“Yeah, a hobby of mine. You ever do any carpentry?”
“A long time ago. I grew up on a farm so you had to learn all sorts of skills to get along out in the middle of nowhere. I used to help my father build furniture in the winter when there were no crops to tend, but that was a long time ago.”
I walked over and examined some of his tools.
“I wouldn’t have taken you for a farm boy,” he said looking me over. “You kind of have city written all over you.”
Mr. Donnelly reached over and picked up a small ax and held it, feeling the weight of it in his hands as he shifted around. Finally leaning up against his work bench, his impassive gaze kept shifting from the implement in his hands up to me and back again.
“Well, like I said, that was a long time ago.”
“Pardon me for asking, son, but you look a little old to be a student.”
“Actually I’m not. I work at NPU. I’m a teaching assistant to Professor Walker, Sara’s Art History professor. That’s how we met.”
Mr. Donnelly walked over and sat down on a stool at his work bench. Still holding the ax, he looked me straight in the eye.
“Son, I’ll get right to the point. What exactly are your intentions towards my daughter?”
Had I been human, I might have turned at his look, run up the stairs and out of the house never to return. Even now I could feel my legs trembling ever so slightly as I eyed the door. Summoning all my courage, I stood up as straight as I could.
“Well, sir, that’s why I came here. I’d like to ask your permission to formally begin seeing your daughter.”
“You ask that question like you’re already informally dating her.”
“We’ve gone out a few times, sir. Enough for me to know that she’s a very special woman, and that I’d like to spend more time with her. – But I wouldn’t feel right about it if I didn’t have your blessing to do so.”
I was taking my life in my hands here and I knew it.
He looked at me appraisingly as if to figure out if I was on the level.
“Let’s say I say yes. What then?”
“I’ll be honest with you sir, I haven’t dated much, so I don’t have much experience with this. But Sara is young and has her whole life ahead of her. I just want to make her happy.”
“Very well. What if I were to say no?”
I froze for a few seconds. He wouldn’t, would he? Could he?
“Then I wouldn’t see her anymore outside of class.”
He stared at me and thought for a moment, a really long moment. His face was completely unreadable.
“You know, I almost believe you. Against my better judgment, I’m going to go with the advice of counsel and say yes – for now. But whatever you do, don’t give me cause to change my mind. I promise you, you’ll regret it if you do.”
I smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.
“I won’t, sir.”
“See that you don’t. I don’t expect you to understand this, not being a parent and all, but that’s my little girl up there. My baby girl, who I brought home from the hospital when she was just two days old, a warm little bundle in my arms. I wouldn’t expect you to understand the things I’ve done to ensure her a long and happy life. I’m saying yes against my better judgment, but only because … well, that’s not important for you to know.”
With a suspicious look in his eyes, he got up, walked over to the door and opened it up for me to go through first. As I started to walk past him, he took hold of my arm.
“Just you remember this, son, for every tear I see on my little girl’s face; well, that’s how many holes I’m going to put in you with my shot gun, before I …” He deliberately stopped himself before he could finish his sentence.
“Yes, sir. I’ll remember that.”
“Good then. Now let’s go get us some more pie,” he said as he slapped me hard on the back and walked out the door.
I got the distinct impression Mr. Donnelly was a formidable opponent in the court room. Sara was so much like him. Perhaps she should consider a career in law as well. She definitely inherited that maddeningly indifferent stare from her father. It was that look of hers that had dragged even the most reluctant of truths out of me.
After he walked out of the door, I breathed a sigh of relief. He really had me going there for a minute. Following after him, it left me to wonder what I would have done had he said no.
Strolling past the screams I heard him say “Now you kids keep it down before I send your grandma down here to settle you down her way.”
They immediately fell silent.
Chapter Twenty-Four
SARA
I saw my father come out of the basement just after the kids stopped screaming, and held my breath until Daniel’s face finally appeared behind him. Dad didn’t look happy when he glanced my way. He kind of rolled his eyes and went for more pie. I’d seen that look before. Whatever happened down in the basement couldn’t have been good.
“Any more ice cream, Vivy?” he asked.
When he emerged from the basement, I took Daniel by the arm and walked over to the coat rack by the back door. Grabbing my jacket, I yelled over my shoulder “I’m going to show Daniel the beach,” and pulled him out the door into the cold November air.
Getting in his car, we headed down Overlook Drive and out of the neighborhood. After we turned up Sound Road and I felt like we were a safe distance from the house, I asked “What happened in the basement? I was freaking out waiting for you. It’s not that big a shop. It shouldn’t have taken that long.”
He had to be feeling my anxiety. It felt like it was consuming me whole at that moment.
“We had a talk,” he answered a little too calmly.
“About what?”
Without answering me, he reached over and gave my hand a squeeze as he pulled into the town beach lot and parked. As he walked around and opened my door for me, he wore a cryptic smile. It did nothing to alleviate my rising anxiety that he’d avoided answering my question.
Under the overcast sky we walked onto the rocky sand and down to the shoreline. Not a soul was in sight. Not terribly surprising given that it was a holiday. The wind coming in off the sound was freezing on my exposed skin, yet somehow I didn’t mind. As we started to walk along the shoreline towards the big rock at the base of the cliffs, he took my hand, causing me to look up and see the smile he wore as he looked down on me.
