Chapter 15

I pulled the van containing the contents of my apartment I wanted to keep into the circular drive in front of Lindie's house. Michelle was still resting on my right thigh. She'd been silent for a little while and I guessed she'd been resting or even asleep.

The things she had told me about her life before truly upset me. I knew my eyes were going to be red when Lindie looked into them and Michelle's would be too.

I sighed the same deep staccato breath Michelle had done before when she was trying to bring herself back from the sadness she had felt. "The same!" I thought.

A smile crossed my face. "We were the same. We ARE the same!" settled across my mind.

I'd felt an attraction and love toward my daughter because she reminded me of Lindie. I'd instantly accepted her because she was part of Lindie.

My Little Lindie filled a void I'd never known I'd had and now with that realization I understood. Michelle was part of me just as she was part of Lindie. Something in me that needed to be completed was linked. Another piece of the broken puzzle I'd lived with for so long fit into place.

I just sat in the cab thinking and stroking my daughter's hair and face. Then there was a light tap on the window next to my head as it rested on the glass.

Glancing out the window, there was that wonderful smile I'd missed for so many years. I rolled down the window, not wanting to open the door and disturb Michelle. As soon as I turned my face toward Lindie, there were her lips at mine.

As our lips parted, a hand came to my face. Her thumb landed on one of the moist traces that lined my face. "Are you OK?" she asked.

"Yeah," I answered with that sigh I'd hadn't realized until a moment ago was not only Michelle's but mine too.

"She's asleep?" she asked.

"I think so," I said softly and then with her hand still cuddling my face our lips landed on each others again.

Then as I let the things Michelle had told me replay through my mind new tears filled my eyes. "I'm so sorry," I told my love.

"Michelle told me what your brother and mother did to you all of those years. I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that hatred."

Lindie pulled my face to her breast and stroked me like I comforted our daughter. "It's OK Mikey. It's OK.

"We're here now and we can all be together." Lindie said. "That's what counts."

"I don't think I can ever forgive Rusty for what he did to Michelle and you. How could he have done those things?"

"It's OK Mikey. It's all over now and I'd rather forget it. I love you and you love me! That's what counts," Lindie told me as she pulled me tighter to her chest and continued to stroke my head.

I sighed against those breasts and understood one of the age old questions about women and breasts. In the beginning of a new life they gave sustenance. Then aside from the sexual connotations attached to their purely feminine qualities, they were also there to give soft comfort.

Reaching up with my right hand, leaving Michelle's face, I cupped the left side of her breast. I wanted Lindie in the most basic sexual way.

If there had been a way to suckle her right then, right there, I would have. Only being attached to her and within her at that moment would have improved the feelings I was receiving from her.

"It's OK, Mikey," she said again.

She smiled that wonderful broad smile at me. After a very short pause to take a breath, as she was drawing my mouth to hers again she added, "I want the same thing."

Our lips met and when they parted once more I knew she had felt my thoughts. She softly said, "Later we will be together like that. We can make love like we both want."

"Oh God," I said softly to her. "I want that more than anything ... Anything."

As my head fell once again, cuddled against her breasts, she kissed the crown of my head and held me tightly in her arms.

Then she said again those three words that every heart wants to hear, "I Love You!"

Sighing into her breasts, I repeated them right back to her saying, "I've loved you forever!"

Then from my right thigh, there was a little shift and looking down at her, there was that Little Lindie smile beaming up at me as she too said, "I've loved you too dad ... forever!"

"Bubble-Wrap!" I thought to myself as I lowered my hand to slide over that soft hair of Michelle's. I let my hand fall toward the back of her head and gave her ribbon tied ponytail a loving gentle tug. As my hand continued down to cup her chin she giggled a little.

"I like it when you do that dad. You know, give my ponytail that little tug."

I laughed a bit and leaned over trying to give her a kiss. She shifted up and our lips touched. Quickly I felt Lindie's hand drop softly to the back of my neck and I was once again sandwiched between these two women of mine. Or perhaps I was in Heaven. At least that's what I felt as Michelle sighed into my mouth and our lips parted.

Again, Michelle told me, "I love you dad." Even though it at times sounds trite, I smiled at her brightly lit face and answered her, "I love you too Mickey!"

"Come on you two," Lindie said. "We have to get this van emptied!"

As I stepped from the van I felt a blank look fade across my face. It wasn't until that brief statement from her that I realized two things. The first was I had no idea where we would put all of my stuff, meager as it was. The second thought blew me away. "Lindie and I are finally going to live together!"

As was to become a common trait of ours, Lindie said to me, "Just figured that out, Eh?"

Surprised at that statement I gave the involuntary, no thought answer, "Huh?"

"Was she reading my mind?" crossed through it.

My expression immediately changed when she said, "Yes. I'm reading your mind!

"I was able to do that when we were 10 and I can still do that now. Your face telegraphs what you feel," she explained.

"And ... Yes ... this is the beginning of our lives together!"

"And," Michelle piped in as she snuggled into my right hip, "Mom and I decided just where your stuff could go until it was all unpacked."

"We can put it into the den," Lindie added to the conversation as I stood there, sort of stunned, trying to figure out how they had already talked about it.

I hadn't even asked Lindie to marry me until this morning. Lindie and Michelle had been with me. We had all been together. They had not had time to talk.

There I was, speechless in front of those two. "How?" I asked them.

Michelle picked right up on what I was confused about and told me, "Mom and I talked about it last night. We knew you would have to pack away your apartment."

Lindie picked up on that, saying, "Your mother had talked to me on Friday while you were driving here from Stewart City. She said she thought you might be moving back here to Rock Creek. 'If I know my son at all, I'm sure he will move right in with you, ' she had told me."

"Mom's," I thought. "They know everything!" Again I realized Lindie was a mom. Not mine, but of my daughter. It was part of the female's genes. Female intuition. It was constantly turned on. And I loved it.

How right they all were. Lindie and I had never discussed it. And what did I do. I drove the van right up to her front door! Not my front door. Hers!

They both were right. This is where I wanted to be. Right here beside Lindie. The real plus was Michelle. I had an instant family. And it was mine!

I'd adored Katie and in the short time I'd lived with her mom. We'd become almost father and daughter. I'd loved her as if she were my own. Then catastrophe hit for me when they were taken away from me, Katie and her mom.

Now I had Lindie. My Lindie and My Daughter! Boy that felt good as it echoed through my brain. I smiled not only in my head but on my face.

I laughed out loud when I felt a tug on my right wrist and I focused on the smile in front of mine.

"Welcome back," Lindie said simply.

"Yeah, dad. Where did you go?" Michelle asked.

Looking down at her, I stroked her head once more and gently gave a tug to her ponytail. As she giggled lightly at that affectionate signal, I said, "To a real nice place where we three were together."

"Nice," Michelle said and Lindie added with a nod toward her, no OUR, front door, "Well, the nice place we need to get to is right there in front of us. We need to get that van packed and then I have to make dinner. I'm famished!"

Michelle almost exploded. She excitedly jumped up and down as she exclaimed, "Dad told me he'd take us out to dinner at a RESTURANTE!"