The Legends Daughter

A good man, an even better father

They ended up walking the courtyard of the hotel. It was decorated with beautiful rose bushes, trees and other decorative flower bushes. They walked in comfortable silence for a moment. Melanie paused to look at the white rose bush that was on her right side. It was a beautiful night with a nice cool breeze blowing. She lightly ran her finger along the outside of the petals.

"Are roses your favorite flower?" Roman asked as he watched her lean over to literally smell the roses.

She paused before answering as she stood back up and moved on to the next rose bush which held pink roses. She shook her head no "Chrysanthemums are my favorite flower but I just love flowers in general" she said as she repeated the same process with the pink rose bush as she did with the white leaning over to smell the rose that was delicately positioned in her small hand.

Not knowing what a Chrysanthemum was Roman just nodded his head and continued their walk in silence.

After they walked most of the rather large courtyard Roman broke their comfortable silence. "Have you always been close to your dad?"

She looked up at him trying to decide if he was prying or if he generally wanted to know. She looked into his face and saw that the troubled look she saw when he got into the elevator had returned. His forehead was creased and he looked like he had a lot on his mind. So she decided to answer him honestly. She sat on a bench that was surrounded by flowers. He stood watching her intently waiting for an answer to his question.

"Yes, my dad and I have always been close for as long as I can remember. Don't get me wrong I was close to my mom too but my dad he was the moon to my stars you know, I hung on his every word he could do no wrong to me. Still can't" She said with a smile.

"Why were you closer to your dad than your mom?" he asked as he took a seat next to her.

She breathed in deeply "My mom died when I was 12." she heard him give a soft gasp.

"I'm sorry I didn't know" he said softly.

Melanie turned and looked at him. "It's okay I know you didn't." She said as she paused. "Anyway up until 12 I adored both of my parents but once my mom died we became even closer and he became my absolute everything. He is my example of how a man is supposed to treat a woman, the way he treated my mom was remarkable, he loved her with every fiber of his being, he doted on her and she doted on him in return. It wasn't always easy especially with him being on the road so much but they made it work. They have a kind of love that I honestly think is only found in fairy tales now a days"

She paused and looked off into the distance as she sat with her hands clasped in-between her legs and slowly rocked from side to side before continuing. "When my mom died my dad was all I had with the exception of my Uncle Ric. And as much as I love my Uncle he wasn't quite the best role model for how a man should treat a woman. He was everything outside of the ring that he said he was inside of the ring, a stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' n' dealin' son of a gun!" she said with a light laugh in her voice.

"But my dad" she sighed as she looked up at the night sky "He showed me what to expect of a man, he showed me that a man never puts his hands on a woman, he never takes advantage of her, he never willingly hurts her just because he can, a man will do everything he can to protect her and show her how much he loves and cares for her. He taught me that if a man can't treat me as well or better than he did, then that man shouldn't be a man that I should be with." She closed her eyes before continuing and slightly tilted her head to the side "Some of these lessons took me a long time to learn, but you better believe that even when I didn't heed his advice solicited or otherwise" she said with a small grin "He was always there with no judgement, willing to help me up and dust me back off again." she said as she looked up at him with a small smile.