Chapter 18

Tim's turn:

So that's an interesting kink, if I may be allowed a euphemism. No sense cussing or losing my cool over it. It's just one of those twists in life's road. Vicki's coming in this afternoon. I've explained my need for leaving work a bit early. I'll go by the school, gather one reason for living, and go pick up another.

And hope and pray that the two fit together.

"I think we'll be okay, baby. You worry too much," Kim told me.

"So many possibilities. Little girls and their daddies..."

"Baby, let's be realistic. You've had so little impact on her life for the last two years..." Two years ago the ex and her husband moved out of the state. I could've spent a lot of money on a lawyer and fought it under the terms of the child custody clause of our divorce, but my attorney advised me that even with a GOOD case I'd be on slippery ground, and as a single, itinerant engineer, I didn't have a real good case. So Kim's right. For two years, I've had phone calls and four weeks.

"I hope you're right."

"Just YOU hang on and don't be jealous. I'm Vicki's friend as well as your wife."

"And her step-mom."

Kim smiled a tiny bit. "Yes. And I have to walk a fine line between those two. Build a relationship based on me loving her daddy and having talked to her ten times on the phone. But you know what?"

"What?"

"She's smart. I think we'll do just fine. You're worrying too much. Between you and me and Aunt Jenn and Laci, we'll do fine."

I walked into the school office, showed my ID to the school 'resource officer', and gained admittance to the front office.

"May I help you?" the lady at the desk asked.

"I'm Tim Duncan. I'm here to pick up Kimberly Elkins."

"Somehow I pictured Tim Duncan as almost seven feet tall and black."

"Wrong Tim Duncan," I said. "I'm just an engineer."

"And rumor has it, the future husband of Miss Kimberly. Her aunt and I are good friends."

"Jenn's a case. Of course, so's Kimberly."

The lady scribbled a pass and handed it to a teen girl who was apparently the student runner.

"Jenn approves, and she's mostly normal, you know, so I didn't expect Chester the Molester. You look normal. So Kim..."

"Swept together in the tides of time," I said.

Her eyebrow raised. "Oh, they told me you were literate."

"Vocabulary. Opposable thumbs, the whole schmeer, " I tossed back.

"You ought to come to our open house next month. They used to call it the Christmas pageant, but the administration's getting kind of politically correct. With a little pre-warning, I'm sure you'd be a minor topic of interest."

"We don't want to be a topic of interest," I countered. "I guess it goes with the territory, though."

"I can just imagine," she said. "Still, she's more than a sterling scholar and unlike a couple dozen others, she's not pregnant. Hard to say anything bad."

"I hope not. I adore her."

"Adore who?" a familiar voice spoke behind me.

I turned and saw a high school student. She was dressed a bit more conservatively than a lot I'd seen, but I found her utterly adorable. "Oh, just some random high school girl. One in a billion. Hi, sweetie!"

"Hi yourself, Tim. Are you bothering the staff?"

"Nope, just pacing back and forth," I said. To the lady behind the counter I said, "Thanks!" and Kim and I left.

We didn't hold hands until we were out of the building, then hers reached over and grabbed mine.

"Now dozens of people will know what my guy looks like," she said. "Besides the ones who've seen the pictures on my phone." She paused. "Are you nervous?"

"A little."

"Me too. Can't help it. But it's our path, isn't it?"

I sighed. "Yes, it is. I hope she likes you in person as much as she seems to over the phone."

In the car, Kim was atypically nervous. "What if she doesn't like me?"

"She'll like you. You're impossible NOT to like."

"A lot of my fellow students don't feel that way."

"You intimidate them. You're intellectually adept and emotionally mature. That's a big threat to kids who think that wearing the right clothes and hearing the right music is key to satisfying life."

"I'm just me..."

"And you're a wonderful 'you'," I said. "Let's not worry about stuff, okay?"

"Just trying to be prepared for all possible outcomes."

"That's good. But don't let it weigh on you. The reality is that you two already somewhat know each other. She's my daughter and now she's your daughter too. I'm sure there will be some friction, but if anybody can handle friction, that's US."

"I love you, babe," she said. "I don't want us to ever stop."

"We won't ever stop. We'll just figure out how to make things work with Vicki for a week or two."

"Just so you know, Tim, I want this to work."

"I never suspected otherwise, little one," I said.

We drove out of town to the regional airport, parked, and went inside. I made sure my presence was known to the airline supporting Vicki's flight and Kim and I found a place to sit.

"You," I said. "This is the first time I've ever seen you nervous. Even the day you announced you loved me, you seemed like you were in control."

"Because it was me and you, and I think I can read you, like from Day One. Vicki, well, I don't have that much experience with kids her age, and I just don't know."

"She's a good kid. Just remember the 'kid' part. That means instant gratification if she can work it. She's smart and she may be manipulative, but she's a kid, not an adult."

"Not an adult," Kim repeated. "She's not an adult. You're an adult. Am I an adult?"

"I certainly hope so. We're getting married in a few days. That's a pretty adult thing."

"Not for some people."

"Kimberly," I said, using her full name for emphasis, "If I thought you weren't an adult in every way except a date on your birth certificate, I wouldn't be sitting here expecting to be your husband." I put my arm around her shoulder and kissed that soft brown hair. "My Kimmy. We'll be just fine."

