Daughters of Sin

"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.

"And she's right," Paul finally snapped. "I was the real father, not the sperm donors, I raised my both girls from birth! I am like a stepfather or adoptive father! I can look into theirs' eyes and see them as my true daughters! Nothing else matters."

Kent shook his head in disbelief.

"Look," continued Mr. Davis, "When I found out the truth they had already conquered me ..."

"I get it, Rose is conquering." Dave shook himself as if he wanted to get rid of an annoying insect.

"Forgive me, I will not interrupt you," Kent promised.

"I had already declared them my daughters, which they are even today ... It's like an adoption..."

Mr. Davis stopped for a moment.

"My passion for history and genealogy helps me understand you," the young man resumed the conversation. "The Romans did the same, the adopted had full rights like real sons. For example, the emperor Octavianus adopted Tiberius, who succeeded him ..."

Paul looked at him in amazement, wondering if he was making fun of him or if he was really stupid.

"What do you want? You want me to tell who the sperm donors were?"

"No, no!" Kent rushed in as if he wanted to fly away. "To me, you're the only father I have to deal with."

"Then what?"

"Excuse me (the young man cough, confused) is a fear of any man nowadays ... Not to become a cuckold."

Mr. Davis felt as if he had been slapped

"Don't be upset if I look brutal, but I don't know how to put it another way. I mean the woman cheats and everyone laughs at you, not at her. You even think you are inappropriate."

"Not necessarily true, sometimes it can be a mistake," Paul defends. "You're not a cuckold if your wife regretted it all her life ..."

"If you know and don't react you're willing to cuckold, let's not hide behind the bush," Kent said in a weeping tone. "I'm afraid it's not a mistake but a blunder or more. What could be a greater betrayal: the wife cheats (with repetition) when she's fertile and gets pregnant with someone else. I've researched on the net, this is cuckoldry at its best."

Mr. Davis rose indignantly from his chair.

"I think our discussion is over."

"Forgive me once more, Sir. I have a deep respect for you, I have only exposed to you the fears that haunt the mind of any young man like me in the hope that you will give me valuable advice ... because you have more experience."

Paul sat down again.

"For someone who doesn't want to offend me, you did it in full."

"Maybe I started it with my left foot, sir."

"I did my duty as husband and father and I can stand with my head held high. As I see it, I faced the problems, I didn't run away from them, and then I enjoyed a happy life. Does forgiveness tell you anything? "

"Forgiveness, sir?"

"Yes, forgiveness. If you do not forgive anyone, you will not be forgiven."

"A noble feeling, Sir. I suspect you have forgiven the men who made you the injury, so to speak.

Mr. Davis frowned, the young man trapped him.

"Everything has a limit, I assure you I took my revenge..."

"Don't tell me exactly, I'm afraid I might find out you did something illegal because revenge rarely obeys the law.

It was one of the most unpleasant days for Paul, to be judged by a young man wet behind his ears, who claimed to be respectful.

At this time Rose visited her mother.

"Did you come to talk about your upcoming wedding?" Dawn asked cheerfully.

"I'm afraid I'll postpone it for now," the young woman replied.

"What did the bastard do?"

"A DNA test."

"He dared to have a child with another woman?"

"No, my test. I guess you know what he found out."

Dawn felt her strength drop and she fell into the first chair at hand.

"You should have told me," Rose said. "Such a thing should not be hidden. Kent said, 'Your father was absent from your conception.' I think you should have invited him."

"Stop the sarcasm, young lady! You had nothing to lose, you were raised by him like his real daughter. Remember that if I wasn't wrong, you wouldn't appear in the world," Dawn said, starting to cry.

Rose took her mother in her arms until she calmed down.

"I don't want to sound ungrateful," the daughter continued. "But you have to accept that such news would upset anyone."

"Look, it was a mistake and I felt awful. I lived with my judgment errors. I loved and love him and I didn't want to lose him or my marriage. I pay for my sins being the best wife and mother. I didn't deny Paul anything..."

"Hmm, I don't think it's a real payment, anyway it was supposed for you to be as you just said."

"No, it's not supposed to. You'll see how hard it will be when you're a wife and mother. Sometimes you'll feel like screaming, but you'll grit your teeth."

"Who is my real father?"

"Your real father is Paul, I forget the sperm donor's name..."

"At least say something about him."

Dawn sighed.

"I don't want to speak about this."

"But I have to know..."

"This man... We have a three months affair... You know, I was young and dumb. You should understand that something like this can happen."

"And Lucy's father?"

"What about him? Do you tell her?"

"No, I hope you will inform her."

"I can't," sighed the mother.

"But you have to."

Dawn musters her courage.

"Look, I didn't mean to fool your father, but I had a slip of judgment...Both of them were co-workers. You know like a work-husbands for a few months, until they got their transfers. lunchtime affairs ..."

"What would have happened if one of them remained here?"

The question surprised Dawn.

"I resent your implications. Don't judge me, your life will be long, you will have time to make enough mistakes ..."

"I know I don't have to complain, otherwise I wouldn't have been born, but why did you have bareback sex with him? Weren't you afraid of STD?"

Dawn shuddered.

"I have no answer to that. Anyway, these are not questions a daughter can ask her mother."

"Excepting this case ... Can I see this ... sperm donor? This unwilling donor?"

"I lost touch with him...Why should you see him?"

"A natural curiosity. I need to found out serious medical information about all types of tests for diseases and genetic disorders. Not to forget the donor part ..."

"I repeat, he is gone. More than that, he doesn't know he was involved in your birth anyway."

Rose shook her head.

"Not good. I'm sorry, Mom, but a blunder leads to more and more mistakes."

"You just have to calm down and move on. If I could, you could."

"I'm not sure, Mom, if Kent will marry me now," the young woman burst into tears and it was Dawn's turn to console her.

"Why?" Asked the mother.

"He says 'Like mother, like daughter'. He can't be like Dad raising another man's child."

"It means he's a bastard (Rose flinched but her mother didn't notice) ... To accuse you in advance, even though you didn't do anything wrong to him ... Leave him, you'll find a better one."

"But I love him!"