Another Father’s Day has come around, and with it there will be family gatherings, now that the pandemic is almost behind us, and men will be unwrapping the ties and socks and smiling broadly as if it’s the first time they received one. Steaks will be grilling, drinks will be pouring, and laughter will be roaring. And that’s the way it should be.
After all, where would we be without fathers? We wouldn’t exist, right? So, let’s show our fathers some real love. Let that man know how much he means to you. When I watch paternity shows on TV and I see young men and women cry because they grew up without a father, my heart breaks for them.
But for many boys and girls who would have grown up fatherless, some loving and caring men stepped in and adopted those children so they wouldn’t have to grow up not knowing the love of a father. I always think of my adoptive cousin who has nothing but praise for my aunt and her husband who adopted her. My cousin says she received all the love and support as any biological child would.
In In the Promised Land, book 3 of my Egypt trilogy, Detective David Bowen and his wife Cicely adopted Marva the protagonist and her sister June, orphans, after Marva had been involved in a serious accident. The excerpt below is part of a scene where Marva reflects on what David had done for her and June.
Marva’s gaze returned to the picture of David in his khaki uniform, shirt bedecked with medals. The cap partly concealed his eyes, but the neatly-trimmed mustache, firm, chiseled mouth and cleft chin testified to his good looks.
What a history they had together. She could almost hear him saying, “Now, Sister, how many poor girls did you send trembling to the corner today?”
She would always laugh and say, “They’re not afraid of me as I was of you.” Then they would laugh together.
But it was true. There was a time when the sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine, as she wondered how long it would be before he threw the noose around her neck and hauled her off to jail. When she finally confessed to the murder of her father in her suicide note, David had been instrumental in having her committed to Corpus Christi instead of being sent to prison. And later, he and Cicely had adopted June and unofficially adopted her. And now he was in the hospital. How badly he’d been hurt they would have to wait until the morning to find out.
Marva stared at his picture again. They don’t come any better than David Bowen. I love you, Dad.
To learn more about Marva and June and how they came to be adopted into a family, why not get the Egypt series now at the discounted price of $5.97?
