm around her shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "It wasn't very nice to tell your mother that you hated her."

"I know." Claire replied. She felt bad about that, but at that moment she was angry and it just slipped out of her mouth. "I was mad and it just came out."

"Unfortunately I'm afraid that's a trait you got from both me and your mother." He chuckled softly. "You don't really hate her though, do you?"

"No." She shook her head. "I just don't want to move. I want our family to stay here together."

"That's understandable." Martin nodded. "But we're always going to be a family—even if we aren't living together."

"That's what Sarah's parents told her but they aren't a family anymore." Claire pointed out.

"Well we're not Sarah's parents." Martin explained. "No matter what happens in the future, we're always going to be a family. A family isn't defined by where you live. Families can live really far away from each other and still be considered a family because the only requirement to be called a family is love. And your mother and I love you so much."

"Do you love each other?" Claire asked.

He paused for a moment before answering, "Yes we do."

"Are you two going to get divorced?" She asked, hoping for an honest answer.

"No." He replied. "We aren't."

"Then why are we moving without you?" She asked.

"It's complicated." He replied, trying to think of the best way to explain this. "I don't think we did a very good job of explaining this to you downstairs. Maybe that's because we don't know exactly how to explain it to you. But you and your mom are going to move to Houston now because of her new job. I can't move because my job is here in New York right now. But I will be moving down there to be with you both later."

"Later? Like when?" She asked, hoping that it wouldn't be too long.

"I don't know." He told her honestly. "I guess it depends on when I can find another job in Houston." It also depended on when both he and Sam decided to start over again, but he chose to leave that part out.

"I don't want to go." She frowned. "Not without you."

"I understand." He held her tightly. "Changes can be scary sometimes, and moving is a big change. It can be really scary."

"I'm not scared." Claire denied, even though she was petrified.

He could tell that she was just denying it. Her fear was written all over her face. So he decided to tell her a story. "Well maybe you aren't, but I was. When I was about your age, my parents decided to move to Washington, D.C. We had been living in Virginia but my dad got a big promotion that required him to move. So my parents packed up the family and moved us to Washington, D.C."

"And you were scared?" She asked, interested to hear the story.

"Oh yeah. I was terrified." He told her, remembering the way he felt back then. "I had to go to this new school and make all of these new friends. I felt like I wouldn't fit in and that I'd never find anyone that would be friends with me. Plus I also missed all the friends I had back in Virginia. I missed the life I used to have."

"What happened?" She asked, wanting to know the end of the story.

"Well we got to Washington, D.C. and it turned out to be better than I thought it would be. Sure it was scary at first, but I was able to make some new friends and I still kept in touch with my other friends back in Virginia. Everything turned out to be ok and I was worried about it for nothing." He explained.

If her daddy could move to a new place at her age and survive it, then maybe she could too. "Can I still talk to Sarah?" Claire asked hesitantly.

"Absolutely." Martin smiled. "I'm sure that your mom will let you call her as much as you want."

"And you're going to come live with us again?" She asked slowly, trying to sort everything out in her mind.

"Yes." He nodded.

"I'll miss you." She admitted.

"I'll miss you too princess." He gave her a small smile. "I might not see you for awhile, but I intend on calling you at least twice a day."

She realized that she didn't really have a choice about moving. It seemed like it was going to happen whether or not she wanted it to—and she didn't want it to. But if she could still talk to Sarah and her daddy, and he was going to live with them again maybe it wouldn't be too horrible. "Promise you'll live with us again?"

"I promise."

"Pinky swear?" She asked, sticking up her left pinky.

He laughed as he locked pinkys with her. "I pinky swear." He kissed the top of her head again and pulled her in for a big hug. He knew it was slightly dangerous to promise her that because what if after the break Sam didn't want to be married to him anymore? Then his promise to Claire would be broken. He decided to stop thinking negatively and banish all those types of thoughts from his mind. They would go on this break and then they would work out their problems together. Nothing was going to make him break that promise to his daughter.

She still didn't want to move away from her daddy and her friends, but if he was promising to come and live with them later, then she believed him. He has never lied to her before and doubted that he would start now—especially since he pinky sweared.

"You know, I think your mom is really kinda scared about moving too."

"Mommy scared?" She couldn't believe that. "She's not scared of anything!"

If only that were true. "Well maybe scared isn't the right word." He explained. "Maybe it's more like she's nervous. But anyway, I really need your help right now."

"How can I help?" She asked, curious about what kind of help she could give him and eager for the opportunity to help.

"I won't be around to help her all the time. But you will. What I need you to do is be a good girl for your mother. That shouldn't be too hard for you because you're always such a good girl, but I also need you to do one more thing for me."

"What?" She asked.

"I need you to look out for her—make sure that she smiles and laughs a lot. Do you think you can do that for me?" He asked. He knew that she loved to help her parents and figured that this would be a good way to make her feel important and also ensure that Sam was taken care of at the same time.

"I can!" She smiled widely, excited that he was trusting her with a job.

"Great!" He smiled back. "I knew I could count on you."

"I love you daddy."

"I love you too sweetheart." He answered. "Now what do you say we go back downstairs and you apologize to your mom?" He suggested.

"Ok." She nodded. She really felt bad about telling her mommy that she hated her.