Private Dancer

"You're... father? That...that cant be Abby." I say not really believing what I'm hearing. "What? You're the one that took the picture, yet you don't believe me?" she says standing up in front of me, hands on hips. "Look, Ive known Tim about twenty years, and never has he mentioned having a daughter named Abby." I tell her standing up with her.

She walks closer to me, we're standing eye to eye. "Twenty years? Yeah, that seems about right, I guess. That would have been the last time I saw him. He abandoned me and my mother, he left and never came back. He didn't call or write...I figured... I thought...that he was dead." she says as I watch the tears prick the corners of her eyes.

"No...Abby he moved to Hawaii about twenty years ago. I never...I didn't know that he had a daughter. Why wouldn't he have told us that?" I ask her sitting back down on her bed. "I don't know Leland, maybe he was ashamed, I don't know..." she says, her thoughts trailing off as she sits back down beside me. "We need to go see him Abby, he's here in Colorado with us. I can take you to him. Do you want to do that...would you like to see him?" I ask her.

She lays back on her bed and lets out a long sigh. I couldn't believe she was Tim's daughter. How would I tell Tim, did he even want to know? How would I tell him that I had met her in strip club...that she was the stripper? I couldn't wrap my mind around it. What were the odds that something like this would happen to either of us? I shake the thoughts from my head and lay down beside her on the bed, propping up on my arm. "Are you okay?" I say hesitantly.

"I don't know Leland. I'm so confused, I don't know whether to be excited that I might get to see him again, or pissed off that I haven't seen him in twenty years." she says. I reach over and push a stray hair out of her eyes. "If you don't want to see him, I wont say anything about you to him. But if you do, we can do this together." I tell her. She smiles and says "Thats very sweet of you. I really don't know what I want to do at this point."

I scoot closer to her and wrap my arm around her waist, I feel her body tense and then relax. Even thought we've been talking for a while this is as close as we've been to one another. She rolls onto her side and looks at me with big brown eyes. "I'm glad that I met you Leland. Thank you for being so kind to me that night." she says sweetly.

I think back to that night when I saw her come onto the stage. "Just the look in your eyes and I knew, I knew you didn't belong there. I don't want you to go back there Abby. I want you to quit." I tell her very seriously. "Its not that easy Leland, I have bills to pay. I just bought a house, I have a car...You have bills, surely you understand." she says.

"But why stripping? Why not a secretary or something like that?" I ask. "Because, I needed more money than that...A few years ago my ex boyfriend ran up my credit cards and left my credit ruined and then skipped town. So, I was left with the bills and I thought I would try stripping for a couple of weeks to pay for everything and then I would quit, no big deal or so I thought. But the money was addicting. I couldn't stop." she says honestly.

I pull her closer to me and whisper in her ear, "What if I helped you and you didn't have to go back to that place?" I watch her close her eyes and smile, then shake her head. "No, I couldn't ask that of you. You barely know me...and.." she rambles on. "None of that matters Abby, and you didn't ask me, I offered. You're mine now." I say to her and kiss her softly on the lips. The kiss quickly deepens and suddenly I'm laying on top of her, my hand finding its ways under her shirt.

I sit up as I feel my cell phone vibrate. "Son of a bitch" I say pulling it out of my pocket. "What is it?" she asks me panting from our little make out session. I flip my phone open and see that its Tim. I glance down at her and then back to my phone wrestling with which one to choose. "This might be important." I say still straddling her waist.

"Hey Tim, whats going on?" I say into the phone. We have a short conversation and I hang up. "That was...your...that was Tim" I say, not really ready to call him her dad. "Everyone is going to dinner and they were letting me know. They asked if I wanted to bring the girl I was seeing. Would you like to go?" I ask praying she'll say yes. "I ...dont know if thats a good idea Leland." she says sitting up, my legs still wrapped around her waist. We look at each other and laugh. "Thats just wrong" I say laughing and pushing her back down, kissing her neck making her laugh even harder.

I get up off the bed and straighten out my clothes. "Please Abby, I want you to come with me. If you're not ready to tell Tim we wont. But I want my family to meet you. I know it might feel soon, but I feel so.. drawn to you."

"Alright, I'll go." she says simply and gets up and walks to the bathroom. I watch her fix her hair and apply some light makeup. "Ready" she says walking up to me. I smile and say "You look beautiful" We walk out her front door and twenty minutes later pull up to the restaurant.

"I don't think I can get out." she says to me as I open her car door and offer her my hand. "I promise, I'll be there the whole time. He wont have to know if your not ready. Come on babe." I say trying to coax her out of my car. We walk hand in hand through the door of the restaurant to my waiting family. I smile as we approach and give her hand a little squeeze and wink at her; she gives me a small smile.

"Hey guys. I'd like you to meet my girlfriend Abby." I tell everyone sitting at the table. They all smile and wave and say hello to her. Then it happens, Tim stands up and says "Abigail?" and walks toward us. My family all looks confused at whats going on.

"Hi Daddy" she says and starts to cry.