"Thanks for agreeing to meet with me, Mr. Davis," the young man said, smiling at him with his perfect teeth.
"The pleasure is all mine," the mature gentleman replied, rising from his chair to extend his hand.
"I'm nervous, Sir. I'm meeting my future wife's father for the first time, I hope to make a good impression on you."
"So far, so good."
Mr. Davis sat back in his chair, and the young man sat down on the opposite side of the table.
They were interrupted for a brief time by the waiter, who brought two coffees.
"I ordered them in advance, Clark," the old gentleman smiled.
"Kent, Sir, Kent is my nickname," the young man corrected him.
"Pardon?"
"My family had a strange sense of humor. Our last name is Clark, and I'm Kent Clark, you know, the opposite of Superman."
The young man sighed.
"You don't even know how many jokes I had to endure."
"It doesn't matter anymore," he shook his hand. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
"Forgive me," he added quickly, "we didn't meet here so you comfort me.
The truth is, I upset Rose against my will."
Mr. Davis clenched his fists.
"It's not so serious," Kent hastened to add. "I know that if I do something wrong to her, I will deal with your anger, Sir, and I refrain. The truth is, I am passionate about genealogy."
Mr. Davis looked surprised.
"I'm not even telling you that I was in the UK, researching old chronicles, luckily I found them well preserved. I was able to go back in time to my family tree, I'm delighted with the result ..."
Mr. Davis made an annoyed gesture.
"I'm getting to the weird side now, sir."
"Tell me, Paul, please."
Kent nodded.
"First as a joke, and then more seriously, I started by making Rose's family tree."
Paul gave him a look in which the young man thinks he recognizes the fear.
"Well, the test went wrong, it turned out she's not your daughter, excuse me."
"It's impossible."
"That's what we said, Paul. We did the test for Lucy. At least the two of them shared the same mother."
Mr. Davis looked askance at this impertinent young man, who blushed.
"Sorry sir, this was uncalled for."
"Then we did the test a second time for Rose." Kent hurried to add.
"I hope this time the mistake has been corrected."
"I'm afraid not."
"It must be a mistake."
"No mistake, Rose took care of the evidence herself, she knows what she's doing, she's a skilled woman."
Mr. Davis frowned, he didn't like his youngest daughter being called a woman, in his eyes was still his baby girl, even though she had been an adult for a long time.
"Forgive me," the young man continued, "I don't want to brag, but I know how to read people. I realize you already knew that, there's no point in hiding, I'm not judging you."
" 'Whatever you do, don't upset Dad,' Rose told me. You see, for her, you remain, Dad, even if you have been absent from her conception. She can't forget all the moments spent together ... "
Mr. Davis didn't answer immediately, and Kent respected his silence.