The Family Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

never remarried nor have I had any other [[strikeout]]issue children."
    It was the lone piece of paper in a manila folder marked "Thalia, Correspondence." Would it be a terrible idea to bring this draft to lunch on the second, testimony to his long-standing good intentions? He'd explain why he wrote it, and he'd be honest: His therapist believed in homework. This was an old assignment, prompted by a rough patch he'd gone through a decade ago concurrent with her high school graduation and the prospect that she might be independent, reachable, curious.
    Would excavating a never-sent letter strike Thalia as creepy? Could he lighten the mood by quoting his therapist implicating Carousel? Yes, because an actress would appreciate the fact that his graduation fixation was inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein? No, because the word therapist might raise a red flag?
    These questions, aired before Sheri Abrams, prompt her to note, "It isn't like you to weigh every word."
    "I've always done that. Lawyers can't just stand before the bench and prattle."
    "You were never a litigator," she snaps.
    He leans forward in his chair. "Let's settle this now. Am I going to meet resistance every time I bring up my daughter?"
    "What is our goal here?" she asks, staring over her half glasses. "Are weekly lunches going to be enough? Then dinners? Then dinners with orchestra seats? And soon enough, in no particular order, a roof over her head and a codicil to your will?"
    He inhales sharply. He hasn't dared look past lunch at Trattoria Dell'Arte in two weeks, but "roof over her head" strikes Henry as a first-rate goal for a delinquent father with a vacant maisonette.

5. On Advice of Counsel
    H IS TRUST ATTORNEY READS the codicil, removes his glasses, buzzes for a pot of Earl Grey, and finally asks, "This isn't one of those foolish midlife things that besotted men do, is it?"
    "Foolish besotted heteros, maybe. And, George, don't be vulgar. I'm her father."
    "All I'm saying is, what's the rush? Unless you're not telling me something, healthwise."
    "I'm fine," Henry says. "Although that's what Glenn Krouch thought, too. Fine one day, on life support the next—"
    "Not before remembering her in his will, I understand."
    "In trust! She won't see that money for years. It's beyond insulting, as if she were an irresponsible child."
    "I still think you should give this some time. You're in the honeymoon phase. You don't know if her arms-wide-open embrace is sincere. Or durable."
    "Here's something that might surprise you, George. I wouldn't care! I adopted her once, and I didn't fight for her. On advice of counsel, I might add. I'm putting her back where she belongs, and I'm perfectly capable of adding a codicil without the blessing of my suspicious lawyer."
    "This isn't me talking exclusively as your lawyer, and you know it."
    He does know it. George was the partner who issued the cease-and-desist order twenty-five years earlier: Office mates were to refrain from setting Henry up with their wives' girlfriends and attractive associates, and why didn't they open their eyes and stop putting him on the spot, for chrissakes?
    "I'm not under her spell," he says. "This is not the result of Thalia ingratiating herself. She's known for months that I was her mother's ex but never said a word."
    "Therefore how could someone in such a passive role be a gold digger?"
    "Correct."
    "Acting talent notwithstanding."
    "Acting talent still undetermined," murmurs Henry.
    "Can I meet her?"
    "Under what guise?"
    "No guise! Former partner who knew her as a baby."
    "Did you?"
    George squints at a framed photo of a Christmas tree rising behind his four sons in seasonal sweaters. "Didn't we have an office party once with a Santa?"
    "No, we did not."
    "Then I must have seen a photo of her. Didn't you have one on your desk?"
    "Many. Which are back on my mantel."
    George takes his notary seal from its leatherette sheath, slips it around the codicil, but stops short of embossing it. Henry