When Bill's wife, Corrine, passed away, he was twenty-two and their daughter, Michelle, was still in diapers. The doctor said Corrine had suffered a massive brain aneurysm and that it was probably caused by a blood vessel that had been weak since birth. He assured Bill it had been fast and Corrine hadn't suffered any pain. Bill hadn't been so fortunate. Corrine was his life, his reason for going on. The pain was deep and seemed as if it would go on forever.
Michelle helped ease the pain some, if only because at two she required a lot of Bill's time, time he'd probably have spent missing Corrine. As a result, over the next nine years, Bill lavished all his attention on Michelle and brought her up to be as much like her mother as he could.
The one thing Bill didn't know how to do was explain to Michelle about becoming a woman and all that meant, so he enlisted his own mother to take care of that. On Michelle's tenth birthday, Bill's mother asked Michelle if she'd like to stay a week with her and Grandpa.
Bill noticed the change in Michelle after that week. It wasn't immediate, but gradually she became even more like Corrine. Corrine had always been a little shy about her body, and her clothes were conservative. After Grandma's talk, Michelle stopped wearing anything that didn't cover her almost completely.
That wasn't the last time his mother talked to Michelle about becoming a woman. About twice a month, Bill's mother would drop by on a Saturday and take Michelle shopping. After that first shopping trip, Michelle began doing her own laundry every Saturday. When Bill asked her why she'd suddenly taken on that chore, Michelle told him there were things in her laundry a man wasn't supposed to see unless he was her husband.
Bill congratulated himself for asking his mother to talk to Michelle. He could never have explained everything that was happening to Michelle, much less explained how those changes would change how boys looked at her and what they'd want to do.
By the time Michelle was eighteen and graduated from high school, she'd changed from a gangling little girl into a beautiful woman. Bill was always amazed at how much Michelle resembled Corrine. Michelle had the same cute little nose, the deep blue beautiful eyes, and the same rounded face with a beautiful smile framed by long, blonde hair. Michelle was a little taller than Corrine had been, but her figure was about the same -- full and lush without being overtly sexual.
Once Michelle graduated, Bill was forced to think about letting Michelle leave the nest. Michelle had loved animals since he'd bought her a kitten when she was five. Over the years, their house became sort of a menagerie with two cats, a mongrel dog named "Skippy", three parakeets, and an aquarium. After taking biology her junior year, Michelle had decided she wanted to become a veterinarian, and had applied and been accepted at the state university in Wimbley in pre-vet when she was a senior.
Bill knew he couldn't hold Michelle back. She was like her mother in that once she set her mind on something, there was no way to change it. It was with a lot of fear he drove her to the campus that fall. The fear was for her, but also fear for himself. He knew Michelle was mature beyond her years and would probably be fine. He just wasn't sure how he'd survive being alone for the first time in sixteen years.
Though Michelle chattered on to her father about what she thought college would be like, that talk was the result of being nervous and a little fearful. She'd done well in high school, but would she be able to do as well in college? She knew she was intelligent, but also knew there were more intelligent people in the world. She knew she'd have to work hard to make the grades that would get her into the school of veterinary medicine.
That wasn't the worst of her fears though. She'd watched her father give up everything in his life for her, and now that she'd be gone most of the time, what would he do? Once her grandmother had explained about the relationship between men and women, Michelle had often wondered why her father didn't look for another wife.
In some ways, that would have been good, she thought. Michelle didn't really remember her mother, so she would have no reason to be jealous, and having another woman to talk to besides her grandmother would have been comforting. She thought her father would have been happier too if he had an adult partner to help with life's trials.
She'd never seen her father even look at another woman, at least not that way, and she felt like she was the reason. Maybe once she was gone, he would look for a new wife, a woman he could love and be with for the rest of his life. Michelle was worried that if he didn't, he'd just stay by himself and grow older and unhappy.
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Because all unmarried college students under the age of twenty-one were required to live in university approved housing, Michelle was going to live in Bronson Residence Hall. It wasn't an apartment like she would have liked, but Bronson was on campus so she could walk to all her classes, and meals in the cafeteria were included in the housing fee as were weekly linen changes. She'd still have to do her own laundry, but there was a laundromat in the basement of the building.
Her roommate was already there when Michelle and Bill carried all her stuff up to the third floor room. The girl introduced herself as Tammy Reynolds, and then said she'd leave them alone while Michelle got settled in. After half an hour, Michelle was standing beside Bill's car and Bill was trying to prolong saying goodbye.
"Michelle, if you need anything, use your debit card. I'll check on the balance about once a week and you don't need to worry about money. Just try to save your money for school supplies and what ever you need like soap, shampoo, and things like that. I don't mind if you go out once in a while, but try not to do that a lot."
