One Helluva Mistake

"If I did it to my other daughters, why wouldn't I do it to you if you were my daughter? I wouldn't want to cheat you," I said.

"Well... I guess if you did it to your other daughters... Then I guess I should listen, right?"

"That's my girl," I smiled. "Now that this is done, let's see what your mom says."

I adopted Angel soon after Maddie and I got married. Then we added one more to the family when Mark Phillip Drake was born a little over two years after we married.

******

I guess I can't blame my older two daughters for trying to get their parents back together, but I tried as gently as I could to tell them it wasn't going to happen. Their mother disrespected me in the worst way, and I could never trust her again.

"She hasn't dated anyone since you got divorced, Dad. I'm pretty sure she's been asked. Even if the guys haven't seen those photos," Becca said, blushing hard. "She's just waiting on you to come back."

The girls and I were never as close after the divorce. They would stop over occasionally, but rarely did they stay for meals. Holidays were another source of sadness. In fact, the first Christmas after the divorce Traci bought me a gift. The girls brought it out to me when we did our Christmas in the afternoon.

"I can't accept this, girls. We're not together. I didn't buy her anything," I said.

"I'm pretty sure she'd still want you to have it, Dad," Hailey said.

"Okay, tell her thanks," I said as I set it down on the counter near my kitchen table.

I never did open the gift, dropping it off at a Goodwill a few days later.

******

The girls were disappointed when they found out I had a serious girlfriend three years later, but Maddie and Angel won them both over when we all met at a restaurant. Angel seemed a little possessive of me at first, but by the end of the meal she and my girls had a mutual admiration society going. The girls both noted to me later that they could see how attached Angel was to me.

"That girl thinks you hung the moon, Dad," Hailey said.

Both girls were at my wedding to Maddie, and they were thrilled when I adopted Angel.

I walked Hailey down the aisle a year later and couldn't have been prouder. Angel was the flower girl and Becca was the maid of honor. Best of all, I really liked my new son-in-law, Evan Lewis.

I sat between my ex and current wife during the ceremony. My ex was almost eerily quiet, I felt, which actually worked well for me.

Maddie and I were on the dance floor quite a lot, and I danced with both Hailey and Becca several times throughout the evening. I know Traci danced with several men, but I really was too busy to worry about her. About halfway through the evening, however, the bride eased her way over to me and asked me, as a favor, to have one dance with my ex. I have to admit I whined as Hailey stood between Maddie and me.

"Aw, geez, Hales, do I have to?"

Maddie smacked me on the arm and Hailey nodded, so I got up and went over to Traci and asked her to dance. Twenty years melted away from her face as she rose, took my hand and accompanied me out to the dance floor.

"I thought you were going to ignore me the whole night," she said as we glided around the floor on a slow song. "We are the parents of the bride, you know. We should be celebrating tonight together."

She glanced up at my unsmiling face.

"Okay. Okay. You don't have to say it. I know it's my fault we're not celebrating together," she said.

"Was I that bad that you had to do what you did?" I asked quietly.

"No, I was just a delusional bitch. I saw the opportunity and I took it. There was no way you were ever going to know. No way. Then his wife shows up and suddenly I'm the biggest tramp on the planet.

"Still, I thought maybe you'd give me a one-off since you loved me so much. I guess I overplayed that hand."

"Just by a bit," I said.

"But it looks like it worked out for you. She's lovely... and so young," Traci said.

"Not as much of a gap as the kid you were with. For God's sake, Traci, that stupid bastard was closer to our daughters in age than to you."

She blushed hard.

"Do you know my parents are still a little weird with me about that? And I'm not sure I didn't scar Hailey for life, sleeping with her crush. Do you know she didn't introduce Evan to me until they were going out for about six months... and she even warned me that if I made a move on him she'd kill me," Traci said.

"Do you know how embarrassing that was?

"Or the fact that I still have young men approach me when I'm out and about and ask if I'll go to bed with them? They're not even subtle. I've been approached while standing on line at McDonald's. 'You're her, aren't you? How about we get it on? Please?'"

She stammered as she said that last line. I could see tears filling her eyes. I had nothing for her, even though I hurt for her at that point. I took her back to the table at which we were sitting. Maddie saw the tears, and gave me a nasty look. Traci caught it and jumped in quickly.

"Not his fault, Maddie. My fault, totally. I got to reminiscing. It was stupid then. It's still stupid today. Don't make my mistake, ever. He's a good man. He deserves a good woman... today, tomorrow and way into the future," she said.

"That sounds like sage advice," Maddie said.