A quick stop at the newsstand for the latest copy of Publishers Weekly, and Andrew was headed to Bruno’s for dinner and to meet his ex. It was his weekend with their daughter Rachel, and Bruno’s was their favorite spot. For an eight-year-old girl, that kid could put away some pepperoni pizza.
Andrew and Rachel’s mother Talia were never married, and she left him before telling him she was pregnant. The resulting paternity and custody battles got ugly, she admitted in court that she had used Andrew as little more than a sperm donor and that she never had any intention of sharing Rachel. He always thought he wanted to be a father one day, but he expected to be many years in the future and that he would be in a committed relationship when it happened.
Andrew was eloquent in his testimony, assuring the judge that he wanted to be more than a faceless monthly check. He asked to be part of his daughter’s life, and to help raise her.
The Judge agreed and ordered that Andrew be given generous visitation rights, including having Rachel stay with him every other weekend, summers, and a holiday schedule that he and Talia worked out with their attorneys. Andrew was to provide child support and medical insurance. Talia was to get the court’s permission is she ever wanted to move more than 100 miles away.
In private Talia was livid. She had managed to pick up a decent guy, when all she wanted was good genes and a baby. Now, she was going to be attached to this man for the rest of her life, or his.
They had called a tenuous truce for the sake of their child. Rachel met every six months with a court appointed social worker who knew the genesis of the little girl’s conception. Andrew had concerns that Talia would corrupt Rachel against him, and insisted that some controls be put in place so his relationship with his daughter could proceed unimpeded. So far, it had.
Andrew pocketed his magazine and the dollar change he got at the newsstand, it was odd in that red ink was stamped along the edges. He thought Rachel would enjoy seeing it, so he made sure to keep it separate from his other money.
Rounding the corner from the restaurant, Rachel saw her father first. Letting out a rather unladylike whoop, she ran head long toward him. At the last minute, Andrew sceeoped her up, swinging her high in he air. She laughed and squealed as only a joyuous kid could. Talia looked on, a sour expression on her face.
Talia was a no-nonsense woman. She worked very hard to be taken seriously in her profession. As a international investment banker, she could not afford silliness or frivolity. She took Rachel to museums and art galleries. They attended the opera and ballet. Rachel was in dance class and took French lessons. Her violin recital was the following weekend. Andrew had already ordered a dozen roses to present to her after her performance. A recognition her mother felt was unwarranted considering Rachel’s young age. Andrew tried to tell her that all little girls loved flowers. Talia informed him that she never did.
When Rachel spent time with her dad, they went to ballgames, arcades, silly movies, unlike the subtitled indie films her mother insisted they see. There were giggle wars and pillow fights.
Andrew always had Rachel at Christmas because her mother refused to participate in the commercial subterfuge. It was more than that she claimed to be an atheist, she also had issues with the mythology of Santa Clause. Not only did she not give her daughter any gifts from the Jolly Ol’ Elf, she also didn’t exchange presents with her. She left that tradition to Andrew.
If Santa wasn’t part of Rachel’s life, neither was the Easter Bunny, Valentine’s Day Cupid, or the Tooth Fairy. Rachel lost her first baby tooth while at her mother’s, she kept it to show her father. When he told her the story of the ToothFairy, she asked him where the fairy would look for her tooth, at his house or her mommy’s.
From that day, whenever she lost a tooth, she’d put it under the pillow in her room at her dad’s house.
It was shared moments like that, that aggravated Talia the most. When she first planned having a child on her own, it was with the thought, that she would have control over the influences in that child’s life. Having to share Rachel with Andrew was spoiling all that.
He was filling her head with ridiculous fluff. She wanted her daughter to be a cultured, sensible young lady. Not a wild child with skinned knees and a love for the Mets… the ball team, not the opera house.
Talia stood back shaking her head at the spectacle of her daughter yelling like an fool on the street. Waiting for Andrew to set her back on the sidewalk, Talia walked over with Rachel’s backpack.
They exchanged cool pleasantries and Andrew hoisted the pack onto his shoulder.
“When I pick up Rachel on Sunday, can I stay for a few minuets? We need to discuss an important matter.”
For the millionth time, Andrew wondered what he had ever seen in Talia. Since he found out her baby-conceiving plans, she had completely changed. When they first met she had been fun, exciting, even and little spontaneous. Now, she was so overly stoic it was painful to talk to her. Rachel seemed happy, so he believed Talia was treating her well. But he never saw her hug their daughter or even say ‘I love you.’
