The back door opened just before eleven.
I heard Kaylee come inside, set her bag down, and kick off her shoes.
She appeared in the kitchen wearing her warmup jacket, her blonde braid half undone.
She looked tired, but happy.
"You're both still up?"
"Apparently," I said.
She pulled out a chair and sat down.
"Everyone keeps sending me videos from tonight."
Travis looked at her.
"What videos?"
"Grandpa walking across the court."
She laughed.
"Somebody posted it, and now people keep sharing it."
I smiled.
"Your grandpa doesn't even know how to use Facebook."
"I know. That's the best part."
She took a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water.
Then she glanced toward the rose.
"Did Grandpa give you that?"
Travis nodded.
"He did."
Kaylee looked at him for a moment.
Then she moved her chair closer and sat on his knee.
I hadn't seen her do that since she was a little girl.
At five feet ten inches tall, she barely fit.
She had to shift sideways to get comfortable, and one of her legs stuck out awkwardly beside the chair.
Travis adjusted his arm around her.
Neither of them laughed about how ridiculous the arrangement looked.
He simply held her.
She rested her head against his shoulder.
For a while, nobody spoke.
Then Kaylee lifted her face.
"Travis, I wasn't angry because you said no."
He looked at her.
"I was hurt because I thought you didn't want to walk with me."
His expression changed.
"Kay, I always wanted to."
"Then why didn't you say yes?"
He glanced toward the rose.
"I was afraid."
"Of what?"
He took a breath.
"That someday you'd tell me I wasn't really your dad."
Kaylee stared at him.
For a moment, she looked as though she couldn't believe he'd said it.
Then she began asking questions.
"Who taught me how to braid my hair?"
Travis blinked.
"I did."
"Who drove me to volleyball practice when Mom was working?"
"I did."
"Who built the practice net in the backyard?"
"I did."
She tilted her head.
"Who came to my games?"
He gave her a small smile.
"I tried to."
"You came to every game you could."
She said it firmly.
"Even when we had to drive forever to get there."
Travis laughed softly.
"Some of those gyms were a long way away."
"I know."
She rested her head against him again.
"Then why would you think you weren't my dad?"
He opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
I turned toward the sink, pretending to rinse a glass that was already clean.
I didn't want to interrupt.
For nine years, Travis had been deciding what Kaylee might feel about him without asking her.
Now she was giving him the answer.
"I thought I was supposed to leave room for Ryan," he said.
Kaylee lifted her head.
"Ryan hasn't called me in six years."
"I know, sweetheart."
"He didn't come to my confirmation."
"I know."
"He doesn't know anything about my life."
She paused.
"I don't hate him. But I can't keep waiting for him to decide he wants to be my dad."
Travis's eyes filled.
Kaylee took his hand.
"I wasn't asking you to replace him."
She looked directly at him.
"I was asking you because you're the one I wanted."
He lowered his head.
"I should have understood that."
"Yes," she said.
She didn't pretend otherwise.
Then she leaned against him again.
"But you can understand it now."
He held her tightly.
I stood at the sink and cried quietly.
My daughter wasn't asking him to erase her past.
She wasn't demanding that he promise never to make another mistake.
She was telling him that she loved him, that she had chosen him, and that she wanted him beside her.
That should have been enough all along.
After a few minutes, Kaylee slid off his knee and returned to her chair.
She examined the rose.
"Grandpa must really like you."
Travis smiled.
"I think he does."
"He doesn't give things away just because someone asks."
"No," Travis said. "He doesn't."
She smiled.
"Well, he gave it to you."
Travis looked at the flower.
"Yes, he did."
Kaylee yawned and stood.
"I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted."
She kissed my cheek.
Then she squeezed Travis's shoulder.
"Good night."
"Good night, Kay."
She walked upstairs.
We listened until her footsteps disappeared.
Travis looked at me.
"I didn't know she felt that way."
I sat beside him.
"She told you tonight."
He nodded.
"I should have listened sooner."
I didn't argue.
We both knew it was true.
But I also knew that something important had happened.
Kaylee had been given the chance to tell him what she wanted.
And Travis had finally heard her.
The next morning, Dad called.
He wanted to know whether we had put the rose in water.
Travis looked at the flower on the table.
"Not yet."
"Well, you'd better do that," Dad replied. "It won't last long sitting out."
Travis laughed.
"We'll take care of it."
Dad asked how Kaylee had been after the celebration.
I told him she was tired but happy.
Then he asked to speak to Travis.
I handed over the phone.
"Morning, Duane," my husband said.
"Morning, son."
Travis looked down at the rose.
"I wanted to thank you for last night."
Dad answered without hesitation.
"She asked me to walk with her. That's what grandfathers do."
"I know."
There was a brief pause.
Then Dad added, "You keep showing up for her."
Travis nodded.
"I will."
They talked for another minute about the farm and the weather.
Nothing dramatic.
Nothing that required an apology or another speech.
When the call ended, Travis trimmed the rose's stem and placed it in a glass jar on the windowsill.
He moved the jar away from the edge so Mason wouldn't knock it over.
Then he returned to the kitchen table and began sorting through the papers he'd brought home from work.
The rose sat in the morning light.
I looked at it while I made breakfast.
It wasn't a symbol of a perfect family.
It was simply a flower my father had carried across a gymnasium and handed to my husband.
But every time I saw it, I thought about what had happened between them.
One man had worried for years that he didn't belong.
Another man had never needed to ask.
And my daughter had finally made it clear that there was room for both.
Source: kaylestore.net
Click here to continue reading: PART 8: The Photograph on Our Refrigerator Reminded Me That Love Had Never Been the Problem; Fear Had Kept My Husband From Recognizing His Place
My Daughter Asked the Man Who Raised Her to Walk Beside Her, and His Answer Changed the Way I Saw Our Family
Part 7 of 12
