Chapter 12

She showed up at my condo at 10:00 a.m. Oh, and her son was with her. That surprised me. A two-hour drive with the two of them: it was a first.

“Hello, Uncle Jack,” said Junior. Okay, he’d been coached, no fucking doubt whatsoever about it.

“And hello to you too,” I said. “Oh, and to you too, coach,” I said. And she did get my meaning, the boy did not. She just smirked.

The ride was pleasant, well, I wasn’t driving; she was. But I was in the front seat, next to her. Man did she smell good. I wondered if that was for me, or, if it was just a habit, smelling good. I was betting on the latter.

We pulled up in front of the Halstead building an hour and forty-five minutes later. We took the elevator to the ninth floor and headed for the main office.

“Daddy,” said my daughter, and that kind of loudly. She gave me the biggest hug I’d had since I’d lost my Allison. Damn, how I missed that woman. She’d anchored me, and I think I did the same for her; well, I convinced myself I had. At any rate missing her was a flat fact.

“Hello, Barbs,” I said. “You look good.”

“Thank, you, Poppa. I’ve missed you; everyone here has missed you. Melanie and Andrew are in Cabo, fishing. It’s their anniversary,” she said.

“Well, good. I’m glad they are happy and sharing and everything, but they best bring us back a fish or two; I mean if they catch anything,” I said, laughing. Stephanie looked down, she knew what I was thinking, and I was. I had no one to share anything with. Well, I did have my daughter. I knew the cheaters saw me as a co-father at best, but for me, in spite of the man’s help, Barbie Halstead was really only my daughter and still Barbie Danson, since she hadn’t married, in spite of the adoption and the other guy’s money and all of it.

The visit to Tucson was turning out to be better than I thought it would be. We ate in, we ate out, we took walks: the two kids and me. Even Stephanie and I were getting along. She wanted to hug me. How did I know that? She told me so. I told her no. I was not at all ready to get physical, not at all ready, not with her. Then, she took a call, I didn’t know from who. But fifteen minutes later I did.

“Mickey!” I said, as she walked in to where we were, the Long Horn.

“Well, you don’t have to act so happy to see me,” she said. I looked over at Stephanie who was smiling, or, maybe smirking, I wasn’t sure which. I was betting on the smirking, but well, I wasn’t sure.

“How... ?” I said.

“I’m down here on a case. I decided to check in on you guys at the office, and found out that you weren’t working here, in Tucson, anymore. But that said, I thought you might start again since I knew you were needing to work, I mean since...”

“Since my girl died,” I said.

“Anyway, I was told you weren’t working here but were in town. They gave me a number,” she said. She nodded in the direction of my ex-wife. “Sorry, I Haven’t kept in touch better than I have.”

“It’s okay. I’ve kind been recuperating. I am working though, just not here. We’ll talk about that later,” I said.

“For sure,” she said.

“And who is this?” said Mickey, looking at Junior. She clearly didn’t recognize him though she had seen him briefly a couple of times. Well, he was growing.

“I’m Jack Halstead Jr. and this is my sister Barbie Halstead,” he said, not realizing that Mickey knew Barbie since she was born. Mickey gave me a look that screamed she understood how I must have felt about the introduction. I just looked down.

I would be hearing about my look from Stephanie on the way back or even sooner depending, I was certain about that.

It turned out I was wrong about when I’d be hearing from Stephanie per the introductions. I heard from her almost immediately.

“Jack, can I talk to you for a minute?” she said, pulling me by my good arm out onto the balcony that ran the full length of restaurant.

“Stephanie, what?” I said.

“Jack, I was there and saw your face, and I know you saw mine, and for that matter Mickey’s.” she nodded back toward our table.

“So?” I said. “There’s nothing I can do about it. It is what it is. She’s his kid now, ever since the adoption. I don’t like it, but that’s the long and the short of it, I guess.”

“She is every bit as much your daughter as she is his,” she said. I just stared at her.

“Yeah right, for sure,” I said. “Anything else?”

“Jack, please?” she said.

“Stephanie, as far as I’m concerned, she has only one daddy. It’s either him or me. And as far as I’m concerned, it’s me. I know no one else is going to see it that way, so don’t stand there and tell me any more lies. I won’t have it, any more lies that is. Got it,” I said.

“Lies? What lies!” she said.

“That she’s as much mine as his. That’s a fucking lie. You obviously pulled me out here to sell me more of your crap. I’m not buying any. So, are you done?” I said.

“Jack, not close to done! What do you want me to do? I don’t know what you want me to do,” she said.

“Well, if you really want to know. I want you to undo what you did, the two of you,” I said.

“Undo? Undo what?” she said. I just snickered.

“Figure it out,” I said, and I went back inside leaving her there.

The rest of the visit went more or less according to hoyle. Mickey left, but not before advising me to forget my hurt and get along with the family. It was her opinion that things would even out in the long run if we could all avoid conflict. That said, she was on my side; well, she was one of the few that knew the whole story. Even Allison had never gotten that; though had we had time to marry she would have.

Then we were on the road home.

