Chapter 12 - The Line For Parent Signature
Maris called Thursday at four-thirty. I had not heard her voice before.
"Is this Daniel?" she said. "This is Maris Cruz. Helen's daughter. Ella's mom."
I stood up from my desk and went to the glass room again. "Yes. How's Helen?"
"Better. Sleeping. Listen - Helen said you were amazing yesterday and I thank you. She also said you're coming to the tea tomorrow. Is that right?"
"Yes, at three-thirty," I said. "If you want me there."
There was a pause. Maris sounded tired in the way of someone who had worked nights and driven between cities.
"I'm glad," she said. "Ella hasn't stopped talking about the borrowed daddy who brought bunny back. I want you to hear something before tomorrow so you're not blindsided. Mrs. Alvarez sent home a packet. It's a little booklet they make for the tea. Each kid draws a page. And there's a last page that needs a grown-up signature. It says *My Daddy/Mommy/My Person at the Tea.* Ella left it blank. She told her teacher she's saving it for you."
My hand tightened on the phone.
"I'm not asking you to sign anything you're not comfortable with," Maris said quickly. "Helen said you knew Michael. I did too, obviously. He never got to sign anything. I don't want Ella to hand a blank page to a room full of dads. But I also don't want her to hand a promise you didn't mean."
"I knew Michael at Ohio State," I said. "We shared a futon and a hot plate for two years. I wasn't there after."
"I know," Maris said. Her voice softened. "Helen told me you sent money when you couldn't come. That money paid for her crib."
I swallowed. On my desk the second ticket still sat - *3:30 Friday - school - tea.*
"What does the page need?" I asked.
"It says: *I was there for Ella on May 16. Signed ___ Date ___ Relationship ___,*" Maris said. "Relationship can be anything honest. Friend is fine. Helen usually signs Grandma. But Ella wrote in pencil underneath, *Mr. Daniel.* She asked me if that was okay to write."
I pictured the white paper from the ballroom, the first coupon in my pocket, the second still folded in Ella's desk. This was a third paper, waiting.
"Can I see it before I sign?" I asked.
"Helen has it at the apartment. You can come by tonight around seven if you want. No pressure to decide now. I just didn't want you walking into a classroom cold."
"I'll come at seven," I said. "Thank you for calling me yourself."
At 7:02 I knocked on 3B. Maris opened the door. She was younger than I expected, late twenties, scrubs still on under a cardigan, eyes like Ella's. Helen was on the couch with a blanket, coughing but upright. Ella ran from the kitchen and stopped a foot away when she saw Maris watching.
"Hi," she said to me, holding the bunny I had returned yesterday. She had tucked it under her arm again like Saturday.
"Hi, bean," Maris said to her. "Show him the book?"
Ella went to her backpack and pulled out a stapled booklet made of construction paper. Each page had crayon drawings - *Ella and Bunny at Park. Ella and Mom at Work. Ella and Grandma Cooking.* The last page was white printer paper glued in. At the top in teacher print: *My Person at the Tea.* Below, a blank line for signature, and in Ella's wobbly pencil, *Mr. Daniel — my borrowed daddy.*
She held it out with both hands the same way she'd held the white paper in the ballroom.
"Do you want to sign it?" she asked, not tearful now, just careful. "You can write Friend if you want. Mrs. Alvarez said Friend is okay. But I wrote what I want."
Maris and Helen both looked at me and didn't prompt.
I knelt so I was eye level, the same height as in the ballroom photo. The pen Maris offered was a plain Bic from the hospital.
"I want to sign it," I said quietly to Ella. "But I want to sign it tomorrow at the tea, in front of your class, so they see I mean it. Can we do that? I'll bring it tomorrow and sign it there. That way it's not just paper at home."
Ella thought about this, then nodded once, very seriously. "Okay. You keep it safe till then?"
"I will," I said. I folded the booklet carefully and put it in my jacket pocket with the tickets. It fit right over my heart.
May you like
Helen reached over and squeezed Maris's hand. Maris's eyes were glossy.
We ate microwave pizza at the small table together, four of us plus bunny, and I realized I had not been a guest in that apartment for a long time - I had been expected.
