Chapter Text
I watched Daniel as he paced his Brooklyn apartment, stressed about how he could possibly inform his family about his new form or whatever he would wish to call it. I had already told him he simply shouldn’t, but he had combated that with the fact that his oldest daughter Kate, was bound to notice something had changed about her father - she had inherited the astuteness that Louis had remarked upon in their first encounter. Talking of his children, they had decided that they should do the duty of paying their elderly father a visit last night. They were both very concerned about my presence and about their dads new book and had since then invited us to dinner at an upscale restaurant, about half an hour's drive away. Despite this fact we only had an hour till we were supposed to arrive
“Daniel my beloved, you need to calm yourself. We are to meet with your children in 59 minutes and you are nowhere near ready, you're still in your night clothes. Go and get ready,” I told him in a commanding yet not quite rude tone.
“Jees Armand you don't need to act like I’m a child,” I gave him a pointed look,” ok ok, I’m going, I’m getting ready boss.”
“Good!” I called out to him as he disappeared into his room.
~~~~~~
I brushed down my blazer as I entered the restaurant, I surveyed the room looking for either dad or Lenora, hoping I would see the latter first. Lookily for me I spotted her at a table in a simple naples yellow dress that suited her tanned complexion beautifully. She caught my eye as I walked towards the table waving slightly. As I sit she starts a simple and polite conversation, during which my mind drifts to the events that lead to our current situation.
~~~~~~
I am sitting in my office in central New York flicking through a client's file, a boring divorce, no kids, no major assets, no abuse, just a shortly lived marriage between two just out of college teens with barely any experience. Not that I blame them. I almost wish that had been my life, settled down, happy, in love, but I am my fathers daughter so that was never truly in the cards. Now I just spend my time working, talking to my sister (even if those conversations are often strained and disconnected), and drinking - another thing I unwillingly inherited from the father I can barely stand.
Talking of Lenora, my phone buzzed with a text from her.
L: look at this video
Bellow that was a link to a tiktok video that i debated about pressing for a while, unprofessional for one to watch tiktoks in the office of a law firm, but I did anyway expecting it to just be a meme or funny video, the usual things we send each other, but it instead was a video of a cab, when the window was rolled down I saw two men one older, one significantly younger, it then zoomed in on them. Is that dad? And then he kissed the other man, a boy that barely looked my age let alone old enough for my father to be kissing him. I sent her a quick text back.
K: What the hell?
I thought the book would be the worst thing he did
She replied almost immediately.
L: That's what I thought
Do you think we should talk to him about it
K: I’m not sure
Yk randomly confronting him after not talking to him about anything personal in years is not exactly normal of us
L: We could disguise it as a wellbeing check up?
K: Could we? Honestly?
L: you mean could you, never been good at lying to peoples faces have you?
K: yes
L: yes
And so we went to visit him and it went about as well as we expected. Now we are sitting in an unnecessarily posh restaurant dads new boy toy had booked us, waiting for a man dating someone who, by the looks of things, isn't even the same age as his oldest daughter, but you know life could be worse - only if it really, really tried.
~~~~~~
We arrived, late due to Daniel's lack of time perception, and then worked our way toward the table they were sat at, Kate with her shoulder length brown curly hair and yellow-ish skin wearing a simple plum two-piece suit looking both tired and bored and Lenora with her longer wavy hair pulled into a bun and tan skin, wearing a nice Naples yellow dress - not dissimilar to the one Claudia wore to her death.
We sat at the table in opposite seats. Daniel immediately placed his hand on my knee. I would never have thought he would be this clingy as my fledgling but even in my - comparatively - old age, things still have the ability to surprise you.
Kate stiffly greeted him and didn't even spare a glance in my direction, Lenora was more polite about her discomfort - at least thats what i believe is the emotion flooding through both of them that stated as soon as we sat down - greeting both me and Daniel kindly with only slight unease present in her face. We got into a rhythm of polite small talk and ordered a collection of starters me and Daniel opting to share to minimise the near painful process of eating plain un-nutritious human food.
Which of course Kate remarked upon,” Why are you eating so little?"
Though the question was clearly directed at her father I answered,” he is on a diet for his health and I generally have a smaller appetite.”
She glared at me in return but continued to eat her garlic bread as we picked at our shared calamari. The conversation returned back to the small talk, Kate's job as a lawyer, Lenora’s as an accountant, her new husband and Kate's lack of romantic partner, which Lenora prodded with a sisterly manner. Overall the diner was pleasant till the end, but one thing Kate asked changed that,"So why are you dating my father, you just want his money don't you?” her voice was laced with an unnatural sweetness.
Daniel turned to stare at her his mouth agape - and luckily not full,” you can say something like that.”
“Why? because it's rude, that certainly never stopped you with mum,” the words were sharp and hit Daniel exactly where they hurt the most.
“I am dating your father because I love him and for no other reason and for the record I am about ten times richer than him.” I looked straight into her unflinching eyes as I spoke.
A look of shock spread over her face, her mind rushing for what to say next but she couldn't find the words.