Melvin was an attentive father for the first couple of years but once Katy started showing her independence he lost interest. She was a mamma’s girl, but in truth he was thankful that he didn’t have a son. He was chauvinistic even then whereby he thought only having a son would require changing his lifestyle. At the very least he would have been roped into coaching little league for one of the many teams that his law firm sponsored. Even though there were some girl teams he had a reprieve since Kit was never interested in sports. She preferred staying inside learning the piano or taking ballet lessons or acting in plays.

Although he had fond memories of driving around town in his fancy car, there weren’t many that could be classified as family excursions. Shirley owned the station wagon and did all the chauffeuring of Kit and her friends. On the rear occasion when Melvin had to pick her up from a recital or a friend’s house Kit would get so excited to ride in his car, but her father was usually distracted with some business deal or client and hurriedly dropped her off.

Sunday was the only day that Melvin loosened up. Shirley was very involved with their church and sang in the choir so she would leave early and stay after service charging Melvin with the care of their daughter. Sunday became their special day. After the service he would usually plan an outing with his daughter. One of their favorite things to do was have lunch at a high-end restaurant where he helped to hone her table manners followed by attending some type of cultural event.

As he was admiring the car he’d hoped that whomever owned it would come out so he’d have a few minutes to talk cars. He didn’t see anyone waiting or approaching the car when the valet driver got out so he figured they were still inside the café. He walked up to the car and peered in. The top was down so he could see that interior was just as pristine as the exterior. Whomever owned it obviously took a lot of pride in it.

Kit stood just inside the door watching her father through the glass. She couldn’t believe the transformation that had taken place in the two hours since her father broke down in her arms and wept. It wasn’t anything she could have anticipated. This was the man that had abandoned her as a teenager, taken away her baby boy and erased her existence from his life for over 30 years. Now here he was broken and begging for forgiveness for the unforgivable. Was this a breakthrough in their relationship or just a freak moment of vulnerability. Melvin never showed weakness and he had instilled the same in his daughters. Fortunately, both she and Bette had nurturing mothers that counterbalanced his fully effecting their ability to show empathy but his influence was there none the less.