“I want all her documents, Karen. Anything that will be important.” I clapped my hands to gain her attention. “Chop-chop, I want to get out of this cesspit you call a home as quickly as possible.”
Ten minutes later, I had the sort of documents Kelly would require to get on with her life. Opening the front door, they walked towards the car as I stopped at the doorway. Karen had risen to her feet. I could taste the fear. “Kelly is in my care now. In fact, I think she’s been my care for years. I just haven’t realised. You’re no better than Claire.”
I knew that would hurt. All my daughter’s friends knew what happened, and their parents knew as well. No mother wanted to hear they were a bad mother, but I also knew the reputation I had. I was known as a good if not great father. And seeing what Kelly had endured, I only wished I had realised sooner. “I trust I won’t expect you on my doorstep anytime soon?” She shook her head. “Good. As we don’t intend on returning here at all.”
As soon as we returned home, I took Kelly by the hand and led her to my office. I told her my plan. I would clear the space and buy a new bed and furniture. The room would be hers as long as she wanted it. She burst into tears and hugged me. “Forever?” she sobbed into my chest.
“If that’s how long you want to stay,” I replied softly, kissing her forehead.
“Thank you, Daddy.”
I lifted her chin, using both thumbs to clean her cheeks. “This is your home now. We’ll sort out everything this week. I know you’re not studying. Do you want to keep doing your current job?”
I knew what she was doing. No doubt pushed into it by her mother. “No. It’s degrading.”
“Then we work on your CV and find something else. Or you can go to college and study. Whatever you want to do.”
“Can I think about it?”
“Of course. But the important thing is that it’s your choice, no-one else. Okay?”
She smiled. “Okay, Daddy.”
“You’ll sleep with Hannah tonight. You could have Katie’s room, but I’m guessing you’d like company.”
“I’d like company too, Daddy,” Hannah said.
We cooled off in the pool within half an hour. Considering it was the weekend, there was no surprise my daughters called their friend, the other four arriving quickly, joining us in the pool. To my relief, bikini tops and bottoms remained in place, and I wasn’t asked to make cocktails, the girls happy to drink sodas, but the seven spent more time topping up their tans than anything. When the pool was empty, I wandered inside, grabbed a book and a beer, sitting at the dinner table, keeping an ear out if they did want something.
Offering them the chance to stay for dinner, that made me rather popular as always. I just grabbed whatever was easy to prepare, leaving the girls to enjoy themselves in or by the pool, so that by the time everything was ready, all I needed to do was call them inside. I was instantly the most popular man in the city by the time they’d sat down.
I was hugged and kissed by the four when they left, Christine and Sofia feeling confident enough to tempt me into the sort of kiss I’d never normally give them. But after the past few days, I figured I’d return the kiss and see their reaction. I was greeted by very bright, warm cheeks and whispered goodbyes. Belinda and Emily, their other two friends, made do with a kiss on the cheek but a tight hug. I’ll be honest, I adored all my daughter’s friends. Having sex with all of them was quite the step, but I treated them like they were my own flesh and blood.
Hannah and Kelly wandered off after giving me a kiss and a hug, wishing Katie and I goodnight. That left me alone with my other daughter.
*****
Katie
Katie would admit watching her father and twin sister make love was one of the most erotic and beautiful things she’d ever watched. There was no missing how much her father had enjoyed it, but it was Hannah that took her breath away. She just looked so happy didn’t even begin to describe it. She knew how deeply in love her twin was with their father. It sometimes made her wonder if she felt the same. She was sure she did. Her father would be her one and only. She’d made the promise with her twin long ago. Their father would be the one they would both love, be intimate with, and grow old together with.
But it had been seeing them make love. She never doubted her own feelings. But she did wonder if their father… She shook her head of those feelings. Their father had never… Never in their entire lives, shown to favour one over the other. But it was hard to keep those thoughts at bay after watching them be intimate.
Then there was Kelly. She loved Kelly like a sister, and her love for her father simply exploded with everything he’d done that day for their friend. In their eyes, hers, Hannah’s and her father’s, Kelly was now family. A sister and daughter in all but name. And no-one missed the fact Kelly was deeply, deeply in love with her father. She was her hero, that was clear.
Katie would happily confess that her father had been her hero since she knew what the word meant. In fact, even before then. Her father was her entire world.
After their friends left, Hannah and Kelly disappearing to the bedroom they’d share for the night, that left Katie with her father, both knowing what would happen that night. Her father was sat on the couch, observing her, seeing what she’d do next. She stripped off without hesitation, her father smiling as she straddled his lap. “I love you, Daddy,” she whispered.
“I love you too, sweetie.”
She rested both hands on his chest. “Daddy… I want to make love… But… I’m scared of how you feel about… Because you had her first…”
She felt two arms wrap around her tightly and was surprised by the emotion in his voice. “Katie, I love you exactly the same. Exactly. The. Same. Please, my gorgeous little girl, never doubt how I feel about you.” He leaned back to meet her eyes, thumbs drying her cheeks, feeling his lips on hers. “I will never, ever treat you differently. What Hannah enjoyed last night and today, you will enjoy too, sweetie. And from tomorrow night onwards, you will have me to share. God, the thought that you’re jealous…”
“I’m sorry,” she whimpered, sobbing against his chest, “But watching you earlier, you both looked so happy…”
She felt those same arms around her, hugging her tightly. “We were happy because we were being intimate, sweetie. Trust me on this, we’ll look exactly the same if Hannah were to watch us.”
“Make love to me, Daddy. I need you.”
She wrapped her arms and legs around him, ready to be carried to his room. Resting her head against his shoulder, she felt his fingers caress her back as she heard the door to his room close, before he sat on the edge of his bed, continuing to just hold her in his arms. “Katie, it breaks my heart…”
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean…”
“Don’t be sorry. I can understand, but…”
She hugged him back just as tightly. “Daddy,” she whispered, “I get you tonight. By tomorrow morning, I won’t remember all these stupid thoughts.”
He chuckled as he asked, “Are you sure?”