He put his arm around my shoulders.
"I'm never going to forgive her for not giving you my last name when you were born.
But I'm not mad about the money thing anymore.
I'd never be able to make her happy in the long run, and she knew herself enough to know that."
I nodded, feeling sorry for all of us.
"And really" - he sighed and rested his cheek against the top of my head for a moment - "as much as I wish I could give you all the things her husbands can, I'm just glad you're getting them.
I'm not too proud to appreciate that your life is better because of her choices.
And I'm not upset with my lot.
I've got a good life that makes me happy and a daughter who makes me so damn proud.
I consider myself a rich man because there's nothing in this world I want that I don't already have."
I stopped walking and hugged him.
"I love you, Daddy.
I'm so happy you're here."
His arms came around me, and I thought I just might be all right eventually.
Both my mom and my dad were living fulfilling lives without the one they loved.
I could do it, too.
* * *
I fell into a depression after my dad left.
The next few days crawled by.
Every day I told myself I wasn't waiting on some sort of contact from Gideon, but when I crawled into bed at night, I cried myself to sleep because another day had ended without a word from him.
The people around me worried.
Steven and Mark were overly solicitous at lunch on Wednesday.
We went to the Mexican restaurant where Shawna worked, and the three of them tried so hard to make me laugh and enjoy myself.
I did, because I loved spending time with all three of them and hated the concern I saw in their eyes, but there was a hole inside me that nothing could fill and a niggling worry about the investigation into Nathan's death.
My mom called me every day, asking if the police had contacted me again - they hadn't - and filling me in if the police had contacted her or Stanton that day.
I worried that they were circling around Stanton, but I had to believe that because my stepfather was obviously innocent, there was nothing for them to find.
Still .
I wondered if they would end up finding anything.
It was obviously a homicide or they wouldn't be investigating.
With Nathan being new to the city, who did he know who'd want to kill him? In the back of my mind, I couldn't help but think that Gideon had arranged it.