"He wanted to make you in his image," Malcolm surmised. "He wanted to apprentice you into his trade." He nodded. "Some fathers are like that," he allowed, and if his tone seemed heavy, it was because he knew it well. "But it was your life to live and there's nothing that obliges you to be like him, no matter what he said."

Oops, maybe he got a little too heartfelt in that message, but only because it was close to his heart.

He heard it, though.

"So her bats are still all over the house?" he asked conversationally.

Smooth change of topic, Bright, he mentally admonished himself.