The Father of My Daughters

"At this time Elizabeth began to be ill, now she needs twenty-four hour assistance. That's why she's here and that's why she never took the children. Thomas would not divorce her and he would not abandon her. So he couldn't live with me, at least publicly, while she was alive. We didn't know how long she would be with us. But they'd bought me. You understand what I'm getting at?" Laura looked down at the floor.

"That's where you came in. Thomas selected you as the best man to be a Daddy to his daughters. He knew you and arranged for me to work in your office. All I had to do was get you to marry me. After I started working with you, you gained confidence. I could see you taking command in the office, the atmosphere improved. That's when you got your first new promotion. That's when we could get married.

Thomas's plan was for you and me to be married while his wife was alive, then we'd divorce and I would marry him. Simple."

Now Alan interrupted, "So you don't love me? I'm just a stop gap to fill in for a while? I knew I was a bit naive in romance and sex, maybe that's why I didn't see that. Is that why sex was limited?"

"Please Alan let me finish," Laura continued, "OK yes, I liked you right from the beginning, you are nice to me and I think I showed, well, affection to you. You were a bit of a wimp back then you know." Here she giggled for the first time since he dragged her into the car.

"Anyway the girls loved you; you became the perfect Daddy for them. I told Thomas how we were all getting on at home and you were now really in control and at work. The directors could see for themselves how you had knocked your staff into shape. That's when you got your next promotion and I gave up work. From then on it's all been up to you but I've been behind you all the time, you know."

"Elizabeth is dying, she won't last much longer." There was sadness in her voice now. "Of course she knows about me and the girls, we used to visit her when they were small and I hope they'll remember her."

"Well, the plan was for me to wait a few months after, you know," Laura could not say it, "then leave you and move in with Thomas. I promised myself, and the girls, to him and when I promised I did think I truly loved him. I realised too late, it was a silly infatuation for an older man. He was my father figure, if you like, and I wanted to be cared for by a father. But he can't be the girls' father figure as well, he's mine. Now I can't see myself making a home with him. It's time to move on." She paused and turned to Alan.

"The snag is Alan, I fell in love with you, and now I can't leave you. I won't leave you. I'm with you. Take me back to our home and to our daughters."

Laura lowered her head and made no move to get out of the car.

Alan was considering what she had just said. He knew all along that the girls were not his daughters, but they now called him their Daddy and he regarded them as his children. Did it matter who their biological father was? They knew it wasn't him but they had still chosen him, not Thomas.

But why did Laura carry on with Thomas? He answered his own question; because she had to, she had been his woman all that time. He had bought her, as she said. She had to stay with him for her and her daughters' future.

But now, from today, that all had changed. She had changed it. As he thought of it, she was 'divorcing' him from any commitments made earlier.

Alan got out of the car and turned to face Thomas.

"Thomas. I am taking Laura home now. She won't be visiting you anymore. You understand what that means? She'll stay with me. I'll be adopting the girls as my daughters; I want you to give them up. Do you have anything to say?"

"That would have been hard for me even a month ago Alan, but today, yes, I've let her go. We didn't think you had it in you to fight when I wanted her back. I see we were wrong. That's just about what she said to me today and she told Elizabeth the same. Elizabeth convinced me that Laura should be with you. What we did seemed a good idea when we started but, in reality it wasn't, was it? I'm sorry you found all this out as if we were some sort of cheaters but I won't stop her."

Thomas was much less arrogant now, "I'll still want to see them often. You must know I will always love them. What you don't know is that Elizabeth has made provision for them in her will. They will be my link to the memory of Elizabeth and I know I'll always cherish Elizabeth. And they are part of her family; I can't give them up completely."

"Thank you Thomas." Alan acknowledged his statement.

"Oh, Mr Fisher, will you want my resignation from the company next week?"

"Don't be silly Alan; you're almost like a son in law."

Alan kissed Laura and drove home. Neither said anything, but both thought the girls might like a brother.