Chapter 5

“Daddy!” I heard Emily call out from downstairs.

“Hello Emily!” I heard a male voice reply.

I made my way to the stairs and took a peak at what was going on. Emily was wearing clothes and wrapped in an embrace with a man at the door. Maria must have heard them and got dressed. She walked past me and went down the stairs.

“What is he doing here?” Maria asked angrily.

“Hey Mom. I found dad!” Emily said as their embrace ended.

“I can see that, but why is he here?”

“I wanted to get to know him more. I’ve never known him my whole life.”

“Right uh, Can we have a moment please, Jake. I need to talk to MY daughter,” Maria said as she closed the door without waiting for an answer.

“What do you think you’re doing Emily? Why do you have any interest in your father at all?” Maria said, standing in front of the door.

“I just wanted to get to know my father more. This is the first time we’ve met in person,” Emily said.

“You’ve been talking before this?” Maria said with concern.

“Yeah we’ve been talking online for a few days now,” Emily said with a smile.

“Listen to me Emily, your father is a bad man. He knocked me up at 16 and I had your sister Ellen, he left me for 2 years until he wanted to try and come back into her life. Then he knocked me up again with you and I haven’t seen him ever since. The most we’ve spoken is about child support over the phone.”

“I know mom, he told me everything.”

“Then why is he here?” Maria asked, confused.

“He’s changed. I want my father in my life.”

“Did you even discuss this with your sister?”

“No, I probably should have though.”

“Why don’t you go tell her now. I’ll speak with your father.”

Emily nodded and ran towards the stairs. I ducked back down the hall and went back into my room with Ellen. Emily walked in right behind me.

“Hey sis, I may have done something and I’m really sorry I didn’t speak to you first,” Emily said as she looked at her feet.

“What’s wrong, Em?” Ellen replied.

“I might have found and invited our father over to the house.”

“You what?” Ellen said with a gasp.

“Yeah I understand if you don’t want to see him, I don’t think he’ll stay long if you want to hide up here.”

“I think it would be good to at least meet him,” Ellen said as she got up from her chair and threw on some clothes. “Come with me, we can all get introduced.” She gestured for myself and Sarah to follow. We put on some clothes as well and we followed Sarah down stairs. We saw Maria and Jake not speaking to each other on the couch. He stood up when he saw us walking towards him.

“Daddy, this is my sister and your oldest daughter, Ellen. And Ellen, this is our father, Jake.”

“Ellen, It’s wonderful to finally meet you. You’ve grown into a lovely young woman.” Jake said, holding his hand out to her.

“It’s nice to meet you too– Jake.” Ellen said as she shook his hand lightly.

“I heard a hesitation there. You may label me as whatever you are comfortable with,” He said, releasing Ellen’s hand and smiling.

“Okay uh, Father, I’d like to introduce you to my boyfriend and my girlfriend.”

“Nice to meet you sir,” I said as I shook his hand.

“This should be interesting,” Sarah said, shaking his hand next.

“Lucky enough to find two soulmates, that’s wonderful for all three of you!” Jake said.

“And my name is Oliver,” Oliver said as he made his way down the stairs.

“Nice to meet you Oliver, in our short chat Maria has said nice things about you.”

They shook hands and Oliver sat on the couch next to Maria. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tight.

“It’s really good to meet all of you, but I hope you understand that I am mostly here for my daughters.”

“Of course Daddy, can we go out now like you said we would?” Emily said with excitement.

“Only if your mother says it’s okay, you’re only 15 after all.”

“She’s been independent for 5 years, she can make her own choices no matter how wrong they are,” Maria said, shooting Jake a nasty look.

“Okay,” He said awkwardly and turned back to Emily. “I guess we can go for a little trip now Emily. Would you like to join us, Ellen?”

“I think I’m okay ... But will you be staying long?”

“I’ll be here for a good while this time Ellen.” He said as he looked into her eyes. “I won’t leave you again, I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you never keep Jake,” Maria said.