“Lisa,”
he said softly. “Do you remember what you asked me? The night I proposed to your mom?”
She nodded, sniffling. “I asked… I asked if I got a dad, too.”
“And what did I say?”
She wiped her nose with the back of her hand. “You said… ‘if you’ll have me.’”
“That’s exactly right.” He reached up and wiped a tear off her cheek with his thumb. “And I want you to hear me, okay? My answer hasn’t changed. It’s not going to change. Not today, not ever.
Not because of a suitcase, not because of a drawing, not because of anything anybody says.”
Lisa threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder, and he stood up, lifting her right off the ground, and held her there.
Then he looked over her head at his mother.
“Lisa is my daughter,” he said.
Barbara shook her