Rachel waved goodbye to her mother, and Talia just smiled and turned to leave.
The lack of open affection between Talia and their daughter was sad for Andrew. The closeness he felt with Rachel was the most amazing thing he had ever experienced. That Talia couldn’t let go of her emotions enough to appreciate being the mother to such a great kid, it truly was her loss.
Andrew made an elaborate show of opening the restaurant door for his daughter, making a sweeping flourish with his hand, bowing deeply with a courtly flair. Rachel giggled, then swaggering through the doorway.
The hostess, familiar with Rachel and Andrew, gave the little girl a hug and took them to their regular table. The wait staff at Bruno’s like seeing the dad and daughter team. Unlike many kids who came into the pizza parlor, Rachel was well-behaved and polite. She would use the crayons and butcher paper place mats to draw pictures for their servers. That Andrew was also a generous tipper, they went out of their way to make their meal fun.
Rachel and Andrew played tic-tac-toe and Hangman while waiting for their pizza. Andrew long ago gave up on letting his daughter win these games, she knew when he gave in too easily and would call him on it. That, and she was good enough to win on her own a majority of the time anyway.
Their evening was spent with stories of playground drama at Rachel’s school, about the the 100 she got on her math and spelling tests, and where they were going to go that weekend.
After they finished the pizza and were waiting for their cannoli, Rachel pulled a folded paper towel out of her pocket, and laid it on the table.
“What’s this?”
“I lost this today at lunch. Mrs. Beatty helped me wrap it up.”
“Is that a tooth? Ewwww.”
“It’s not an eww! I’m going to put it under my pillow tonight and the Tooth Fairy is going to leave me money.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, that’s so!”
Andrew reached over and tickled his daughter, who giggled with delight.
That night at his house, Rachel and Andrew stayed up watching Disney movies, arguing over which Princess was the best. Andrew said it was Snow White, but Rachel like Mulan. Copious amounts of buttered popcorn and pink lemonade were also involved.
Once Rachel had gone to bed, safely tucking her lost tooth under her pillow, Andrew waited until he heard her soft kitten snores before tip-toeing into her room, to trade out her tooth with the dollar he got at the newsstand earlier that evening. He slowly sat on the edge of her bed, watching his daughter sleeping, a lump forming in his throat, his eyes filling up. He never expected to love another person as much as he loved Rachel. He wondered if Talia ever just sat and watched her sleep like he did.
The next morning Rachel ran into the kitchen waving the dollar above her head, so excited she could do little more than squeak. She danced around the table, singing a made-up song about the Tooth Fairy. It took a while for Andrew to calm her down, finally telling her they had to get ready to go to the ballgame, she raced off to her room to get on her fan jersey.
The rest of their weekend together went just as well. Andrew caught her a foul ball and was able to get an autograph. They ate hot dogs and french fries, something she would never have been allowed to do at her mom’s house. A trip to the game store at the mall resulted in Rachel getting the latest Mario Cart for the Wii her dad kept at his house. She wasn’t permitted to play video games at home, and could only use her mom’s computer for school.
Sunday morning Andrew made his world famous pancakes, with chocolate chips and walnuts, topped off with loads of melted butter and real maple syrup, and a side of bacon. Rachel was sopping up the last of the syrup with her fingers when the door bell rang.
“That’s mom!”
Andrew was a little jealous that Rachel was as excited to see her mother as she seemed to be with him. He did manage to get her to wash the sticky syrup off her hands before greeting her fastidiously neat mother. He waited at the kitchen table, drinking a second cup of coffee, while Rachel answered the door and brought her mother into the house.
“Rachel, go get your things together, you father and I need to talk.”
The little girl skipped off to her room, as Talia took a seat across from Andrew.
“What’s up?”
“I’ve been offered a new job, and I am inclined to accept.”
“Okay, what does that mean for Rachel, for me?”
“The new position is at the firm’s London office. I would be moving within the month.”
“To London? London England, not London, Texas right?”
“Brilliant as always Andrew.”
“You want to take Rachel with you?”
“It would be a wonderful experience for her.”
“Her or you? I expect that this new job means a significant promotion? More responsibility, more time at the office, more traveling?”
“I expect so.”
“And Rachel? Nannies?”
“I would hire the best people to watch after her. She would want for nothing.”
“Nothing except your attention, your time, you. I won’t agree to her moving to England.”
“Why are you being so unreasonable, so selfish. You’re thinking only of yourself.”
