"Karen will never forgive me," he said. I could feel the hurt in his voice.
"Yes, she will. She loves you. She wants to forgive you in the worse way but she needs a reason; a truthful reason. It's going to take a lot of work to convince her."
"I'll do anything. You have to believe that."
The steam was draining out of me. "I know that, Paul."
"We'll skip the camping trip, and I'll take her into Boston first thing Monday and see a specialist. I'll get the best I can find."
"Bull shit! We're going on the camping trip and be a family. That's the first and best remedy. Then we'll talk to a doctor here in Summerside where there'll be a minimum of disruption to Karen's life. I already looked in the phone book. But we're not waiting that long. We'll start this minute, with the three of us sitting down and discussing this out in the open. Before we do anything, you and I and Karen will talk. First and foremost, we're going to be there for our daughter. You'll mostly listen and agree. I'm sorry to be a bossy bitch over this and I apologize for my language but it goes to shit when I'm this mad! And you'd better believe I'm fucking madder than hell. You lied to me too!" I opened the car door and marched into the house.
"Karen," I called at the top of my lungs. "Come on down, Hon. Tell Timmy to stay in his room for a while. We'll have a surprise for him later."
If Paul had something to say, I didn't give him a chance. He followed behind me into the living room.
Karen crept meekly down the stairs and I grabbed her in a hug and led her to the sofa. Paul took a seat across from us. The poor kid was scared to death.
"Karen, your father has been a big fat liar and he feels terrible about it now that he's been caught." While she was shocked by what I said shock was preferable to being frightened. "Do you know why he lied to you?" She shook her head no. "He was trying to protect you because he thought you were too young and too immature to understand that your mother was so sick in her mind she killed herself. Men don't understand how strong us females are. I know how strong you are. His misjudgment of you was his mistake and he's unbelievably sorry for underestimating you. It wasn't only dumb but wrong and there's no excuse for what terrible pain it caused you. How's that? But that's all behind us now. Your father promises to never, ever lie to you again, just like I promised you. Sometimes grownups make mistakes too. We have to take our punishment and move on." I gestured to Paul that it was his turn to say whatever apology he could offer.