EPILOGUE
Serafina
The office door opens and I hear Tabitha voice singing, “And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows. All of the other reindeer…”
“Oh my God, Tabby!” I groan.
She looks straight at me as she sings, far more loudly, “USED TO LAUGH AND CALL HIM NAMES.”
I laugh and she laughs as well. “Christmas was two weeks ago. I mean, even singing Auld Lang Syne would be late.”
She smiles and says, “I can sing Christmas songs whenever I want.”
I sigh and say, “I have a feeling you’re going to prove that to me over and over.”
She grins and says, “Can you let Uncle Rick know I’m here?”
“He’s expecting you. Just go on in.”
She blows me a kiss and practically skips to the door before opening it and slipping inside. I’m so proud of her. She’s making her last payment today. She did it all without letting her uncle help or, for that matter, her Daddy, who I just discovered is rich as sin. I look over my desk and there’s still nothing for me to do. I figure with nothing active to do, I should go over the mailing lists and make sure any database problems are resolved.
As I click to the right screen, I sing softly, “then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say, Rudolph…” I stop and shout, “Damn it, Tabby! Now I’m singing it!” I hear giggling from the office and shake my head. She’s so happy now. I’m so glad she found Neil, and I’m glad he’s a Daddy because it’s pretty clear she’s the kind of girl who really benefits from one.
The thought makes me pause. I guess I’m the kind of girl who could benefit from a Daddy, too.
I fix a couple of formatting errors, mostly how names are entered. I run a report to see who doesn’t have a phone number or address in the database. I print it out and I’m about to hit the paper files to get the information when Tabitha comes back out. “Let’s go!” she says. “You’re coming with me.”
“I’m still working,” I say with a laugh.
“No you’re not. My uncle’s favorite niece convinced him to give you the rest of the day off.”
“But why?”
“Because Daddy and I are taking you out.”
“What’s the occasion?”
She smiles conspiratorially and says, “Well, I might want to add that we’re also taking Peter out and that he’s available.”
My eyes open wide enough that I’m amazed they don’t pop out of my head. “You just spring that on me?” She shrugs a little sheepishly and I’m about to refuse when a thought occurs to me. “Is he a Daddy?” I ask.
“A single, available Daddy,” she replies.
I feel like I might giggle as I say, “Okay, I’ll go.” It doesn’t matter that I don’t giggle when I say it. She does more than enough giggling for both of us.
***