Chapter 14

No no no no no! I just called Danny Dad! Danny is not my dad!

"Is Lindsay here, Stell?" I hear him ask.

"Why?" Stella answers.

"I just wanna talk to her," he says. Pffhhttt, yeah right!

Mom gets up after helping me clean up the mess and goes to the door. She and Danny go out into the hallway to talk. I stay with Stella, and she takes the washcloth I was using from me. She says it'll wash easily, it just needs to wait till laundry day.

"So Maddie," Stella wants to talk to me, but I like her, she treats me like a grown up. "What do you know about your mom and Danny?"

"Danny's my dad," I say.

"What?" Stella looks funny. She's not quite sure what to say.

Why am I calling Danny Dad? Is it possible...

"Danny's my dad," I sat again. Now I'm starting to like him. He treats me nicely, and he really likes Mom.

But what about Stephen? Wouldn't it hurt his feelings if Mom decided she didn't want to be with him anymore and move back to New York? He paid for our tickets here, because Mom and me didn't have any money, and Grandma and Grandpa Monroe wouldn't pay for it.

Mom comes back into the apartment and thanks Stella for being so nice to us. She tells me to get my coat on so I do. When we leave, Danny is there waiting.

"Hi Maddie," he says, offering me his hand.

"Hi Daddy," I answer.

Did Madison just call me Daddy? I'm speechless. She's just like her mother, big brown eyes and honey coloured hair, she's absolutely beautiful. I can't believe I helped create something so precious.

I look over at Lindsay, and I can tell she's caught off guard too. I don't think she expected Maddie to call me Dad just yet. It's been seven years since I saw her, and nothing about her has really changed. She's still got that beautiful sense of need and love for other people. I just don't understand why she stopped working as a CSI. Now she's just erking out a living as a waitress in a restaurant in Montana. She's so much more qualified than that, I don't get it.

I bend down to Maddie and look her in the eye. "Pardon?"

"Hi Daddy," she says it to me again. "is it okay if I call you Daddy?"

"It's perfectly a'right." I answer her. My heart is melting for this little girl. As we walk to my car, 'cause I'm gonna drive 'em back to their hotel, I start to wonder how different my life is going to be.

I'm a dad now. I can't just go off to Sullivan's after work for a coupla pints with the guys, I can't just pick up some random chick at the bar who'd been dancin' on tables anymore. I gotta set a good example for my daughter.

Lindsay helps strap Maddie into the back set of my car and we drive off. Lindsay gives me directions to the hotel, but I already know where it is. I drop them off, kiss Lindsay on the cheek and Maddie on the forehead, and off I drive.

When I get back to my apartment, I fold my laundry and start to think about all the little things that I've missed. Her birth, her homecoming, her first steps... first words... first everythings.

I gotta make it up to them somehow.

"So Mom," I ask as I get changed into my pajamas. "What did Dad ask you?"

"He just wanted to talk, Maddie," she answers. Her mouth is full of toothpaste so it sounds like " 'E jus' wanna 'alk, Addie" She spits it out into the sink and rinses her mouth out. "I'm glad to see you like him."

"I dunno." I answer. And it's true, I really don't know. I called him Dad 'cause it seemed right to do it. "I don't want him to take you away from me."

"Oh baby," she hugs me, "Danny isn't going to take me away from you, and I want you to be close to him."

"How?" I ask. This is neat... Mom wants me to be closer to Dad, but how are we gonna do it?

"Well, I just think it would be best for you if we moved to New York."

WHAT?