. Though it wasn’t as if Carver would be out of his life ... not really, since Carver and Candy would be around a lot. Joey would be the legal fathe...r and Carver the biological father ... both would be involved...“Joey, I can tell that you want to be part of my little tribe here. So, if you want that, you have to pay a fee of sorts, since you are not connected to us in any previous way. There are some conditions, if you will. The first is that you must marry Patty Bottom as soon as possible. I hold my eyes tightly shut. Please say something, Mark, to break this deafening silence.Forcing myself to open my eyes, I see him staring at me and biting his lower lip. Oh my God! Is he seriously trying not to laugh right now? Dude, you are supposed to be a professional!“Okay. Ummm. Well, are you in a lot of pain?” he stammered.“I am in pain because I am dying of embarrassment,” comes pouring out my mouth. My hands shoot up to cover my face.He surprisingly smiles warmly and leans forward. ”“Is this like ‘take your daughter to work’ day?” she giggled.“In a way. I want it to be ‘learn about your dad’ day. And I want to learn about my daughter, as well.”“Things are a lot calmer now than they were in the sixties and early seventies,” I said as we walked along the waterfront. “Things changed when containers were standardized and shipping was deregulated a few years ago. Back when Joe’s and my fathers were working out here, loading and unloading a ship was a masterpiece for puzzlers.. I noticed a few other people heading upstarts as I scanned the room I realized that Edwin was nowhere to be seen. He must have gone upstairs with Brenda. No doubt about that. Well, I have no choice now. I walked up the stairs and found the door with number one on the panelling. I unlocked the door and entered the room. The room was small but very nice furnished. A large oak dresser sat against one wall, a huge mirror taking up almost the entire width of the wall. Wherever I walked in the room I.