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Calvin had been steeling himself to go straight into the rec room once he got to the Compound, but at the looming possibility of a daughter-from-the-future, he hesitated just outside the doorway. Palms sweaty, heart racing, the need to throw up hadn't completely gone away. The marriage license had been bad enough, and that was just a piece of
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Mother warned me that it might be a while, but she promised that Daddy would come, so like she asked, I waited in the rec room, a wreck.
I couldn't clean. I couldn't _think_. Thank goodness, the jukebox decided to keep quiet, or I might have pulled a fit again. So instead, I just sat, at the end of the couch furthest away from the door, perking up and looking over every time the door opened, and somebody -- not Daddy -- came into the room.
That happened a lot.
Eventually, my nerves compressed me into daze, and I slouched on the couch, staring at the table in front of me, unresponsive as people came and left. When the door opened yet again, an hour after Mother had left, I didn't move. I didn't look up. Until, that was, I became aware of a figure standing there for a long moment, staring at me.
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I took a deep breath. "I claimed an empty hut a bit south of the Compound. I've generally stuck around here. I help clean up the kitchen and rec room, and I'm hoping to talk to somebody at the school about setting up a preschool."
But then I paused, running my hand over my chin. Mother and Daddy, in the same hut. Daddy having to sleep on the floor due to Mother's disapproval, meaning that usually they shared their bed. Well, it was to be expected that they would be together, wouldn't it? Except..."
I looked up at Daddy. "Daddy? Um... How old are you?"
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That, at least, was a simple question and an easy answer. "Nineteen. Meg and I both, thank God. Not like what had happened with the twins, who had shown up tall and three years older than I was expecting."
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I frowned slightly when Daddy told me he was nineteen. Mother looked to be about that old. And yet I knew that they didn't marry each other until they were twenty-four. "How long have you and Mother been here?"
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Something in him was pleased that his daughter would want to help people and get so involved so soon. But it was still hard to look at this girl and superimpose the idea of her being his daughter at the same time.
"A long time, we're old hats at this." He leaned back in the chair. "Over two years for me, and almost as long for her."
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My face reddened to even _think_ about asking this, but my curiosity got the better of me. As I looked down and traced the edge of the table with my finger, I asked. "Um... Daddy? Are you and Mother... married, right now?"
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Calvin knew exactly what she was getting at and flushed as he scratched his hand through his hair. Ever since the twins had gone, nobody had much cared to know what they got up to at home. And they had had that spectacular fight when the future marriage certificate had shown up.
"Ah, no, not as such. Never something we worried much about here."
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"Well," I said, beaming and blushing. "It's nice to know there are some constants in this universe, at least."
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Suddenly I had a feeling that, as troubled as my times had been, as worried as I was about the future, about my looks, my skills, my whatever, here was someone very close to me who may well have had the same fears. And yet... I knew what he was capable of. So, who knew what _I_ would be capable of.
"Well, given that I've asked you a really awkward, embarrassing question," I said. "I suppose it's only fair that I return the favour. Embarrassing or not, ask away. I'll answer."
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"You're- you're okay? I mean, as a whole. You look- healthy and well-fed. Outwardly alright, but that's-" Shyly, he ducked his head and tried again. "Having a good life, so far?"
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Coming back from ancient Connecticut, I had intended to head straight home to Benne Seed, tell my parents I had things to say, sit with them late into the night, over cocoa, and tell them everything. Tell them what happened during that night months ago when Max made a drunken pass at me, and I'd cut my foot on the shells of her driveway running away. How I'd hitchhiked, been propositioned, and finally seduced Rennie out of some desire for love and control.
But that was something to dump on my parents when they were 42, not 19.
And why had he asked that question? Didn't he know that he'd give me as good a life as any father could possibly give?
But he wouldn't know, would he? And remembering what I knew about his parents... So I told him what he needed to hear: the truth.
"Daddy," I said at last. "I'm happy. We're all happy. You and Mother loved us totally, and I couldn't have asked for better parents."
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But that was normal. It had to be. Everyone was like that when they were teenagers. Lives were complicated. It didn't necessarily mean that she had had this horrible life. It just meant she was normal.
He swallowed, but gave a quick flash of smile at her answer. "Good. That's good. And- all your brothers and sisters too? You guys didn't want for anything growing up, all the necessities taken care of?"
Maybe it was a stupid question. Not the kind you're should have to ask- you're supposed to know the answer to that.
He'd promised himself, though. Wasn't going to wind up like his pop, a dead beat with no jobs and more kids than he can support. It was important.
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I reached across the table and clasped his hand.
"We were -- _are_ happy, Daddy. Seriously. We live on an island, you're a renown scientist, although Mother always has to check your sums." In fact you were so famous that a multi-national company tried to kidnap me to influence your research, but I won't be telling you that. "We ate well. You made sure we took our vitamins. Don't _worry_. You're going to be a great Dad."
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"So... what happens next, Daddy?" I asked. "What do we do now?"
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