When he awoke that morning, he had been surprised to find two crumpled envelopes stuffed in his slippers. The first caused his blood pressure to rise to the top of the chart, but the other gave him pause. There was no doubt the words scrawled across the paper were written by his hand, and reading a dozen times what he had written, he took a deep breath and accepted the reality of Joanna’s decision. Knowing he would need a constant reminder about the deal his daughter had made with the devil, he folded the envelopes and placed them in his Bible on the nightstand just before Joanna walked into his room.

Joanna had been fully prepared to refresh her father’s memory about what the day would bring, so she was surprised to find he had beaten her to the punch. Quickly explaining about the notes he had written to himself, he promptly shooed her out the door, informing Joanna he was going to bathe, shave, and dress himself that morning. Although he saw a flicker of doubt in his daughter’s eyes, Joanna, nevertheless, left him on his own, giving him the time he needed to rein in what remained of his disgust.

Robert wasn’t the only one who had a surprise, and after being ejected from her father’s room, Joanna skipped down the stairs with a smile on her face. She had decided the day before to treat her father to a full English breakfast, so gathering her purchases from the refrigerator, she began frying up tomatoes and cooking the bacon and sausage. It had been over a decade since last she had spent so much money on so little food, but as the aroma filled the house, Joanna breathed it in. It felt good to do something without worrying about where she’d find the money to buy food for tomorrow, or how many offices she would need to clean in order to pay the bills for the week.

Nearly an hour had passed before Joanna heard her father’s bedroom door open. Walking over to the stairs, she looked up, and tears sprang to her eyes. Robert Sheppard looked better than he had in almost a decade. Owning only two pairs of trousers, he had chosen the dark brown, and while they were now baggy in the seat and a bit worn at the cuffs, with his pale blue Oxford shirt and royal blue tie, he looked positively dashing. Not a strand of his gray hair was out of place and his face, lacking the stubble that had become his norm, looked years younger. His eyes were as bright as his smile, and Joanna had never felt so proud.