"Cute baby." The young woman started, looking away from a smiling Nori strapped to Katrina's torso. "But when are you coming back? Professor Vince isn't you? He's boring and he thinks our discourse and debates are arguing."

Katrina let her gaze wander around the frenzied buzz at Word Lust that was usually for the beginning of the Fall semester. She had spoken to the dean last week about her sabbatical that had now transitioned into maternity leave. They had discussed the most time for her to return would be in the Spring but Katrina sat in her car far longer than she needed to process returning to teaching in January. She wasn't the same woman she was when she pursued a career in academia.

Back then she was a bored housewife that had several degrees and needed a hobby. She liked the idea of teaching but educating the minds of those under the age of seventeen didn't interest her. She wanted to enlighten and challenge the thoughts of those that were seeking knowledge on their own accord, not those being made to sit at a desk before the sun reached its apex in the sky.

Being a college professor was the best fit for her then. But she was no longer a wife and not at all bored but she did still want a hobby.

"Palmer, I haven't decided that far yet." Katrina's heart hurt seeing the sadness collect in her former student's face. "But no matter what you still have my email and you call always find me here if you want to talk about Baldwin, Morrison, or Walker."

Some of the glum drained from her face then Palmer smirked, "Can I talk to you about double-A Ron?"

Katrina smiled fondly at the moniker one of the students from last year's class received from her because there were two guys with the same name pronunciation. "Yes. Are you two dating or something?"

She knew they liked each other because whichever of them arrived to class first they'd save a seat for the other.

"We hooked up this summer but..." She shrugged, then looked over her shoulder at a guy around her age calling her name. "I don't know...I'd love your advice but if you don't have your office hours I won't be able to get tutoring and life tips."

During the relationship drama of last semester, Katrina forgot one crucial thing, she was a mother before having Nori. "No, I won't have office hours but I will need a babysitter."

Palmer nodded, the eagerness returned in her features. "I can't change a diaper but I'm sure I can figure it out with Google." She said as the guy called her name again. "He's needy but he has a car. Seeya, Mrs. E."

Her former student piled away from the counter before Katrina could correct her. She was no longer Mrs. Evans but that was all semantics that could be dealt with when the divorce finalized next year.

Katrina began to pat Nori on the bottom as she felt a heavy fullness in her breast letting her know what time it was. She hadn't noticed the arrival of the gray-haired man with the same nose, lips, and dark brown complexion as her.

"She has your mom's eyes." Gideon Bailey said.

Brown eyes the color of roasted hazelnuts being the much-needed warmth during the chill of an autumn morning.

Her dad's dignified earnest voice made her jump.

Gideon continued during her silence, "And yours."

Katrina smiled tightly, feeling uncomfortable with his eyes upon her. Being around him always turned her back into that girl that remained silent to keep the peace, swallowing her hurt and frustrations so all remained well for everyone around her. Her tongue should have blisters from all the time bit it to keep her truths down.

She inhaled deeply and quickly released it. She was no longer that little girl and it was time to free her tongue from its cage.

******

Thirty minutes later after Nori was fed, burped, and placed down for a nap in Imani's office Katrina sat across from her dad nursing a warm mug of matcha. His mocha latte with skim milk sat in front of him untouched as he gave her information she didn't want about his wife Nicole and their daughter Victoria. A girl who was a little younger than one of her former students and someone she didn't even know.

"Is this what you wanted to talk to me about?" Katrina's eyes drifted over his shoulder at Palmer now sitting on double-A Ron's lap. "Your wife and daughter."

"You're stepmom and half-sister." He corrected her.  "You're family."

Katrina sighed audible with a roll of her eyes.

"You're too old to be an insolent teenager. I thought—"

The words eradicated Katrina's urge to take a sip of tea. She apparently lowered the mug from her pursed lips. "You insult me and wonder why I cut you out of my life. This moment was never supposed to happen because you were never supposed to know anything about my life." She huffed, lowering the mug to the table. "I don't even have your number saved in my phone."

"You..." His eyes narrowed and bore into her as if he was trying to wield her into submission and apologize for her words. "I'm your father."

"And Aunt Marie raised me." She reiterated

He scoffed as if the utterance of the name offended him. "I gave you food and shelter."

"Room and board." She clarified. "You treated me like I was invisible. I cried myself to sleep most nights and I know you heard me because I could see your footsteps outside my door." Emotions burned in her throat and she fought hard to hold back the tears that grew from the memories of her childhood. "I was eight when mom died and nine when you remarried and not once did you ask me how I felt." A tear slipped from her eye. She no longer had the strength to hold it back or maybe she finally gained the courage to let it fall and not care how it made those around her feel.

"And by eleven you had a baby." She continued. "And I was just the ghost of your past life while the three of you were a happy family."

Gideon slunk down in the chair eyeing the cold coffee mug resting at his fingertips, "I was grieving."

"So was I!" She whisper yelled.

"It was..." He swallowed hard then glanced up at her but couldn't hold her gaze for too long as if looking upon her physically hurt him. "You have her eyes. Your mom's eyes and her smile. So looking at you made me remember her and..." He paused and gritted his teeth, replacing his sight on her and holding it there. "I didn't want to see you. Be around you because it hurt too much." He leaned closer to the table and soberly said. "I'm sorry."

Those two words cracked the dam of pain and sorrow she held hidden behind a concrete wall in her heart. The tears she held back for years streamed down her face and she covered her eyes and let them fall.

After the cathartic moment, she dried her face with the tissue he gave her and decided to keep the honesty going, "Thank you. I needed to hear that."

He gave her a somber smile. "I mean it. So, am I forgiven? Can we be a family now?"

"Yes, to the first question and..." She balled up the tissue in her hand. "We were always family just distant and I'm..." She inhaled deeply gathering the courage to admit more of her truth. "Not ready for that to change because you remind me of those moments and I'm not ready to deal with that right now."

She stood up even though she could see it written on his face that he wanted her to stay and talk more about it.

"Maybe in time we'll be one of those 'seeing each other on holidays' family but I need time."

"If that's your offer then I'll take it." He said standing. "I don't want to hear my daughter is going through big life changes from someone else so if baby steps are what you want then we'll do that."

"Good." She didn't know if to give him a handshake but was certain a hug was not an option so she just curtly nodded her head and ended with. "Have a safe flight."

As she watched him leave the bookstore she didn't know what was in store for them in the future but she felt lighter and freer; releasing some tension she didn't know she was still holding.

What type of relationship do you think Katrina and her dad will have in the future?

How do you think the closure Katrina received in this moment will affect her other events?