I Have a Daughter Now, Too

Alvin worked until one in the afternoon, when all fifty steaks had sold out. With nothing else to do, he went to the bar counter, dug a jar of goji berries out of a cabinet, and made himself a cup of goji berry tea.

In his previous life, his wife had made him a cup in a thermos every morning before he left for work. He would crack a dirty joke about the goji berries, take a few indignant punches from her, and head off feeling refreshed.

Now all he could do was make himself a cup like an old man and reminisce.

He was lost in thought when a knock on the bar counter snapped him out of it. His eyes refocused, and he saw Jessica.

"What's wrong? Gave someone the wrong change again? I keep telling you to stay in school, but you never listen!" Alvin said groggily, paying no attention to Jessica's dark expression.

A punch brought him fully awake. "Hey! What kind of lady hits her own boss? I'm docking your pay."

Jessica wasn't afraid of him in the slightest. She glared at Alvin and muttered, "Go ahead and dock it all. Then you'll have to take care of me for life."

Alvin curled his index finger and rapped her on the forehead. "You're a grown woman. What goes on in that head of yours? Take care of you for life? If a man ever tells you that, punch him. I guarantee he'll deserve it. You little fool!"

Jessica pulled a miserable face, her doe eyes filling with tears as she looked at him.

Alvin folded his arms and rubbed away the goose bumps rising all over him. "Get back to work. You'd better just keep working for me, you little fool. If someone starts courting you, bring him here and I'll check him out. Otherwise, you'll get fooled and never even know it."

Jessica scowled and gave a huff. "I don't need your help. I know what kind of man I want!" She had forgotten what she'd come over to tell him in the first place.

"Well, make sure he isn't like me. You'd never find another one, and I'm not about to settle for you. Any woman of mine has to be at least a 36D," Alvin said, glancing at Jessica's modest chest.

Jessica thought of the women who could put her boss in a good mood. Dahlia and Lilith were both generously endowed. Her face darkened. She wrinkled her nose, huffed, and turned away to clear the tables, forgetting entirely what she had wanted to tell him.

"Boss, she's a good girl. That wasn't very gentlemanly of you." A young blond professional sidled up and bumped fists with Alvin as though they were old friends. He even threw in a few gestures copied from Black gangsters, hoping Alvin would play along.

Alvin watched him like he was a joke. Undeterred, the young man gave a dry chuckle. "Great steak!" Then he turned to join his friends waiting at the door and boasted, "See? I know the owner. He's the godfather of this street."

Not long after the young men left, an old Ford sedan pulled up outside the restaurant. The driver's door opened, and JJ got out. He went around to the passenger side and hauled out a Black teenager of sixteen or seventeen. The boy's arm was bandaged, and judging by the blood on it, the wound was serious.

Professor Wilson got out of the back seat with a little brown-haired girl of five or six. They went into the restaurant with JJ and the boy.

The professor looked troubled, and Alvin's heart sank a little.

Jessica thoughtfully showed Professor Wilson and the little girl to a table and poured them each a glass of water.

Alvin looked at JJ and asked in a low voice, "What happened?"

JJ smacked the Black teenager hard on the back of the head, making him double over. When the boy tried to turn and fight back, JJ held him in place. "This kid hurt Mrs. Wilson," he said grimly.

Seeing Alvin about to lose his temper, Professor Wilson hurried to his feet and waved a hand. "He didn't hurt her. He only pushed her, and she fell. The doctor said she'll be fine after a couple of days' rest."

Having stopped Alvin, Professor Wilson said apologetically, "Ginny was the one who cut Jason's arm. That's why I came to see you, Alvin. I'm sorry for the trouble."

Alvin relaxed a little when he heard Mrs. Wilson was all right. She and Professor Wilson were the pillars of the school now.

He ignored the boy struggling in JJ's grip for the moment and looked at the little girl still clutching the professor's coat. He knew she was the girl Professor Wilson had asked him to adopt that morning.

Before Alvin had crossed into this world, he had always wanted a daughter. But he and his wife hadn't had much money, and they'd worried that another son would make life hard for the family. So they had never made up their minds.

Now he wasn't even married, and a daughter had arrived on his doorstep. He had been a little annoyed that morning when Professor Wilson had made the decision for him. But seeing this adorable little girl gazing at him like a frightened animal, Alvin felt his heart melt. He had no attention to spare for the boy, who looked every inch a future gang member raised on the streets of Hell's Kitchen.

Alvin crouched down and gave the little girl a gentle smile. "You're Ginny, right? I'm Alvin." He held out his hand to her.

At that moment, Alvin looked like a loving father, a warm, sunlit smile on his face as he gazed expectantly at his daughter. Such an expression would have looked strange on most twenty-five-year-old men, but on Alvin it seemed perfectly natural, as though he had been born for this.

Whether Alvin's manner reassured her or Professor Wilson's encouragement helped, Ginny slowly reached out. Her fingers brushed Alvin's open palm, then darted back. Her pale little face showed fear, uncertainty, and hope.

Alvin kept his hand open and still. He only looked at Ginny with hopeful, encouraging eyes.

Ginny looked at Alvin, then at Professor Wilson. When the professor nodded encouragingly, she slowly let go of his coat. Like a small animal searching for food, she tentatively touched Alvin's palm.

Alvin waited patiently, his smile growing brighter. This little girl felt profoundly unsafe and was painfully sensitive. He would gladly give her all the love he had once hoped to give a daughter of his own.

At last, her tiny hand settled on his. Ginny felt the warmth of Alvin's palm. She liked it.

In all her memories, Alvin was the only one who had ever made her feel this way. It was comforting. Safe. She had wandered through many places, yet it was in a restaurant called the Peace Hotel, in a shabby, chaotic neighborhood, that she felt something she never had before.

The professor and his wife made her feel that they were kind and gentle. Alvin gave her something different: warmth and protection.

Reluctant to let go of the warmth in Alvin's palm, Ginny timidly pointed at herself with her left hand. "Ginny. Me, Ginny," she whispered.

Delighted, Alvin gently closed his right hand around Ginny's tiny one. Copying her, he pointed to himself with his left hand. "Alvin. Me, Alvin."

Ginny finally let down her guard. A small smile bloomed on her face, and she pointed at Alvin. "Alvin. You, Daddy." Professor Wilson had clearly prepared her for this before bringing her over.

But who cared? Alvin felt so happy his heart might burst. Grinning, he nodded and pointed to himself. "Me, Alvin, Daddy."

Ginny's smile grew a little wider. Holding Alvin's hand, she nestled her small face into it. Like a puppy come home, she closed her eyes and eagerly breathed in his scent.

Alvin cupped Ginny's little face with one hand and stroked her brown hair with the other. Pride swelled in his chest. I have a daughter now, too.