Chapter 9 - Learning How to Be Her Father
Dario’s first visit to Lucia’s school became an event despite everyone trying to make it ordinary.
He wore no tie.
No visible security.
Roman waited in a car across the street.
Marisol warned Dario six times not to intimidate anyone.
“I’m attending a parent meeting.”
“You intimidate waiters by ordering coffee.”
“I say please.”
“You say it like a threat.”
Dario seemed offended.
Lucia held both their hands as they walked inside.
Her teacher, Mrs. Bennett, recognized Dario immediately.
Everyone in Bellmont did.
She also recognized the awkward family situation before anyone explained it.
“We’ve prepared a private room.”
Marisol smiled gratefully.
The meeting concerned nothing dramatic.
Lucia was doing well in reading.
Excellent in science.
Talked too much during quiet work.
Dario nodded seriously.
“That sounds concerning.”
Lucia kicked his shoe beneath the table.
Mrs. Bennett hid a smile.
Then came the school art project.
MY FAMILY.
Mrs. Bennett hesitated.
“She may need guidance.”
Marisol looked at Lucia.
The child shrugged.
“I already made mine.”
She pulled out the paper.
Marisol.
Lucia.
Dario.
Isabella.
And an angel-like figure above them labeled Elena.
Dario stared at it.
Marisol swallowed.
Lucia pointed.
“That’s my family.”
No adult could improve on the answer.
After school they went for ice cream.
Dario had never stood in line at an ordinary ice-cream shop without someone clearing space around him.
Lucia made him.
“You wait.”
“I understand lines.”
“You tried to give that man money.”
“I was paying.”
“You were paying him to let us go first.”
Dario looked at Marisol.
“She notices everything.”
“Yes.”
He waited.
Lucia selected strawberry.
Marisol coffee.
Dario ordered black cherry.
Lucia tasted his without permission.
“That’s good.”
“You could ask.”
“You’re my dad.”
“That doesn’t make my ice cream communal property.”
“It kind of does.”
Marisol laughed.
Dario found himself laughing too.
These moments began changing him more than physical therapy.
He attended a school science fair.
Lucia’s project demonstrated why plants grow toward light.
Dario bought three books on plant biology before Marisol told him to stop overreacting.
He learned to braid hair badly.
Lucia tolerated one attempt before banning him.
He discovered children ask questions adults avoid.
“Why weren’t you married to Elena?”
“We were going to be.”
“Why didn’t you marry someone else?”
“I never wanted to.”
“Do you like Mom?”
Dario nearly dropped a glass.
Marisol, across the kitchen, froze.
“Lucia.”
“What?”
Dario considered lying.
Then remembered Elena’s instruction.
Let her be angry. Let her become someone you did not design.
“Yes,” he said.
Lucia nodded.
“I knew it.”
Marisol stared at him.
“You could have avoided answering.”
“She asked.”
Lucia continued eating cereal.
“Mom likes you too.”
Marisol nearly choked.
“Lucia Reyes.”
“What? You smile different.”
Dario wisely said nothing.
Later, Marisol cornered him in the hallway.
“You enjoyed that.”
“Immensely.”
“You are impossible.”
“She has observational skills.”
“She’s six.”
“So?”
Marisol tried to remain angry.
Failed.
Dario smiled.
For several weeks, life almost felt manageable.
Then Elliot Crane began talking.
Federal prosecutors offered limited protection in exchange for truthful testimony.
Crane admitted entering Marisol’s apartment.
Vincent’s private attorney had paid him.
The instruction was to frighten Marisol.
Nothing more.
At least according to Crane.
He also admitted transporting Adrian Mercer on the night Dario’s car crashed.
“Where?” Rachel Monroe asked during the recorded interview.
“To a garage.”
“What garage?”
“A private facility outside Bellmont.”
“What happened there?”
“I waited outside.”
“Why?”
“Mercer said he needed a mechanic.”
“For whose car?”
Crane looked toward the table.
“Dario Kane’s.”
That was enough to reopen the crash investigation.
But then Crane said something stranger.
“Mercer kept talking about the girl.”
“What girl?”
“I didn’t know then.”
“What did he say?”
Crane hesitated.
“He said, ‘If Kane wakes and finds out she’s alive, Vincent loses everything.’”
Dario watched the recording beside Marisol.
The implication was unmistakable.
His crash was connected to Lucia.
Marisol stood immediately.
“I want her out of Bellmont.”
Dario looked at her.
“For how long?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t unreasonable.”
She expected resistance.
“You agree?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“My house.”
“No.”
Dario almost smiled.
“I assumed.”
Isabella offered a property several hours away.
Marisol considered it.
Then Lucia entered the room after school.
“I have rehearsal Saturday.”
Everything stopped.
A children’s choir performance.
The sunshine song was part of it because Lucia had taught the melody to her music teacher.
Marisol wanted to pull her from school.
Cancel everything.
Run.
Dario saw it.
“We can protect her without making her feel imprisoned.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
He lowered his voice.
“But Elena hid her because she had no choice. I don’t want Lucia growing up thinking the world is always chasing her.”
Marisol looked at him.
“What if we’re wrong?”
“Then blame me.”
“That isn’t how motherhood works.”
He nodded.
“No.”
Then added quietly, “I’m starting to understand that.”
They increased security discreetly.
Lucia performed Saturday.
Dario sat beside Marisol in the third row.
When Lucia began singing the melody that had woken him, he reached for Marisol’s hand.
This time neither pulled away.
The song ended.
Lucia searched the audience.
She saw them together.
Her face brightened.
And for a few precious minutes, Dario forgot Vincent.
Mercer.
Trusts.
Threats.
He was simply a father watching his daughter sing.
Afterward Lucia ran toward them.
She hugged Marisol.
Then Dario.
This time he no longer froze.
He held her easily.
“Did you like it?”
“I loved it.”
“Even when Tommy sang too loud?”
“Especially then.”
Lucia laughed.
Then she whispered near his ear.
“Can I try calling you Dad?”
Dario stopped breathing.
“You can call me anything you want.”
Lucia looked at him.
“Dad.”
One word.
That was all.
Dario closed his eyes.
Across the room, Marisol watched him understand what no empire had ever given him.
May you like
Something that could not be bought.
And something he now had everything to lose.
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