Late October brought a chilly Saturday that was perfect for baby-stuff shopping. Just a few days prior, Rapunzel had finally felt the baby stirring, which had brought a flood of excitement and terror. And immense curiosity and fascination at the child she would have in her arms before the end of February.

The plethora of infant supplies in the proper department had only increased.
"Why don't we, ah, head to..." Eugene tried to turn and leave - geez, was he allergic to baby powder? Was this going to be a problem? - but Rapunzel wordlessly grabbed his elbow and kept him cemented beside her.
"You're taller and we're in this together." Rapunzel muttered, staring at an item as she tried to decide what exactly it was. "You're coming with."

Slowly, they found the very bare bones basics, so Rapunzel went for a cart, which they hadn't expected they'd need. She didn't hurry, mostly because of the uncomfortable boots she wore and the fear that she'd trip over the unfamiliar shoes on her feet, fall, and hurt the baby somehow. But she wanted to run when she heard someone yell her name, snatching her attention.
She spun around on one heel, looking around. The voice had been unfamiliar, so a queasy feeling set into her stomach. Her hand instinctively pressed over her stomach, and the baby kicked against the pressure. She couldn't see anyone in the crowd, but a tall, small-boned - almost scrawny - man was working his way towards her.
"Rapunzel Louisa Fitzherbert?" he asked. His pale blond hair was messy, but Rapunzel felt a jolt of curiosity when she met his eyes. Through the thick lenses he wore, she could see a pair of eyes nearly the same as hers. She backed up a step, bumping into her cart.
"Who are you?" she asked, swallowing to contain her boiling, burning blend of curiosity, fear, and her urge to flee.

He paused a few feet away from her, and she took in his baggy jeans and wrinkled, striped tee. "I'm, well, I'm Charles Sparks. I don't expect you to know me, now, but I'm your...well, I'm your biological father. Don't-no, don't freak," he grimaced as Rapunzel reacted. She felt as if her stomach had dropped to her feet, and she gaped, grabbing her cart and swinging it in between both of them. But she couldn't deny their similarities, even she could see them.
"H-how did you find me?" she asked, trying to mask her suspicious tone. Two years have really rusted up my acting skills, she thought to herself.
He rubbed the back of his neck, regarding the cart in between them. "Your husband's books, actually. Eugene Fitzherbert?" She nodded. "I read his dedications and, well, I don't know any people by the name of Rapunzel Louisa. I knew your name because the adoption agency called me to make sure it was okay to put you up for adoption," he said quietly.

She wanted to walk away, to push her past behind her. But here it was, front and center. She blinked and watched him critically. "Yeah. Well, it was nice meeting you, sir," she pulled on a smile and tried to move her cart, but he put a hand on it, stopping her. She felt like she couldn't handle this. The very thing that she'd hoped for for a decade was now enough to make her insides tremble with a deadly mix of emotions. She didn't want to get hurt. Not again. "I haven't spoken with him since the wretch was born. Scared him off, the surprise task of fatherhood," her biological mother had told the orphanage. She pushed back the memory.
"Where's your husband? It's a weekend, surely you'd be together. Please tell me he's not some idiot who spends too much time on his work than-"
Rapunzel snapped. Blame it on the mood swings, blame it on her pent-up fear, but it was enough to make the typically kind girl snarl. "He's with me. In the infant department. He cares about both me and our baby, unlike some people in this world!" she snapped, pushing past him. She didn't wait to see how badly she'd hurt him, she didn't care, she was just furious. How could someone like him assume that Eugene was an awful husband? Of all people, her father!

