"Dad, who's this?" Michelle asked looking through some of Roger's old pictures.
"That was my high school girlfriend. She died the night we were supposed to get married." he said looking over at the picture of him and Amanda at the pizzeria.
"I'm so sorry dad." she said looking at him. He was staring at the picture intently. Amanda's smile still had him.
"Don't be Babygirl. It's because of her I was able to love you and your mom." he said looking up at her. She had tears in her eyes.
"How?" she asked looking down over at him.
"Well, Mandy died the night of her 18th birthday. She was pregnant and we were gonna get married before we told our parents. I loved her so much. I couldn't imagine my life without her." he started as she listened to him.
"That must have been really hard. What did you do?" Michelle asked as Roger looked down.
"When she died I ran away to the city. Mandy was Uncle Mark's older sister, so when she died he promised her he would take care of me and he would be my best friend. That's all Mandy ever wanted. For me and Mark to be friends. She was really close to Mark and it was important to her to make sure Mark didn't feel left out. Well, when Mark came here, I was really bad off. I was drinking a lot and it was really hard to live without her. Then I met that girl April and I started using heroin with her and when she died he did everything he could do to get me off of it. We fought a lot. He tried everything, but nothing was working. Me and Mandy bought him the camera he shoves in everyone's faces, and he took a lot of film of us, so he made me sit and watch her and at first it was really hard. I mean, I wasn't that same kid anymore, you know. But after a while it helped me get clean. Just seeing images of her and how much we loved each other helped me. When I met your mom, I thought I was over her. But then we got you and you reminded me so much of what I imagined mine and Mandy's baby would look like. I started calling your mom Mandy and we got into a fight. It was stupid, but I had to leave to figure some things out. Do you remember the night me and your mom got married at the Life Cafe?" he asked as Michelle listened intently.
"Yeah." she said looking down at him.
"Well, when I left here the night before I went back to the loft and started drinking. I felt like I let you and your mom down. I was stupid. I mean really stupid. When Mark saw me the next morning he got so mad. He called Aunt Joanne and Aunt Maureen to take me back to Scarsdale. We went to Mandy's grave. I told her all about my two beautiful girls. How much I loved you both and how much I wanted to live my life with you. I knew she heard me. And I knew she approved, so on the way back to the old apartment, we started coming up with the plan that I was gonna marry your mother that night. I didn't want to live my life without my girls in my life. You two are the best things that has ever happened to me. So you see Babygirl, Mandy may have been my first love, but you and your mother are my greatest loves. I love you two so much. You have given me the greatest life a man could ask for." he said reaching over to caress her cheek.
"We love you too daddy." she said crying as she laid her head on his chest.
"Shh, don't cry Babygirl. Everything's gonna be OK." he whispered comforting her.
"How daddy? You're dying. How is everything gonna be OK?" she asked looking up at him.
"Because we're a family. All of us. Your aunts and uncles are gonna help you through this." he said playing with her hair.
"But dad, we're not ready to lose you." she said crying into his chest.
"I know and I'm not ready to leave you either. But if I were to wait until I'm ready to leave, I would never be ready. I love you girls so much. You gave me something I never thought I'd ever have. A family." he said holding back his own tears.
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"Baby, do you remember the night we got married?" Roger asked looking up at her as she fixed the blankets around her.
"Of course I do Roger. Why do you ask?" she asked sitting next to him on the bed.
"I don't know. I've been thinking about it a lot lately." he said looking up at her.
"Why?" she asked caressing his face.
"I wish we'd had that big Cinderella wedding you always wanted." he said taking her hand from his face and kissing it.
"I don't. I'm happy with the way we got married. We had all of our friends and our daughter there. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect wedding." she said smiling down at her.
"Really?" he asked surprised.
"Yeah, really. Roger, we're married. That's all I ever wanted. It didn't matter what kind of wedding we had." she said laughing a little.
"I'm sorry I fought you on it in the beginning." he said caressing her hand with his thumb.
"I'm not. Fighting with you always got my blood pumping. If you remember correctly, a fight is what prompted you to kiss me for the first time." she said smiling down at him.
"I was so pissed at you that night." he said laughing.
"If I remember correctly, you were pissed at me most of that week." she said laughing with him.
"You know, Collins and Mark had been teasing me since the day we met that we were gonna get together. I thought they were nuts. But then when you came and stole my cigarette, I don't know, I just wanted to kiss you so badly." he said as she laid down next to him.
"Yeah, I was a real bitch back then, huh?" she asked looking up at him.
"Nah, I just wasn't used to not being able to flash my winning smile and charm a girl into submission." he laughed kissing her head.
"Trust me, it was hard in the beginning. I had to fight to keep my concentration since the minute you walked into the club." she laughed holding him tight.
"Is that why you kept challenging me on everything?" he asked looking down at her.
"The truth?" she asked looking up at him as he nodded. "Yeah, I figured if I kept yelling at you, I wouldn't have to think about how much I wanted you." she said looking up at him.
"Oh really? This is interesting. Why am I just learning this now?" he asked caressing her cheek.
"Because I didn't want it to go to your head." she teased leaning up to kiss him.
"Well, I'm glad you wanted me." he whispered smiling down at her.
"I fell in love with you Roger. I never thought I'd be so in love with anyone like I'm in love with you." she said quietly sitting up.
"I'm sorry you have to watch this. I never wanted you to." he said reaching out for her.
"I'm not. If watching you die is what I had to do to have the love you've given me, it's worth it. No man could have ever loved me or Michelle the way you have." she said starting to cry.
"Charlie, can you honestly tell me that you would do this over again?" he asked trying to sit up in the bed, but too weak to pull himself up.
"Yes Roger, I can. You know, before I met you I concentrated on my career. I went in, managed clubs, turned them around and then moved on. I was scared to death of making any kind of emotional connection anywhere. I had no friends. I was alone. After I gave Michelle up, I didn't want to feel anything. Then I met you and you made me feel. I fought with you and you brought me back to life. I fell in love with you and I got my daughter back. I'm not glad that her adoptive parents died, but I am glad we got her back. You stood by me during all of it. You loved her because you loved me. So if this is what I have to go through to have had the life we have had together, then yeah I would do all of this all over again." she said looking at him with her arms crossed.
"Charlie, I do love you." he said holding back his own tears.
"I know Roger. You have showed me everday of our life together that you love me." she said going over to him to hold him.
"And you've loved me more than I ever thought I would be loved." he whispered starting to cry kissing her head over and over.
"Well you are a great man Roger Davis. You always were. You deserve to be loved." she said holding him.