Where's Daddy?: Part I

``Mommy, when is Daddy coming home?''

``Never ask that question again, child,'' Tiffany said sternly to Tricia, her darling little five-year-old as she dressed her up for kindergarten. It was the third day of a rather acrimonious divorce, and Tiffany was in no mood to deal with these kinds of questions, not from Tricia her darling, the only bright thing in her seven years of marriage.

It all began like a fairy-tale, her finishing up college in her business major, and he finishing up law school. They met at a party held by a mutual friend, started hanging out, got close, got really close, and then got married. They lived in a house that they built together with some money from their parents, who blessed their marriage the way happy parents often do. He had a promising carrier at the law firm in Chicago, while she managed to land a job as a manager for a small franchise also in the city. Living in suburbia, with their own house and car---it was a dream.

Two years after they were married, Tiffany gave birth to Tricia. Tricia came to this world after some serious planning. He was twenty-seven, while she was nearly twenty-four when Tricia was born, and for a while, it was good. Life was hectic, but they managed somehow with a nanny to help look after the toddler when neither parent was home.

A bundle of joy. That was what Tricia was, unless she was pooping or crying or running a fever the way toddlers often did. All these while, Tiffany would be the one who took care of little precious Tricia, while he kept time at his work to make up for the slight loss of income from Tiffany scaling back on her work and responsibilities to come back early to take care of their growing child. Firms in those days were less family friendly, and so each time Tiffany had to take time off to take care of Tricia with the nanny whenever the little one got ill, she had to consume her personal leave, and at times, even invoking her emergency leave. Needless to say, the firm was not pleased with one of their managers taking so much time off, and by the time Tricia was three, Tiffany had been let off from the franchise.

(Story continues here.)