"Rapunzel, I'm sorry. Please hear me out-"
She pushed past the quiet thought in her head that told her to listen to him, heading for the aisle she'd left her husband. "Eugene?"
"Still here," he called, stepping out. If she had not been agitated, worried, confused, and feeling a little guilty over snapping at Charles, she would have laughed. The tall man's arms were piled with things ranging from bottles to cloth diapers, and he was struggling to keep them all from falling. As he set the objects inside the cart, he chatted. "I don't know if we want to go with cloth diapers, but here are some for you to look at, and-is there something wrong, sweetie?"
Rapunzel cleared her throat and glanced behind her. Charles was still approaching. Darn it. Her heart leaped and her mind fumbled to construct a sentence. What did she even want to say? She didn't know. She turned her attention back towards Eugene, whose face was tilted slightly to the side as he studied her face. "Do you see the man with pale hair heading our way? He's, um...he's-"

"Please hear me out. I contacted the orphanage, they told me you had tried to meet your mother and I. How can you be so-so volatile?" Charles asked as he neared.
"Hold up. You're Rapunzel's father?" Eugene's eyebrows shot up, nearly disappearing under his chocolate colored hair. "Rapunzel?"
She looked between the two men, but finally focused on what Charles had said. "Do you know why I am upset? My biological mother said I was a mistake. Why would a father who leaves his newborn baby and its mother? How could he? And why would he possibly care, almost twenty four years later? I searched for years, but-but when I found what I was looking for, no one cared." She could feel her throat tighten as she remembered the day. Her biological mother had stood her up when she'd asked to meet her. The only one who had been around to save her had been Eugene. It was when she finally realized he cared about her, a lot.

Charles' face clouded with confusion. "I was never contacted."
"They tried to get contact information." Rapunzel rubbed her temples, which were throbbing with the beginnings of a headache. "Look, I-I...I'm sorry, but...you found out where in the world I was based on the dedication in Eugene's books?"
"Yes, I-"
"If you're trying to use us, it's not going to happen. Father or not!" she declared. "Eugene, come on. We can browse another day."
But Eugene looked completely lost, looking between his wife and her supposed father as he tried to piece together information. Undoubtedly, it sounded fishy, but what if the man truly was trying to be the father he'd never been?
Charles' eyes filled with pain. "I'm sorry you feel that way. And I guess I can understand-"
Rapunzel spoke quietly, but her voice trembled with emotion. "No, you can't understand the half of it."
"But I want to," he gave her a pleading look. "I want to know the baby girl I was stupid enough to give up."
How would she feel if her unborn daughter refused her? Her throat constricted, and she could hardly breathe. She slowly let herself relax, but then her eyes filled with an ocean of tears which were barely held back. Wasn't this what she'd wanted so badly up until two years ago? She turned towards Eugene, who immediately caught the look in her eyes and came to give her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Let him, Rapunzel. He doesn't act like he's lying," he leaned in to whisper, masking it with a kiss by her ear. "But if you don't think you can, don't." He knew the expression in her eyes well; she'd transformed back to the little girl who was scared of her past. He hated it.

She turned back towards Charles, who looked absolutely lost. "H-how did you know it was me? When you called my name?"
He shook his head, a wry smile crossing his thin lips. "You have your mother's nose and hair. You have my build and my eyes. I took a chance."
Rapunzel bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling. "How do I know I can trust you?"
Charles sighed. "There's no real evidence to prove you can trust me aside from my lack of a criminal record," he joked weakly. "But I have a good job and have no real need for money, if you're worried about that. I work at an auto repair shop in Buffalo. Never married. It's just that, well, something happened a few months ago that made me think about the life I threw away by letting you go."
"Why did you let me go?" she asked. "And who was my biological mother?"
"If you let me buy you lunch at this little diner I saw in town, I'll give you the back story," he said.
Rapunzel paused, casting a glance towards Eugene. He was pretending to look at a display. She gulped. Stuffed her hands in her front jeans pockets to mask their shivering. "Okay," she said quietly. "What time?"
"Twelve thirty?" he asked.
She nodded, glancing at her watch. Her father's face lit in a genuine smile, and he acted a little awkward, almost as if he wanted to say something more, but then he left, stating that he couldn't wait to talk to them both.