Ella Claire

Ella Claire was five years old with platinum blonde, ringlet curly hair and wide, kelly green eyes. She was as curious as a child could be and held the fiery personality of her mother, her father always said. She could read things a fourth grader should be reading, and it seemed that she could sometimes understand more than the adults in her life. She had an abundance of imaginary friends with names like “John Ell”, “Didi”, and “Curry”. She enjoyed collecting what she called seashells from the man-made beach near their home—which were really mussel shells on the bank of the river they visited often—and to listen to every type of music there was. Ella was especially drawn to loud, heavy rock and roll.

Ella’s mother left after her first birthday; and her father, Daniel, raised her on his own for the next four years. No women came into his life. He proclaimed that Ella was the only girl for him, and he made it so. Daniel showered her with warmth and attention. He encouraged her adventurous spirit and growing intellect. Rather than treat her like she was a young animal, he talked to her like a young adult and let her make some of her own decisions, although they still couldn’t come to a compromise on the twelve ‘o clock bedtime she proposed. Ella Claire was the light in his eyes and his reason for wanting to make something for himself and his daughter. She was the reason that he had gone back to college to become a culinary artist.

At first glance, Daniel wasn’t what someone would tag as ‘chef material’. In fact, the master chef at his institute laughed at him on his first day of class when he showed up in a pair of old Converse and a Dokken t-shirt.

He was covered in tattoos and the stretch piercings in his ears were over an inch in diameter. There were scars on his knuckles and one above his right eyebrow from the days in his youth when he trained to be a mixed martial artist.
That aspiration quickly fizzled out when not only was he thrown over the ropes of the boxing ring his trainer used for practice and into a row of metal chairs, ending up with a concussion and a nice-sized lump at the base of his neck, but also when he was informed by his girlfriend that they were to have a baby.

Daniel had realized what he really wanted to put his effort into in school; and when Ella became old enough to hold her own in a world full of other bratty kids, he enrolled her into a preschool and signed up for student loans. Two years later, he had graduated from the culinary institute and was working for a popular local seafood restaurant. Also two years later, he was taking his daughter to her third rock concert featuring Avenged Sevenfold, one of both of their favorite bands to listen to.