Where Love Has Gone by Harold Robbins

All through breakfast we had carefully avoided talking about the one thing that had brought us together.
    “We can go in my car, Mother,” Nora said. “Charles will drive us.”
    A soft sigh escaped Mrs. Hayden as she got to her feet. She looked at me with a faint grim smile. “Growing old is a painful process. It’s never quite as graceful as we’d like it to be.”
    I returned her smile, nodding. I knew just what she meant.
    When Gordon followed the old lady out, Nora and I were left alone. She picked up the coffeepot. “More coffee?”
    I nodded.
    “Cream and sugar?” I looked at her.
    She flushed. “How silly of me! I forgot. Black. No cream. One sugar.” We were silent a moment. “Dani’s very pretty, don’t you think?”
    “Yes, she’s very pretty,” I said, sipping my coffee. “What do you think of her?”
    “I don’t know what to think. It’s been so long and I’ve only seen her for a few minutes.”
    A trace of sarcasm came into her voice. “I didn’t think you’d need time to make up your mind.
    You used to say that you were both tuned in.”
    “We used to be,” I said. “But that was a long time ago. She’s grown up now and so much has happened to us both. I don’t know, maybe it will come back in time.”
    “You used to be more sure of your daughter.”
    I glanced at her. “There were many things I used to be more sure about. Like right now, I’m sure you’re deliberately making a big thing out of the word daughter . If you’re trying to tell me something, this is as good a time as any.”
    A veil fell across her eyes. “You’re exactly the way you were when we first met. Painfully blunt.”
    “It’s too late for polite lies, Nora. We took that trip a long time ago and it didn’t work. The truth is simpler. Nobody stumbles over things that way.”
    She looked down at the tablecloth. “Why did you come?” she asked bitterly. “I told Gordon we didn’t need you. We were getting along all right.”
    I got to my feet. “I didn’t want to. But I’m sure if you had been getting along so well, there wouldn’t have been any need.”
    I turned and went out into the foyer. There was a peculiar knot in my gut. Nora hadn’t changed a
    bit.

    Dani was just coming down the stairs. I looked up at her and everything inside me stood still. It
    wasn’t a little girl coming down the steps now. It was a young woman. Someone I had known very well. Her mother.
    She was wearing a suit, her coat flung casually across her shoulders. Her hair was fluffed up, bouffant I think they call it, the lipstick fresh on her young mouth. The child that had sat next to me at the breakfast table disappeared again.
    “Daddy!”
    The ice inside me vanished. The voice was still a child’s voice. “Yes?” She came down and spun around in front of me. “How do I look?”
    “Like a living doll.” I smiled, reaching for her.
    “Don’t, Daddy,” she said quickly. “You’ll muss my hair.”
    The smile left my face. She was still a child if that was all that worried her. But maybe it wasn’t that at all. Nora acted like that when she wanted to preserve what she called her image . I wondered if my daughter had grown to think like her too.
    Dani seemed to sense my uneasiness. “Don’t worry, Daddy,” she said, in the same oddly reassuring voice she had used when Nora had come into the room. “Everything will be all right.”
    I looked down at her. “I’m sure it will.”
    “I know it will, Daddy,” she said with a curious emphasis. “Some things just have to happen before people can grow up.”
    I stared at her.
    The old lady came into the foyer then, followed by Gordon and Nora.
    “Tell Charles to follow my car,” Gordon said, as he opened the front door for them. “What time are we due in court?” Nora asked as they walked past.
    He looked at her quizzically. “We don’t go to court today. We’re merely returning the child to the custody of the juvenile authorities.”
    “I’m glad.