Page 163 of Sing with Me

Diehl blinked as he recalled the day Elisa was born.

He leaned forward. “I held you when you were born. I changed your diapers. Your first word was ‘da.’ And you burped all over my brand new Italian silk tie.”

He recalled his excitement of becoming a dad. Isobel had never said a word about who the father was. She let Diehl carry on being dad.

And now, he was all they had left in this world.

Elisa curled her lips and frowned.

“I let you sleep in my bed when you were scared of thunder. I took you to Disneyworld.” Because her mother had taken a vacation without her kids. Or Diehl, for that matter. “I bought you your first set of colored pencils. I made you chicken soup when you had a cold.”

“You microwaved a can of soup,” Elisa corrected him.

“Soup is soup.”

“I don’t think Chef Pierre would agree with you.”

Diehl shrugged. “I was trying to say that I’ve been your dad, and I will always be your dad.”

“My real dad is in Italy,” Elisa blurted. “Romina was going to take me there.”

“She abducted you,” Diehl said.

“No. I took the Greyhound bus myself. Stop treating me like a child.”

“You’re only twelve.”

“So?”

“If you want to go to Italy, why didn’t you ask me?” Diehl wanted to understand his daughter.

“Romina said you’re jealous because you’re not my real father.”

“She can’t read my mind. Only God knows what I’m thinking,” Diehl said calmly. “If you want to see Luigi, I will call him and make arrangements for us to meet.”

When Elisa didn’t respond, Diehl continued. “You can’t get there with Romina. She’s not your mother or guardian. I’m the only one who can go with you to the passport office to renew your expired passport.”

“Romina says we’re getting new passports.”

“You can’t just get new passports from anybody, Elisa. It doesn’t work that way.”

“She lied to me? I don’t believe you.”

Diehl didn’t want to miss the opportunity to break through to his daughter since they were still talking. “If Romina is telling the truth, why did she have to hide? Why did you have to hide?”

“She said you would be angry.”

“Why would I be angry? In fact, I would be sad, Elisa. And so would your brother, Ethan. We missed you so much.”

Elisa folded her arm. Just like Isobel when she had been upset about something.

“What about Skye?” Elisa snapped.

“What about her?” Diehl wondered why her name came up.

“You like her very much. You’re going to start a new family with her.” Elisa’s eyes filled with tears. “What will happen to Ethan and me?”

“Is that why you agreed to run off with Romina?”

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