Daddy Dearest

Chapter One

"Don't you think you're a little too old now for sleepovers at Charlie's house? You're not little kids anymore, Mel. Soon, people will start talking."

I stop shoving my stuff into my overnight bag and stare at my stepmother, who is folding my freshly laundered clothes at the foot of the bed. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. She can be so neurotic. "Nancy, why do you care so much about what people think?"

She lets out a long-suffering sigh. "Because I promised your father I will raise you right and take care of you till my dying day, Melody. I only want what's best for you."

I know she hates it when I call her by her first name because she wants me to call her Mom, but I've never been able to do it. Even though she is the one who has been raising me since I was nine, she's only thirteen years older than me and used to be my babysitter. "It's so stupid, Nance. Charlie and I have been best friends since kindergarten. His twin sister is also a good friend of mine. I'm practically a family member. There is nothing salacious going on."

"Mel, it's just unseemly for a girl your age to be sleeping over at a young man's house." She hands me two pairs of neatly folded underwear. "People will think there is something going on between the two of you."

This time, I do roll my eyes. "Nance, that's gross. Charlie is practically my brother. We used to take baths together as kids, for Pete's sake."

"And when was the last time you took a bath together, hmm?" She arches her blond eyebrows and crosses her arms over her ample chest. "I'm guessing that was several years ago, Mel. You've both grown body parts since then that I bet you wouldn't be too eager to show each other if what you're feeling for him is sisterly."

At twenty-nine, she should be more like a sibling than a mother. Not that anyone would mistake us for sisters or anything. I'm half-Chinese, so I have black hair and brown eyes. I'm also on the petite side, whereas she comes from solid, Midwestern farm-girl stock. She's tall, sturdy, and hale. She looks nothing like my mother, my father's first wife, whom I take after. She was a small, porcelain-doll type of a woman who looked too delicate to be real. I guess that was why my father was overly protective of her when they were together and both alive.

I walk up to my stepmother and hug her from behind, wrapping my arms around her neck. I kiss the side of her head. "You worry too much about silly things. You'll be old before your time, if you don't watch yourself."

She pats my arm. "I'm responsible for a precocious seventeen-year-old girl and I'm not even thirty yet. What do you expect?"

I release her and sit down next to her on my bed, so that we're facing each other. "Exactly! And yet you act like this cranky, old widow who has given up on finding love ever again. You're too young to be pickling like this!"

She reaches over to sweep my hair out of my face and tuck it behind my ear. "Before your father died, I promised to him that you will always be my first priority. You are all the family I have, Melody. I have my hands full with you as it is."

Though she is smiling at she says this, I can't help but feel bad. Nancy wanted to be a teacher. She married my father when she was only twenty-one years old and though he paid for her college education and she graduated with a degree in English, she was too busy taking care of the two of us to pursue her dream. Since I'll be heading off to college next year, maybe she'll finally go out there and make a life for herself.

"I just want what's best for you, Mel," she says, squeezing my hand. "That's all I've ever wanted for you."

My throat burns with unshed tears. She has sacrificed so much for me, putting aside her own needs and concern in order to provide me with a safe, normal childhood. I put my arms around her and give her a tight hug. "Hey, Nance, I know. But you have to let go a little now, okay? I'm not your baby girl anymore. You've taught me so much over the years. You can trust me to take care of myself, okay?"