Daughter of the Moose (sequel to 'Married to a Moose')

Chapter 14

My dad walks in and shuts the door behind him. He sat in a chair near the bed. He was still totally pissed and it was written all over his face.

"I'm not gonna yell and I'm not gonna argue. I just want you to hear me out."

"Ok." He said, with almost no emotion.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I understand why you don't want me to hunt. And I'm sorry I yelled at you about it. I just feel so alone day in and day out. I feel like I do when I'm at school, just with less violence. I feel like this family is entirely hunters, and then there's me. I'm just stuck sitting around doing nothing while you guys are out for hours and I get no assurance that I will ever see you guys again..." I tried to continue, but he cut me off.

"I understand why you were so upset. I didn't realize how horrible it is for you to be here all day while we are gone. I don't want you to feel like an outcast, but I don't want to go through it all over again."

"I know what "it" is. You can't hide that from me, but you can't blame yourself. There's nothing you could have done. Dean said there was no possible way for you to have gotten to her sooner. And about that, I need to say that I'm sorry for what I said. It was totally out of line to say that you didn't care if she died. I was blowing off steam."

"That doesn't mean I can't be scared about you. I'm terrified that I'm going to lose everyone I care about. That tends to happen. I don't want to lose you. And I know you're sorry about what you said. I didn't think you meant it. Look, I'm just sorry about everything ok? I didn't mean to yell at you, and I don't like fighting with you. I'm new at this whole dad thing. I don't have a clue of what I'm doing, and I'm trying my best."

"I'm sorry about everything too. I know you're trying. You are doing fine at being my dad. And I just need to remember that you aren't used to this." I said, happy we were working this out. "I do have a question before you leave."

"What's that?"

"Can we have some father-daughter time every so often? I feel like I hardly know you."

"Yeah of course. Just let me know when you want to, and we can go out for dinner and just talk, or do whatever."

"Cool. Love you."

"I love you too sweetheart." He said before kissing me on the forehead and walking out the door. I couldn't help but lay there and smile. For the first time ever, I felt loved- not only by a friend and uncle, but by a dad who was really and truly treating me like a daughter.