“I asked your father for permission to date you,” he finally answered.
I stopped in my tracks.
“You did what! – Well, what did he say?”
Of all the things! – No, I never saw that one coming.
Which of course made me feel like a complete idiot. Now that the words were out of his mouth, it seemed like the most natural thing in the world for him to do, my hundred and twenty-four year old boyfriend.
“He said yes. Rather reluctantly I might add.” Reaching out, he put his arm around me. “But he said yes, and that’s all that matters.”
“Please tell me he didn’t threaten to shoot you. He’s kidded me about that before.”
He stopped and looked away trying not to laugh.
“Gees, he did, didn’t he.”
“He loves you, Sara. You’re his little girl.”
He pulled me closer allowing me to breathe deeply, inhaling his clean Daniel scent.
“Why did you ask him anyway? This is really going to complicate my life around here.”
He smiled again and maybe stood up a little straighter.
“Because this is the proper way to do things – the way I do things. I respect you too much not to ask your father’s permission to continue our relationship. You’re one of the most valuable things in his life, and I may ask to take you away from him permanently someday. How could I not ask?”
“Permanently?” I smiled up at him.
Did he just say permanently?
My heart skipped a beat.
“Maybe … someday …
Besides, it’s better this way. I don’t want to lie to your parents about us. We shouldn’t have to sneak around like we’re doing something wrong. I’m in love with you, Sara Donnelly and I want them to know that.”
Gees, it was hard to be mad at him when he seemed so damn sincere. Him and his stupid blue eyes … Was I ever going to win an argument with him?
“Alright, but please don’t tell them that today. I don’t think my Dad could handle any more of this right now. I’m thinking the only reason you got out of the basement was because he was full of turkey.”
He laughed to himself as if picturing what would have been a futile attempt on my father’s part.
“Hey, don’t sell me short. I can be a pretty persuasive guy when I want to be.” Then he leaned down and gave me a little kiss on the forehead.
“Don’t I know it,” I mumbled back as I reached around and hugged him. I was in for it when he left, but deep down I knew he was right.
After an hour of walking up and down the beach, the cold finally made its way into my bones and Daniel took me back to the warmth of the house.
When we pulled in the driveway, my father was watching out the front windows expectantly, arms crossed in front of him. He didn’t stir until Daniel opened my door and he saw me get out of the car and start towards the front door. I wanted to laugh, but in the end wasn’t sure how funny it really was.
After Daniel said his goodbyes to the family, I walked him back outside. Unfortunately I still had another week of vacation before returning to New Paltz to be with him … and of course go to school as well. Before he got in his car, he leaned over and gave me a long hug then a gentle kiss, a long gentle kiss, before I watched him get in his car and back down the driveway. With my arms wrapped around myself, I stood there until he disappeared around the block. I wouldn’t see him for another week.
Boyfriend?
The word seemed so woefully inadequate for what that man meant to me.
When I finally turned around, I saw my father standing in the kitchen window again shaking his head, a deep frown on his lips. One thing I knew for sure was that he wasn’t going to tell my mother what Daniel had asked in the basement. He seemed more than a little conflicted about his yes, which seemed confusing to me. I knew he wanted me to be happy. Surely even with me pretending we were only friends, he must have sensed how happy Daniel made me.
It would take time, I mused as I walked back inside.
My mother on the other hand, I think must have had an inkling as well, but had she known the real reason for Daniel’s visit, I’d probably have been chained to my bed and forbidden to return to New Paltz under any circumstances. In the end, my father’s silence was what I was most truly thankful for this year.
I walked back in the house, sat down on the sofa and pretended to watch the end of the game, but my mind was too occupied with Daniel to pay it any real attention. Feeling his absence by my side, I missed him already – so much so it hurt.
Eventually the cards came out and Roger, Lauri and my parents started up a game while the kids fell asleep down in the basement. When Lauri and my mother started talking about how attractive my friend Daniel was, I excused myself and hid in the kitchen to finish cleaning up. It was my way of evading any questions about him I didn’t want to lie in response to.
My mother came in a few minutes later and pulled the last of the pie out of the refrigerator.
“I swear I don’t know where your father puts it,” she said. “He should be fat as a house the way he eats.”
She took the last slice and put it on a dish.
“Your friend Daniel seems like a very nice boy. He’s very nice looking too.”
“Yes, I suppose he is,” I said trying to sound nonchalant as I dried the dishes I’d just washed.
Carrying the plate, she walked over to my side and in a hushed tone said “Don’t play coy with me, young lady. I know there’s something going on between the two of you, but I’m not going to tell your father. I don’t think he’d approve. Daniel seems a little old for you, but … I think you’re just about old enough now to start making some of these decisions for yourself. Just … well, just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” With a worried look on her face she kissed the side of my head and went back into the living room.
She never ceased to amaze me. It was times like this that I understood what my father saw in her.
