Maybe This Explains Father's Day

This morning FosterEema and I left the house to complete a number of errands. We both had doctor's appointments (me for my yearly undercarriage exam, and Eema for a follow-up to her earlier bladder infection), we had lunch with a buddy, and then we made a trip to the post office.

We were gone for a significant chunk of the day, and had a nice time.

When we pulled into the driveway, I noticed my stepmother's car pulling in behind us.

"Oh shit," I exclaimed, "[stepmother] is behind us."

We got out of the car, expecting some sort of altercation. Instead, my niece climbed out of the car and thrust a photo album into FosterEema's hands.

"Would you please give this to Danielle?" she asked. She used Danielle's old name, the one she had before the adoption.

FosterEema promised that she would give it to her, and told my niece that Danielle was gone, spending a few days with a friend. The niece bade her quick goodbyes, and before we knew it, she and my stepmother (who said nothing to us) were gone.

We decided to examine the photo album, since things were so tense. In it, we found four photos, a sticky note apologizing for the quality of the pictures, and a letter.

Okay, I'm a stinker. I read my kid's mail.

I'm glad I did.

The first part of the letter was pretty innocuous. My niece said that she'd intended to give Danielle the gift before she "got in a fight" with me, and that things hadn't worked out. She expressed her love, and claimed she loves Danielle just as much as she would her own sister. She explained that the photo album was to do photo trades, so that even though they were apart, they'd still be able to see what the other was doing.

And then the letter turned somewhat sinister*:

I can't help you that much. As much as I want to I am limited in how far I can go. You though. You can help yourself at any time. You need to tell people how you feel. Tell them what you want and be mature in how you do it. And remember if it gets to bad a phone call can get you out of there. Not that I reccomend calling cps but it is an option for you.

You can always call Grandpa and tell him you need help. I think he'll do what he can.

I probably won't see you for a long time. It wasn't my choice. But It happened.

My niece closed the letter by listing her phone number, e-mail address and physical address and once again expressing her love.

I wonder if my niece already put the idea of calling the cops us into Danielle's head. Maybe this explains Father's Day.

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* bad spelling and grammar as original