Chapter Text
So, a week had passed since Phil convinced Melinda that they would be good together and that included dinners, walks on the park and many other sweet dates he put together to make her happy.
Today had been finally the day they had dinner with the family, Phil’s family. When he picked her up at her house and drove them to Louisa’s place, he could notice Melinda was fidgeting.
“Hey” he said, putting his right hand on top of her left thigh to comfort her. “Do you want to cancel it?”
“No.” She said, covering his hand with hers.
“Okay.” He squeezed it gently. “Everything is fine.”
She nodded and smiled a little.
The night was better than all of them had expected. That is because all of them had reasons to be nervous. Louisa, Julie and Phil were all trying not to alarm Melinda in any way that would make her feel like this wasn’t right. Melinda was trying to be normal in her way, not wanting to disappoint anybody, and actually giving a shot at her own happiness.
Skye, was the only one that seemed not at all worried about it. She was the most chatty one, cracking jokes about her dad and trying to make Melinda feel welcome.
After dinner, Phil and Melinda seated at Louisa’s back porch to enjoy the night and breath some fresh air while the other three women sat inside talking about their days and actually giving the couple some space.
“What are you thinking?” Melinda asked Phil. It was an unusual question for her but after seen his contemplative look, she couldn’t leave it behind.
“I’m just glad the night went well.” He smiled, moving a hand through her hair and smiling at her.
After a quick peck on her lips, he asked “Do you want some wine?”
Melinda just nodded as Phil got up and went inside to bring them the drink.
Skye was walking to the bathroom when she saw Melinda by herself. With a quick look around, she didn’t see her dad which gave her more than a motive to work up some courage and go talk to Melinda.
“Hey!” She said, passing through the glass door.
“Hi.” Melinda seemed a bit startled by the girl but managed to look polite.
“I’m sorry if I scared you. Wasn’t my intention.”
“It’s ok.” Melinda reassured. “Do you want to seat?”
“Umm, sure.” She said, walking to the chair her dad was before. “Where’s dad?”
“Inside. He said he was getting some wine.”
“Ah! Aunt Louisa better not find him going through her collection.” She joked.
“Should we go get him?” Melinda asked, not really sure what was happening.
Skye just laughed and shook her head no as if saying let them sort it out.
They sat in silence for a while. Both not sure of what they could say.
“Did you like it?” Skye, as usual, broke the silence.
“Um?”
“The dinner… did you like it? I mean, not the food- well, the food as well, but… us. Did you like being here? With us?”
She babbles like her dad.
Skye tucked her hands between her legs while she rocked her body back and fourth waiting for Melinda to answer. Nice, Skye. Now she will think this is an interrogation.
Melinda smiled at her before replying, “I loved it. I felt really comfortable with all of you.”
“Really?” Skye asked with a smile on her face. “Good. I’m glad.”
Melinda just nodded and managed a smile as well.
“Can I ask you something?” Melinda said, and at the same moment she could see Skye was thrilled by the move that she was actually trying to bond.
Skye just nodded and waited.
“I heard your grandmother calling you Daisy sometimes… But I know you as Skye.”
Her smile was gone now and Melinda was sort of regretting bringing up this subject.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just got confused and-”
“It’s ok.”
Melinda nodded.
“When I was adopted, I had a name for myself… Skye. I always liked it, I chose it because no matter what happened to me throughout the day, looking at the sky at night really brought me peace. The E at the end was just a nice touch to it. Anyway, when Phil and Audrey adopted me, they knew I really liked the name but Audrey wanted something more… formal, I guess. So they named me Daisy, said it was her favorite flower. Grandmother’s too. I liked it. I continued to introduce myself as Skye because for some reason I liked that only family would get to call me Daisy.”
Sometimes Skye couldn’t believe herself when she said the word family. The sense that she really had one now was still something astounding to her.
“But umm, when she- when she died… Both dad and I were trying to cope, so I thought why not start with small, daily things… And I decided to ask him to call me Skye again, you know… to sort of pay a respect to mom. She took such a pleasure choosing the name Daisy, so I didn’t want it to be used in vain anymore. I wanted to be something that it was only hers. Dad understood although he still calls me Daisy from time to time. Grandma as well. I don’t mind, but I prefer Skye. It doesn’t get so emotional to me. It’s not that I’m trying to wipe her out, you know? It’s just that…”
“It’s your way of coping!” Melinda said in a low, calm tone.
“Yes.”
After that, both of them sat in silence glad that they understood each other.