Fran began to smile when she saw the tiniest of grins appear on the diminutive woman’s face. “Millie, what exactly are you saying?”

“Joanna called me this morning. It seems she’s decided to change her last name to Kane.”

***

After Millie had left on Saturday night, Joanna sat at the kitchen table sipping her whiskey and laughing to herself about the preposterous offer. Shaking her head at the crazy idea, she climbed the stairs with a smile on her face. She couldn’t marry for money, and she couldn’t marry a woman. It was sheer lunacy.

She went about her nightly routine as she always did. Exchanging her father’s food-stained pajamas for a clean pair, Joanna listened as he talked about the sports he had watched that day. She nodded at all the right times while she tidied the room, gathering the dirty dishes and the discarded newspapers left by the caregivers. Joanna liked football, but she had heard the stories an hour before. He had forgotten he had told her, but she didn’t mind. Joanna loved listening to him grumble about blind referees and players who needed to be traded. It made her happy. He had gone through so much, yet he was still her dad, feisty as always.

She wanted to spend the night chatting with him. It was rare they ever had more than just a few minutes in the morning to talk before she went to work, but when he yawned, and his eyes closed, she quietly kissed him good night. She was as tired as he, but there were still things left to be done.

Joanna went to her room and searched her laundry basket for essentials before returning to the kitchen with dirty dishes in one hand and dirty laundry in the other. With the washing machine broken and no money to have it repaired, she had only one option. Filling the sink with water, she turned on the radio to keep her company, and humming along with the music, she spent the evening washing their clothes.

A few hours later, with laundry draped around the house to dry, Joanna returned to her bedroom still wearing the smile put there by Millie’s ludicrous proposition. Changing into her pajamas, Joanna crawled into bed and shut off the light. She believed sleep would come easily, but in the dark and quiet of her room, Joanna’s thoughts began to wander. Was it really that crazy?