The PA system announced the arrival of the incoming flight. We went to wait at the arrival gate. After the thundering herd of passengers surged out,

a somewhat worse for the wear flight attendant appeared with a little honey-blonde girlchild holding her hand.

"That's my Daddy!" she squealed, pulling her hand loose, charging. I caught her and picked her up for a hug.

"You're Mister Duncan, I assume?" the attendant asked.

"Kim, show her my license."

Kim fished my wallet out of my pocket and pulled the license out. "It's him. See?!?"

The lady looked at the license, then me, then back at the license. "Close enough. Here's her baggage claims," she said, handing me the little folio. She titptoed and kissed Vicki on the cheek. "Be good, Miss Vicki. Maybe I'll see you on the way back home."

"Bye, Mizz Andrea. Thank you very much." Then Vicki turned to Kim.

Kim. Who was standing there in her own version of 'the misplaced little girl' stance.

"Daddy. I gotta hug Kim. Put me down."

I lowered Vicki to the floor. Kim knelt down to her level. "Hi, my Vicki. Am I more evil in person?"

"Kimmmmmyyyyyy!" Vicki squealed, wrapping Kim up as best she could. "We're together. Just like I wanted to be!"

I noted that statement. And the smile on Kim's face as she looked at me over Vicki's shoulder.

"I'm glad to see you too, sweetie," Kim said. "Let's go get your bags so we can go home, 'kay?"

"Yesssss!"

The three of us looked happy, I would imagine, heading through the terminal towards the baggage claim area. I noted that Vicki was holding Kim's hand, not mine. Interesting. I was the absent dad. Kim was the new friend. This could be a good thing, or it could be because I had a bag in each hand. Still, she was holding onto Kim's hand, smiling as we walked out of the terminal.

I was making sure Vicki was buckeld into the back seat when Kim tapped me. "Tim, she's gonna need a kiddie seat. That state law, you know."

"Oh, yes. I guess we need to..."

"Yes, Daddy," Vicki said. "I need to be safe."

At least that wasn't another battle.

"Is this a new car, Daddy?" Vicki asked as Kim and I closed the doors.

"Yep. Kim and I picked it out together. D'you like it?"

"It's very nice. I like the way it smells."

"New car smell. Some of the chemicals they use to make the plastics come out," Kim said.

"Clinical," Vicki said. "That sounds clinical."

Kim's head swung back. ""Where's that word come from?"

"Which one? Clinical? Did I use it wrong?"

"No you didn't. It's just not a word I expect an eight year old girl to use."

Vicki sat up as tall as she could. "I'm almost nine. And I have an actual vocabulary. Kids at school think I'm strange."

"Strange?" Kim asked as I listened.

"Yes," Vicki's head bounced as she answered. "I can do all that stuff they try to teach in the third grade. Way more, really."

"Oh," said Kim. "Would it surprise you if I told you that I felt the same way in school? That's why I'm graduating when I'm sixteen."

We were getting back into town when I turned into the parking lot of a superstore. "Lets go get you a seat, kiddo," I said.

"Daddy, are smart girls freaky?" Vicki asked.

I cut my eyes at Kim, noting the patented 'Kimberly smirk'. "No, not at all baby," I affirmed. "Kimberly's a smart girl. Makes her especially charming to some people."

"Like you?"

"Like me."

We navigated through the store, beelining to the selection of infant and child seats, then making several detours on the way back to cashiers.

Finally we're pulling into the parking lot at the apartment. "This is where we live, Vicki," Kim said.

Okay. Repeat of the airport: I carry bags. Kim and Vicki hold hands like schoolkid friends. We walked past Jenn's apartment.

"That's my Aunt Jenn's apartment. I was living with her when I met your daddy."

"Ohhhh," Vicki said.

Two doors down, Kim opened the front door.

"Neat lock," Vicki said. "I never saw one like that before."

"I installed it. You don't need a key if you know the code," I said.

"Mom says you like that 'sciency stuff'."

"Yeah, it's kinda the way I make a living, you know..."

"Uh-huh," Kim said. "He knows all kinds of things. People pay him for that."

Inside, Vicki looked around. "Daddy, this is very nice. Kim, did you help him fix it like this?"

Kim smiled. "Yes, I did. My aunt and her friend helped, too. But we caught him right when he moved in, so he had not yet tried things on his own."

"I like it," Vicki said. "Where's my room?"

"It's only got two bedrooms, and I used one for an office. Kim and I moved things around to put your bed in there."

Kim and I had done a quick shot at a neat little twin bed for Vicki. I had intended on purchasing one in due time. The emergency visit sort of accelerated things.

"I like the covers, Daddy," Vicki said. "Mommy thinks little girls have to do pink. I like this better." She looked at Kim. "You chose this, huh?"

Kim nodded, smiling a bit. "I never understood that 'pink' thing either. Of course most young girls' rooms don't contain that printer."

"It's big," Vicki said. "I can live with it, though. This is my room. I can live with it." Sounded awfully mature.

"Come on," Kim said. "You've been travelling all day. Let's wipe your face and get you something to eat."

"I am kind of hungry."

"Just a little something for now? It's a little early for dinner," Kim said.

"Okay. Let's see what you've got."

There's a lot of mileage available by a loaf of white bread and some peanut butter and jelly.

"Lopovers," Vicki said, watching Kim fix sandwiches while I poured glasses of milk.