To Keep Her Safe is All I Know

Chapter 19

A/N: Disclaimer: There is use of a foreign language toward the end of this chapter has been translated via Google Translate, and therefore may not be entirely correct. Said language has their own alphabet, but I know that on some softwares, other alphabets don't show up, so I will be using the English alphabet. Also, for reasons that will be made obvious as you read, I had to do some research and committed the ultimate research sin by using Wikipedia, so my information not be entirely correct...If any chapter in this book is gonna start a fight, it's this one.

On March 8th, Sadie turned 8.

Her birthday party was hilarious.

The reason being Melanie's backyard was filled with all of Sadie's friends who came dressed like princesses as well as several grown goth men who all of the kids were actually very intrigued by. Mostly because they were all wearing more makeup than any of the princesses there. The guys got some odd stares from some of the other parents there, but the kids were honestly fine. Sadie got lots of presents and had a lot of fun. One of Chris' big surprises for her was that he'd hired a guy to come to the party dressed up as Spiderman (Sadie's favorite superhero) to entertain the kids. Sadie was ecstatic.     

All of this made Melanie very happy because she was worried that Sadie would be sad about this being her first birthday without her father present, but she was perfectly fine. Sadie got more dress-up costumes, some video games, Barbie dolls, monster trucks, and of course, her grandparents got her money.     

Melanie's mother, Sandrine, walks up to Chris, "Oh, Chris, it was so great of you to get that Spiderman to come entertain the kids. Sadie is so happy!"

Chris smiles, "Well, that was my goal."

"You and your friends certainly stick out amongst all of these pink decorations." 

Chris laughs, "Yeah, I guess we do."

"Well, I think it's great. Sadie needs a little variety in her life."

"Absolutely, I think so too."

"It's just such a shame that her father couldn't be here..."

"Yeah, she needs a good father figure in her life."

Sandrine smiles, "Well, I suppose that's what she's got you for."

Chris blinks, "What?"

Sandrine takes another sip of her drink and nods, "Oh, yes, Sadie's said many times how you're like another father to her."

Chris again just blinks, "Really." He states, "I was...not aware of this."

Sandrine laughs, "Oh, silly me, I wasn't supposed to tell you that. Something about Melanie thinking it would freak you out. We all know you're more mature than that though."

Chris pauses, then gives an awkward laugh before continuing, "Um, Sadie's always told me that I'm like an older brother or an uncle to her."

Sandrine shrugs, "You're an older, male figure in Sadie's life. Does it really matter what the label is?"

Before Chris could answer, Sandrine gasps, as if to be remembering something.

"Oooh, I remember what I came to tell you. You know a lot of people, and I think it's time that we find someone to set Melanie up with. She deserves to be with someone after all she's been through."

For some reason, Chris was really uncomfortable with the idea of setting Melanie up with someone.

"I don't know, maybe we should just let her find someone on her own. I-I'm sure she will when she's ready."