Chapter 26

Life sailed along for another five years. I wrote three more Battle Babes, seemed I couldn't quite let it go. Four more Dark Handsome novels established him as a proven franchise, and Leah was already writing the second screen play, the first movie was as successful as any we'd produced. Issabella wrote two more romances, which made moderately successful movies.

The kids were growing like weeds, and the big house seemed a lot smaller these days. Tory and Cathy had gotten into showing horses, both theirs and some of the ones Jose bred. Cat would often be with them, showing Fell ponies. After talking it over, we took eight Fell mares, trained them, and built a small barn and a riding paddock. Three days a week mentally and physically challenged children and adults were brought out and given rides. Laura and Ursala both became volunteers, and did most of the work after being trained properly. Carmella helped, but her time was limited, because she often traveled with her husband. She had met Jerry, our casting director, at one of our shoots. They were close to the same age, and hit it off immediately. A year later, they married, an outdoor ceremony held at our farm.

Dorian and Leah talked me into opening a production facility right outside of Atlanta, in an abandoned old school. The old gym was perfect for a sound stage. What work we didn't do in Canada was done there, Dorian and Leah hadn"t been back to LA more than three times in the last four years, and then just to see his mother and stepfather.

The tribe grew once again, and a realtor got a little richer when Leahs' folks bought a house in the same development, three houses down. They'd decided they were not going to miss out any more on their grandchildren, and just showed up. Uncle Jerry was a hit with the kids, keeping them laughing for hours, then switching gears, talking about serious things. Cathy caught me watching them, and confronted me later.

"What's going through that convoluted brain of yours?"

"Something totally different," I said, quoting Monty Python. She didn't get it, a generational thing, I guess.

"Talks with Uncle Jerry" was an innovative new show, aimed at ten to fourteen year olds instead of toddlers. Jerry would have thirty to forty kids in the studio, tell them jokes, have a musical guest, and then he'd talk to them about things like peer pressure, divorce, abuse, cyberbullying, and other hot topics. He would even skirt sex lightly to the older ones, urging them to talk to an adult close to them about the changes in their bodies. He'd have guests, a fifteen year old recovering alcoholic, a thirteen year old girl who almost committed suicide over bullying. One episode talked about addiction, and he even showed some old news clips about his descent, and talked about his recovery and how it was a constant battle to remain sober and clean. The camera panned the audience, all watching with rapt attention. It won a Peabody. I considered it the best work I'd ever done.

Leah was so proud of her dad she was almost delirious. She got me off to the side one Sunday, walking me down to my office. When we got there she gave me a tremendous, no holds barred, soul imprinting kiss. Even as she did it, I could feel no sexual overtones from either of us. "Thanks. As much as I appreciate it, I have to ask what brought it on?"

"Love," was her simple reply. "And thanks for what you did. Jerry is my dad. He'll always be my dad. But he was never around much as I grew up, even while he was still with my mother. Then, for years, he basically disappeared from our lives. I know, intellectually, that he had to fight the demons that controlled his life, but that didn't mean much to a twelve year old girl. You, however, have been a constant in my life since the day we met. You mentored me, petted me when I needed reassurance, kicked my ass firguratively when it was necessary. Dorian says I was never fully a woman until you came into our lives. You have been always been the first one I turned to when I needed advice, and you were always honest with me. You held my hand when Cat was born, and I realized lately that you've held my hand ever since."

I felt a lump forming in my throat as I listened to her. Allergies, I think.

"What I'm trying to say in this awkward, roundabout way, that even though Jerry is my dad, I consider you my father. Do you understand?"

"I, I do. And I'll always consider you my first daughter. Always. My daughter by choice, because I need you to be. My world wouldn't be nearly as bright without you. Now stop, before your father blubbers like a baby."

We hugged fiercely for a few more minutes, calming down. As we walked back up the path, listening to the din of our family all together, I don't think I ever felt happier in my whole life.