“No, I’m thinking about Rachel, and what’s best for her. Why drag her all the way to England, then leave her to be raised by strangers?”
“You want to continue your visitation? Rachel can’t travel back and forth like that ever other week.”
“I don’t expect her too. Give me custody, full custody. We can work out ample time for her to spend with you. Summers, holidays, school breaks. You’d be free to pursue your career without worrying about who’s watching Rachel.”
“What about you? You work away from home too.”
“Talia, I have Rachel in the summers and work. We’ve got this worked out. The schools here are great, My mother lives close by, she loves watching Rachel. I can do this.”
Talia had not expected Andrew to ask for full custody. That would solve a lot of the logistics of taking Rachel to London. She would be free to work without worrying about Rachel. Leaving the girl with Andrew could be the best solution to a difficult situation.
“We would have to have a new custody agreement drawn up, new visitation schedules and child support for Rachel. I’ll give my attorney a call, he will contact yours. Rachel has next week off school for a mid-term break, she can stay here if you’d like. I can bring her some more clothes tomorrow. Can you tell her the news? You’re better at that sort of thing.”
“Sure, that sounds fine.”
Andrew was a stunned as how easily Talia gave in, how easily she could simply give up her daughter. He walked into the living room where Rachel had been waiting forher mother.
“You father said if you wanted, you could stay with him next week during your schoolnb break. I can bring you more clothes tomorrow.”
Rachel hugged her mother, politely thanking her, then ran to her dad.
“Mom says I can stay if it’s okay with you. Is it okay with you?”
“It’s always okay with me. Thank you Talia, I will talk with you later.”
Rachel stood at the front door, waving good bye to her mother. Then joined Andrewon the couch.
Over the next two hours, Andrew talked with Rachel about her moving to his house to live all the time. That her mom was moving very far away, and would miss her terribly, but knew she would be safe and happy with her dad.
There were some tears, and lots of questions. Andrew tried to answer as honestly and gently as he could. She wanted to know where she would go to school, and Andrew said they could go visit her new school next week. He told her she would be able to spend more time with Nana and Poppy, and they could even redecorate her room if she wanted.
Rachel turned very quiet, her brow furrowed in a deep frown.
“Can we get a puppy. Mommy always said no to getting a puppy.”
Andrew couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Only Rachel could cut to the heart of the situation like that.
“I think that would be a great idea, but I think we need to wait until you get all settled in here first. Deal?”
Rachel reached up and hugged her father, putting up her right hand for a shake.
“Deal.”
Over the next week, Andrew and Talia worked through their attorneys to transfer custody to Andrew. He rented a truck and moved his daughter’s belongings to his house. Rachel toured her new school, meeting the woman who would be her teachers. and some of the kids in her new class. Andrew’s parents were thrilled that Rachel was moving closer and gladly offered to help with after school and summers.
When Talia left for London, Andrew drove Rachel to the airport to say goodbye to her mother. He was moved to see that Talia actually worked up some tears for her daughter.
On the ride home, Andrew expected Rachel to be sad, so he left it to her to talk fi she wanted.
“Dad?”
“Yeah Squirt?”
“It’s all official now right? I’m settled in with you right?”
“Yes. I think we can say that.”
“Can I have a puppy now?”
The look of conspiracy on her face was enough to melt Andrew’s heart.
“How can I say no to that?”
They stopped at the animal shelter on the way home. Rachel and a terrier-poodle mix fell in love, and the vet tech assured Andrew the dog would probably not weigh more than 12 pounds as a full-grown dog. They bought food bowls, a collar and leash, bags of puppy chow and chew toys.
“Daddy, we need to get a name tog so if our puppy gets lost we can find her.”
“We need a name first.”
“I want to name her Tallulah.”
“Tallulah? Sure, that’s the perfect name.”
“Can I pay for the tag? With my Fairy money. Then she will really be mine.”
“Yeah, Squirt, you can.”
That night Rachel and her new puppy fell asleep curled up on the couch. When Andrew tried to move the little girl, Tallulah let out a tiny growl.
“Good girl Lula! You are going to be a great guard dog.”
After getting Rachel tucked in, he put her puppy up on her pillow too.
He sat on the edge of her bed, watching his daughter sleeping. Her little snores and Lula’s getting in sync. Brushing her hair away from her face, Andrew mouthed a silent ‘Thank you’ to Talia, knowing that Rachel may not see her mother again for a very long time.