“So, how are you feeling now?” said Stephanie, maybe half an hour down the street.

“Good, I guess. It was nice seeing my daughter,” I said, “and Mickey too.”

“Yes, I like Mickey,” said Stephanie.

“Yeah, she’s my favorite partner. We were great together when I was on the force,” I said. “I miss her and the job, my old job.” I could tell by the extended period of silence that she was stung by what I’d said, even though I had not intended to sting her.

She dropped me at my condo, but not before commanding me to come to dinner the following Friday night. I promised to do so.

“So how did it go,” said Herbert.

“In the main good. And, Mickey coming by was a definite plus. But...” she said.

“But?” he said.

“Mickey did not remember Junior. And she wasn’t at the funeral, so, well, he didn’t remember her either,” said Stephanie.

“Okay, so you reintroduced him to her right?” he said.

“Not exactly. He introduced himself and his sister—Barbie Halstead,” she said. The man suddenly realized what the “but” referred to.

“Shit!” he said. “How did the man react.”

“He didn’t not then. Then I made the colossal blunder of taking him aside to assure him that we considered Barbie as much his child as yours and mine,” she said.

“Okay, and,” he said.

“He just said he understood the situation and his inability to do anything about it,” she said.

“Let me guess, He hates it that she’s a Halstead,” he said.

“Yes, in a word yes,” she said.

“What’s he expect us to do. There is nothing we can do. One: she’s an adult and can make up her own mind about those kinds of things. Two: she’s been legally adopted. Her name is Halstead, not Danson,” he said.

“Yes, he understands all that, and he said so. But he is bitter. I asked him just exactly what you just said. I mean I asked him what he expected us to do. He just sneered and essentially said that that was our problem not his,” she said.

“Fuck, and I thought we were doing so well at getting him to lighten up,” he said.

“I guess. I did get him to commit to coming to dinner next Friday night. Maybe we can think of something to soften him up a little by then,” she said.

“Yeah, well good luck with that,” he said. “But ... I could ask Barbie to come up from Tucson. I mean for dinner Friday. I need her down there till Melanie gets back, but that’ll be Monday. One of the others can handle things for a day or two. Whaddya think?”

“And for what? To ask her to go to court to have her name changed? Kind of an in your face thing that I don’ think he’d much appreciate. But you tell me?

“Herb, it’s been tough just bringing him to a place where we could even talk to him. But, we’re at that place now, at least I hope we are. The name thing is a big thing, but if we go slow, and maybe talk to Red; we can come up with something that would satisfy him without messing up our budding relationships,” she said. “Anyway, let’s not jump the gun involving Barbie in any of this. Let’s wait and see how things go on Friday. Okay?”

“Yes, okay, fine,” he said. “I guess that would be the smart way to go. But maybe down the road.”

“Yes,” she said.

I was early, it was 6:00 p.m. Dinner was supposed to be at 8:00 p.m. She seemed surprised.

“Jack, you’re early?” she said.

“Yeah, do you want me to go back and come back later?” I said, tongue in cheek. She smirked.

“Yes, for sure,” she said, “I’ll even pay for the gas. I mean your place is four miles away.” My turn to smirk.

She looked like she was going to try and hug me, but she held off: a good choice.

Sloughing off the silliness, she led the way back inside and to the receiving room. His majesty was there and looking as surprised as she had. But his greeting was a bit more in keeping with my mind set.

“A drink?” he said.

“JD,” I said, “no ice.” He nodded and went to fill the order.

The talk was small talk while we waited for their new cook to finish doing her duty. We ate at 7:33 p.m. I was grateful for that. I was hungry.

As we finished up she motioned the two of us to follow her back into the receiving room.

“Jack, I’m really glad you decided to come tonight. It meant a lot,” she said.

“Ditto that for me,” said Herbert. “And, I did try to get Barbie up here too, but she couldn’t break loose. She will soon though, promise.” I shrugged.

“Well, I knew the food would be good. Oh, and give the cook my compliments,” I said. We were sipping our after-dinner wine, port as it happened. Nothing but the best at the Halsteads.

“Jack, about Tucson...” she started and stopped.

“It was nice,” I said. “And Mickey being available was a very nice addition to seeing your daughter.” She tendered me a sidelong glance.

“And, your daughter,” she said. I didn’t say anything.

“Jack?” the other man said.

“What?” I said.

“Jack, Barbie is your daughter and our daughter too. You okay with that?” he said.

“I’m just going with the flow. Whatever you say is good with me. I owe you a lot,” I said.

“We owe you a whole lot more,” he said. I shrugged.

“A matter of perspective, I guess,” I said. He gave me a strange look.

I wasn’t going to get what I needed, so I would just go with the flow like I’d said. I had determined to do nothing or say nothing to cause a rift in the family.

“So, we’re good?” she said. I shrugged.

“Sure,” I said, “it’s all good.” It wasn’t but it was what it was. I had no influence, and I never would; not with my daughter and certainly not with the two of them. Favors I could get, but my rights? Not in this lifetime; I was certain of that.