A Father At Last by Julie Mac Page A

crossed one leg over the other and stared out at the pond. But instead of seeing water lilies with their pretty pink and white flowers, she saw a man’s face. He was smiling, his blue eyes merry, his fair curly hair tousled, his red beard neatly trimmed. She blinked, and when she looked again, all she saw were water lilies and a couple of ducks.

    “That part of my life is over and done with now. I don’t want to talk about it.”

    “Try.”

    Kelly said nothing. Picturing Dad’s face like that, happy and relaxed, before all the trouble, was unnerving. She hadn’t thought of him in that way for years. She swallowed hard.

    “Tell me about now,” Ben prompted quietly. “Where is he? Do you know what he’s doing? Is he part of your life?”

    Julie Mac

    “Is he part of my life?” She snatched her hand from his and glared at him, anger bubbling up. “Are you crazy? I’ve got a little boy. Why would he want a criminal for a grandfather?”

    And why would he want a criminal for a father?

    She wanted to say it, out loud, but that would just make things a whole lot worse.

    “Ex‐criminal. He did his time, he paid his dues. Isn’t it time you forgave him?” Ben said it gently.

    “Forgave him?” She almost shrieked the words, and then she looked around guiltily to make sure there were no other garden visitors in earshot.

    “Don’t you remember what he did, Ben? You were there. Sure, you were only a kid like me, but you must remember how it was for me—for us, for Mum and me.” She was staring at him, aware her breathing had cranked up a notch.

    “You’re not a kid anymore, Kelly. You’re a lawyer. You’re dealing all the time with people who’ve done things wrong.” He was watching her, his eyes serious. “An important part of our justice system is to let people atone for their crimes by being punished. And when the punishment is over, they can start again as free men—or women. You must believe in that, otherwise how could you do the job you do when you’re in court?”

    “I do. I do believe in that—passionately. But not…not…”

    “Not for him? Not for your father?”

    She looked away again because she couldn’t bear the truth staring at her from those all‐seeing eyes.

    “Your father did a stupid thing, sweetheart. He committed a crime, but the only reason he did that was because he had an addiction. That’s not an excuse, but it’s a reason.
    If he’s been able to overcome that addiction, served his punishment and stayed on the right side of the law since, surely he deserves some redemption?”

    She looked back at him and felt the old mixture of anger and despair threatening to shatter her equilibrium. She hadn’t felt like that for years. She thought she’d matured past such emotions, and he was making her feel like a helpless kid again.

    “You don’t understand. How could you understand? You had a normal family—a mum, a dad, all your sisters.”

    “Yeah, I did. I was lucky.” He had a funny look on his face that she couldn’t decipher, but then he continued, “You had a mum and a dad too, and even if you didn’t have any brothers and sisters, you always had friends. And those cousins that used to come up from the South Island. It wasn’t all bad.”

    “That’s just it! Don’t you see, Ben?” She clenched her hands into tight fists. “It was good, so good when I was little—until I was ten. I had it all. Mum was…well, she was what mums should be, loving and kind and always teaching me things. And Dad—he was the best dad. When he and Mum came up from the South Island after they got married, they bought A Father at Last
    that lifestyle block where we lived when I first knew you at intermediate school—
    remember?”

    “Yeah, I remember. Nice place.”

    “Yes, it was nice, not an ultra‐flash, six‐bedroom, six‐bathroom place like the ones around here, but then none of the lifestyle blocks were twenty or thirty years ago. We had a modest