For the rest of break I pondered Daniel’s use of the word permanently on the beach. I liked the sound of it, but my mother was right, I was young, probably too young to be thinking along such permanent lines. Daniel was older than me, a lot older, much older than my parents could have imagined. Perhaps that would be more of an obstacle for us down the line than it seemed right now. After all, how well could we possibly know each other after such a short time?
As I turned into the parking lot behind Capen Hall and pulled my bags out of the back, I wondered what life would be like for us after I graduated. We had the next three years here in New Paltz together, but after that, what?
It was Sunday, and after dropping my bags in my room, I drove up to the house on the mountain and found Randall hard at work preparing quizzes for the next week.
“No peeking,” he said archly, covering them with his arm as I approached.
With a smile and a roll of my eyes, I dropped down on the sofa and sighed as if I were tired.
“So how was vacation? How is Vivy?” he inquired casually, turning back to his work.
“Good. Mom’s fine.”
“So, I understand you had a visitor,” he commented, looking up to see my reaction.
“He told you, did he?”
“Who do you think he asked first?” Now he was smiling. Secretly pleased I think that I looked surprised.
I sat upright and stared at him.
“He what?”
“Well, I am your grandfather, Sara. In this case my permission was a little bit more important than your father’s, who in reality has no idea who he just gave it to.”
It sounded weird, but I couldn’t argue with his logic. My father had said yes to the human Daniel, but only Randall could say yes to the vampire.
Daniel came out of the hallway and smiled causing me to sigh. Did his eyes always sparkle like that or was it only when he looked at me?
“Let’s go for a walk,” he said, reaching out for my hand as he approached.
Over my shoulder as we headed out the back door I thought to Randall “So, I’m assuming you said yes?”
As he went back to work at his desk, I saw him smile and shake his head as if amused by my question.
Without a word Daniel gently pulled me in the direction of the path up the hill. As we started up the now familiar trail, he asked how my drive had been and a few other polite inquiries about my family. After he finished his questions, we lapsed into comfortable silence as we walked up the well-worn path through the forest. I was just glad to feel the sense of tranquility I felt when his hand held mine. But something also felt a little off, like maybe he was holding something back from me.
As we walked along, my mind wandered back to my father and how odd it seemed that after our one short conversation about Daniel, he’d never mentioned him again. Later that night, long after Daniel had left Wading River and my mother had gone to bed, Dad came and found me in my room. I’d already said my goodnights and had curled up in bed with my book for the night. He quietly tapped on my door, then came in and sat down on the edge of my bed. He looked tired, or was it sad, I couldn’t tell which. As he sighed, he put his hand on my knee.
“I love you, Sara. I don’t think I tell you that often enough.” Then he sighed again.
“I know, Dad. I love you, too.”
“I’m worried about you. I’m worried that you’re so far from home and I don’t know what’s happening in your life anymore. I feel like I’m losing you.”
Oh, Dad. What was I supposed to say to that? That’s what supposed to happen wasn’t going to sound co
mforting to him, and I think that’s what he needed right now, comforting reassurance that I was still his little girl.
“You’re not losing me, Dad.” I laughed to myself, a little chuckle really.
He turned to look at me with wounded indignation in his eyes.
“Something funny?” he asked as he raised a warning eyebrow at me.
“I was just remembering something Aunt Dot used to say. Something along the lines of ‘your son’s your son till he takes a wife, but your daughter’s your daughter for life’. I think that means you couldn’t get rid of me even if you tried.”
I smiled up at him. Maybe that was all the reassurance I could give him right now.
“For life, huh?”
A small smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, but it didn’t last long. Again he sighed.
“So, Daniel. He seems like a solid enough young man on the surface, honey, but I get the distinct impression there’s a lot lurking below that facade that he doesn’t want me to see. I know you probably think I’m just being overprotective because he’s the first boy you’ve ever brought home … Well, you didn’t even bring him home to meet us, did you. Why is that?”
I looked down at the book in my lap. I wasn’t ready to have this conversation yet. I’d had an idea of how to do this, of what ground work I needed to lay beforehand, but Daniel had rushed ahead ruining all that.
“We’ve only been going out for a short time. To be honest, I’m not really sure where our relationship is going yet. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have brought him home to meet you until I had some concrete idea of how permanent a fixture he was going to be in my life.”
“I see.” I heard him say. I still hadn’t looked up from my book.
“He seems to have designs on being something of a permanent fixture if I’m reading him right.”
I couldn’t help but look up in surprise. Dad looked puzzled by my reaction, but I think pleasantly so.
“I know he’s all kinds of good looking, Sara, but don’t be taken in by it. Sure, he’s also polite and well-mannered and seems to be financially stable, but there’s more to life than that. And yes, for some reason I can’t seem to fathom, he seems to care for you, but … just be careful, honey. I’d tell you to stay away from him, but I’m not sure how much good that would do. I just want you to know that not only do I expect you to start calling us more often, but I expect a phone call, or a text, or an email every day from you from now on. If I don’t hear from you for more than twenty-four hours, I swear by all that’s holy, I’m getting in my car, driving up to New Paltz and dragging you back home whether you like it or not. Am I making myself perfectly clear, young lady?”
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 52