"Dad, I don't think I'll be doing much partying. I know I'm going to have to spend most of my time studying, so don't worry."
"Well, I should probably be going so you can get acquainted with Tammy. Oh, by the way, if you want to come home some weekend, all you have to do is call my cell phone and I'll come pick you up."
Michelle smiled.
"Dad, the point of me being here is to learn, and I'll probably need the weekends to do homework so I won't be able to come home."
"Well, I know, but if you get lonely or something, just call. At least we can talk on the phone. You keep your cell phone charged up so I can call you if I need to, OK? Don't use up the battery on one of those social websites."
Michelle smiled.
"Dad, you know I don't spend any time on those websites except with a couple of girls I know from high school. I don't need four thousand friends I've never seen and probably will never see. Besides, I'll be too busy. Now, go home and call me when you get there so I'll know you got there safe."
Bill hugged Michelle, and then got into his car. Michelle smiled and waved when he drove away, but shook her head when she walked back into the building. If he was this bad just dropping her off, what would he be like after a week or a month without seeing her?"
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Michelle found out how her father would be when he called her an hour and a half later. Michelle knew the university was a little over an hour from home, so he'd apparently walked into the house and immediately called her. She didn't expect more than, "I got home OK" and a short conversation. Instead, half an hour later she was still talking to her father and the conversation was just aimless rambling about what they used to do and him asking her over and over if she was OK.
Michelle finally said she had to go down to eat so he'd stop talking. While that was true, the dining hall didn't open for another fifteen minutes, so she had plenty of time. She wouldn't have minded talking with her father if he hadn't kept asking how she was and if she needed anything. She kept saying, "Dad, I just got here. How could I need anything". He'd tell her he was just asking and change the subject, but a few minutes later he'd ask the same question. Michelle could sympathize with how he must feel being alone, but she was a grown woman now and didn't need for him to be constantly checking on her like she was still in grade school.
Tammy had gone somewhere as soon as she understood Michelle was talking to her father. About five minutes before the dining hall opened, she came back and asked if Michelle was ready to go eat. Over dinner, they started to get acquainted and Michelle began to like Tammy. Tammy seemed to be a pretty down to earth person with strong opinions about things, just like Michelle, and they agreed on most of the things they talked about.
It was after dinner and back in their room, Tammy asked Michelle why her mother hadn't come along with her father to drop her off. Michelle explained.
"I don't have a mother. Well, I do, but she died when I was two."
"Your father raised you all by himself? That must have been hard for both of you."
Michelle smiled.
"Well, my grandma took care of the girl things, but yes, Dad did most of it by himself."
"He never re-married?"
Michelle shook her head.
"No. I wish he had. It was fine while I was at home. We did everything together and I liked that, but now that I'm not there, I don't know what he's going to do. Call me every night, I'd suppose, just like he did as soon as he got home. Did your mom and dad do that?"
Tammy frowned and shook her head.
"Mom's too busy with Jeff, and I've never had a dad that I knew. Mom got pregnant with me when she was eighteen. The guy was twenty, and when he found out, he left town and she never heard from him again. When I was five, she married again, but I wasn't Jeff's so he didn't treat me like his daughter. Most of the time, I was just in the way. I spent a lot of time with my grandparents as a result. I guess my grandfather is sort of like the dad I never had, but he passed away this summer so I don't have him anymore."
Michelle said she was sorry, but Tammy waved her hand.
"Don't be sorry for me, because it worked out pretty well. Mom needed a husband because she's about as ditzy as they come. She needs a man to keep her feet on the ground. That's how she got pregnant in the first place, or at least, that's what my grandmother told me.
"Mom was pretty good looking and never had to worry about dates, but she wasn't very good at choosing men. The guy who got her pregnant wasn't local. He just showed up one day where Mom worked and she didn't know where he came from. All she knew is he was a good-looking guy and he seemed to like her.
"She'd dated this guy for a month when he talked her into going to his apartment after they'd gone to a movie, and once they were there...
"She thought she was in love with him, so she let him. That's what she told my grandmother after she'd missed her next period. She was sure the guy would marry her, and when she told him, he said he would. The next day though, he quit his job and left town. Since nobody knew where he came from, there was no way to find him. Like I said, Mom wasn't very good at choosing men or she'd have found out more about him first.
"Anyway, Mom lived with my grandparents until I was five. Then she met Jeff. She knew him from high school, so I guess she thought he'd be better. He was, for her. Jeff's a good man, and he takes care of Mom and keeps her from doing dumb things so I like him, but he's more like an uncle than a dad. He didn't hate me. He just couldn't bring himself to like me like I was his, and he wanted them to be able to do things together. That meant they'd take me to my grandparent's house while they went off to do whatever it was they wanted to do.
