Hale's

Chapter 11

Rafael sighed. Hopefully she wouldn't tell her father about this... Otherwise that would be really awkward.

A moment later she came back out. "I think he's not here," she said slowly. "He might be upstairs."

Rafael nodded. "Ok, well I really just need Jonathan's address, if you could please give it to me?" he asked in defeat.

The girl nodded slowly. "Do you have children?" She asked instead of getting that address for him. Kids were so annoying.

Rafael laughed weakly. "No. I'm not really the parent type."

She smiled. "Yeah... So Wendy... Do you still like her?" She continued randomly; well this was rather inappropriate.

"Uh..." Was he seriously going to talk to a random little girl about his emotional problems? "I don't know... We haven't seen each other in almost 12 years..."

"Oh..." She nodded. "Wendy died 10 years ago."

Rafael stared at her. "What?" He asked confused.

"Wendy Harrington... She died 10 years ago," the girl said quietly.

Rafael swallowed drily. Was this some kind of joke? "How do you know that?" He whispered, a horrid thought forming in his head. No way.

"She was my mother."

Even though a million crazy thoughts ran rampant through his mind, he was unable to form a single sentence, and simply stared at the girl for a minute or so. "Oh," He finally brought out.
"So... so...." He stuttered, trying to make sense of the situation. "Your father... is Jonathan," he muttered softly.

"No," she said quietly.

"Oh. He's not?" Rafael asked confused. Had Wendy also left Jonathan?

"No. It's you."

Rafael nearly fell over. "What?" He asked confused. "What are you talking about? I'm not your father. That's crazy. What the hell is this? Are you joking?!" He rambled in confusion.

"Things between you and Wendy ended on the 24th of February 2004. I was born on the 6th of November 2004, exactly 8 months and 11 days later," she said slowly.

"But..." Rafael muttered. "I... You... I mean... How do you know it's me? It could also be... Jonathan," he muttered stupidly.

"It's not Jonathan – I have a DNA test that proves it – so that really only leaves you, unless my mother led a whole other life that no one knew anything about..." She shrugged.

"Wait wait..." Rafael held his hand up. "So you actually know Jonathan then?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, I know him."

Rafael took a deep, calming breath. "Okay fine... It's not Jonathan... But that doesn't mean it's me either. It could be someone else..."

Hale frowned a bit. "Do you really believe that or is that just wishful thinking because you don't want me as your child?"

Rafael stared at the sad girl in front of him; he hadn't really considered her feelings on the matter. "No, I... I don't know... I'm sorry, this is all just a bit much for me right now... Wendy is dead?" He asked randomly, just now realizing this. "What happened? How? No one told me..."

"Yeah... It was in winter 2005... She was coming from the dentist and slipped on the icy parking lot where she hit her head and then my dad took her to the hospital because she had a bad headache in the evening. The hospital gave her painkillers and then sent her home again... The next morning she was dead."

Rafael didn't know what to say. He felt sad and empty.
Eventually he sat down on the small stool in the shop, staring at the colorful array of flowers around him. This was all way too much information for him to handle on such short notice. He had a daughter... With Wendy who had died long ago... And no one had bothered to tell him.

"I'm sorry," Hale said quietly, standing in front of him with a crestfallen expression.

Rafael nodded heavily. "So you're my daughter..." He said stupidly.

Hale nodded. "I guess so."

He just kept on nodding slowly. "I'm sorry about Wendy..." he mumbled, feeling his eyes stinging. Even though he had been so angry at her, he was overwhelmed by finding out about her death.

"Me too," Hale said softly, coming another step closer and hugging him without a warning.

At first he felt compelled to pull away, but soon found the embrace comforting, even though it came from a complete stranger... Who was his and Wendy's child... This was crazy.
Mentally he shook his head as he returned the embrace, hugging the little girl who smelled alarmingly familiar. He knew that scent... It flooded his mind with memories of days long gone that nearly made him cry. How he missed those days...

"Wait a minute," Rafael mumbled suddenly, pulling away to look at the girl standing in front of him. "You said Wendy had been taken to the hospital by your father?" He had just realized that now.

"Oh, yeah..." She said hesitantly.

"If Wendy died 10 years ago, who raised you?" Rafael asked suspiciously. "Who owns this shop?"

The girl sighed. "Jonathan."

Rafael swallowed. "Jonathan," he said slowly.

"Yeah... I always thought he was my father, and I think he might think that too, but a few weeks ago I found a bunch of pictures of you, Jonathan and my mother. My dad- Jonathan, told me who you were... Inside the box there was also Jonathan's old diary in which he wrote about you... I think he still really cares about you but was too scared to contact you due to what happened, so I decided to do it for him because... Well actually because I really wanted to meet you... But also because I thought maybe you guys wanted to talk or something... You had been friends for a long time and stuff, so I thought... Well... Um..." She finished slowly, giving him an unsure look.

Rafael raised an eyebrow. Was she trying to imply something with that?! She had sent him a bunch of romantic flowers after all...

"Hello?" A familiar voice he hadn't heard in years suddenly spoke up, paralyzing him. "Hale, what's going on here?"