"I had to work late," she said. She'd come into work an hour late, and had to stay late cleaning up to make up for her missed hour. She didn't add, however, that she'd sat out in the open field down the road for several hours. Her childhood neighborhood was growing old. The houses that had one time been filled to the brim with young people were suddenly filled with aging parents and grandparents. All of the kids her age were long gone with families of their own.
Ashley felt as though in a lot of ways she had never grown up at all. Her life was so startlingly simplistic. She had been left well off by her dead husband and hadn't a care in the world except for the fact that her father was fading fast before her eyes. Yet, here she was spending 2 and a half-hours in the field where she'd buried her much-loved pet duck 20 years ago. Crying over spilled milk.
"Ley-Ley, you okay?" her father asked.
She smiled at him. "Of course, Daddy."
"Jenni called," he said. "She wanted to know if tomorrow you'd like to go dress shopping. Only a month until the big day? Did Jenni finally find herself a husband?"
"Yes," Ashley said, dumping her purse on a chair and sitting down in the chair next to his. "You remember Taylor's brother Isaac, don't you?"
His eyes widened. "Isaac? That busybody? How did she get him to slow down?"
"Jenni's pretty wily," Ashley explained. "She's got her ways."
"Well, she always was a pretty little thing." He sighed and smiled sadly at her. "When are you going to find yourself a husband, Angel?"
Ashley frowned. "Daddy…"
"I'm serious, babe," he said, cutting her off. "I don't want it to seem like getting married should be your ultimate goal in life, because it isn't. But you're 33 years old now, and you've accomplished so many of your other goals. Your time is running out. You're ovaries only function well for so long. I don't want you to wait until it's too late. I don't want you to end up not fulfilling your dreams…"
"But…"
"No buts," he said. "Your mother and I, we love you. We've never felt anything less than love for you. You were always enough for us. We wanted another one, but we waited too long. We were never disappointed in you and you gave us enough love and happiness to fill a thousand lifetimes. I just don't want you to go through the rest of your life lonely. It's not your fate to be old and totally alone."
She felt her eyes getting wet.
"Don't cry, baby doll," he said, reaching out across the coffee table and touching her cheek. "I'm an old man, and I may never get to know my grandkids - if I ever have any. But I want your mother to know her grandchildren, Ashley, and I want you to know yours as well. I want what's best for you. I want you to be happy."
He doubled over suddenly, wincing.
"Daddy?" she asked, jumping from her chair. After a moment of gritting his teeth, he slowly sat back up.
"Don't worry about me, Angel," he told her. "Go to bed so you can go shopping in the morning."
Warily, she crept to her room.
