After a few moments, Clementine and Florence came out of the ensuite together, the twelve-year-old hiding the box of pads behind her back like it was a sin for her father to see them.

Daniel didn’t know what to say.

“We got our first monthly visitor of many, didn’t we, Clemmy?” Florence said, petting her hand lovingly over her daughter’s hair.

Clementine nodded lightly.

Daniel took a shuttering inhale like it was devastating news.

His obvious discomfort made Clementine pout, dropping her shameful gaze to the floor, “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

That snapped him back down fast, instantly standing in front of his daughter and taking her face in his hands to get her to look at him, “There is nothing for you to be sorry about.”

“You look embarrassed. And it’s yucky. So…” Clementine shrugged.

“Oh, gosh, angel, no.” Daniel tisked. “It’s not yucky. It’s life. And I’m not embarrassed and I’m not uncomfortable or anything like that…I’m just…”

He looked over to Florence as if she would help him figure out his internal feelings.

Daniel sighed, turning back to his daughter, “I’m just…surprised. You’re my sweet baby girl and now you’re almost a woman. I just don’t want you growing up anymore.”

“A woman?” Clementine’s eyes went wide, nearly shining with possibility at that statement.

“Yeah. Your first step to becoming a woman is getting your period.”

“What’s the next step?” Clementine looked between her parents. “Can I do that one now too?”

“No, no, no.” Daniel said quickly. “No rushing this.”

Clementine nodded and he leaned down to press a kiss to her head and she wrapped her arms around his middle for a quick hug. Daniel scrunched his eyes closed as he held his daughter for a moment as if trying to hold on to her last bit of childhood, tears welling in his eyes at simply the thought of it all. But then Clementine was rushing down the hallway with her box of pads and Daniel was sighing through his forming tears, taking his wife into a soft embrace next.

“I don’t want her growing up, Flora. This isn’t fair.” Daniel breathed, his voice wavering.

“I know.” Florence sighed, resting her head on his shoulder.

A silent tear fell down Daniel’s cheek but he wiped it away quickly, just as Clementine shouted from down the hallway, “Penelope! I’m a woman now!”

Penelope

Monday, November 15, 2032

With Penelope, Daniel was half asleep. It was 4am when Penelope woke up with a sore stomach and she slunk out of bed to the bathroom, moving quietly to not wake her sister. She went to do her business but the spot of deep red in her underwear startled her more awake than she already was. Now Clementine was quite vocal about her period, so Penelope knew what it was, but it didn’t mean she was prepared already. At only twelve-and-a-half, Penelope didn’t feel ready to be a woman yet and this little spot on the fabric of her underwear felt like the end of the world. She pulled her pyjamas back up, washed her hands, grabbed her favourite stuffed puppy from her bed, and patted quietly down the hallway to the master bedroom.

It was dark in the room with the curtains pulled closed, but Penelope rushed around to the far side of the king size bed like it was second nature. She climbed up onto the bed and slunk under the warm sheets, curling up beside Daniel who was still fast asleep. Habitually, he stirred slightly and draped his arm around his daughter, pulling her closer and pressed a kiss to her head.

“Daddy.” Penelope whispered, her trembling voice making his eyes open in concern.

Daniel looked down at her and pet his hand over her hair, “What’s wrong, bug?”

Penelope only sniffled and held him tighter, shutting her eyes and clinging onto him with the material of his shirt bunched up in her fist as if she was never going to let him go. Daniel was never one to force his daughters to speak to him so he stayed quiet and just held her close until she wanted to share whatever was on her mind. He figured it was just a nightmare.

To Penelope, it really was.

“Daddy, I don’t wanna grow up.” Penelope finally mumbled.

“You don’t have to, honey.” Daniel assured her tiredly, his eyes still closed as he was still half asleep. “Not yet.”

“Yes, I do.” Penelope whimpered. Her small sob had Daniel’s eyes opening again and he reached over her to turn on the bedside light. Father and daughter blinked through the sudden brightness and he stayed propped up on his side to look at her, seeing the tears brimming in her blue eyes.

“Talk to me, bug.” Daniel whispered as she curled into his chest to cry into his shirt and the plush puppy she held clutched in her hand. He ran his fingers through her tangled brown hair, petting it gently to try and help calm her.

“I-I think I g-got my…” Penelope didn’t even want to say it.

She didn’t need to; Daniel knew.

“Okay, bug.” Daniel sighed, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as she clung onto him. “Let’s get you up.”

Penelope shifted out of the bed and Daniel followed her, leading her into the ensuite and turned the light on for them. She held her stuffed puppy in her hands, silent tears trickling down her cheeks as she stood in the middle of the bathroom, watching Daniel crouch down in front of the cupboard under the sink.

“Make it stop, Daddy.” Penelope sniffled.

When Daniel looked over at her, his heart nearly broke. She was crying and scared and he could see the small quarter size spot of red staining her light blue pyjama pants. He only shifted to sit on the ground and held out his arms for her to run into, “Come here, bug.”

Penelope curled up on his lap – a sobbing, shaking mess – and her tears dripped onto his shirt as she clung onto him.

“Nothing to cry about, baby, I promise.” Daniel assured her softly, petting her messy brown hair back from her face and he pressed a loving kiss to her head. He took a deep breath before continuing, determined to do this himself, “Did Mommy or Clem or school ever tell you about periods?”

“Clemmy just said when you get it you’re a woman and that she’s one.”

“Well it’s not like you’re suddenly an adult or anything. You can certainly be a kid for as long as you feel like.” Daniel said. “Just means your body is starting to grow up and you’ll have your period every month now.”

“Every month?!” Penelope gaped at him. “I have to make myself bleed every month?”

“Your body does it itself, baby.” Daniel chuckled. “I don’t really know why. We can ask Mommy when she wakes up, okay?”

Penelope nodded, resting her head against his with her arm around his shoulders. The two of them stared into the open cupboard together and Daniel finally spotted the black box and reached in to take it out. Penelope watched him open the top and they stared down at the row of brightly wrapped puffy squares together for a moment. They both sighed in unison.

Daniel ruffled a hand through his hair, “These you put in your underwear and they keep the blood from going everywhere.”

“Daddy, should you be talking to me about this? Since you’re a boy?”

“Would you rather me get Mommy up?” Daniel asked quickly.

“No…I just...don’t want you to be uncomfy.”

“I’m just fine, Nell.” Daniel smiled, wiping her tears from her cheeks with his thumb. “Let’s get you cleaned up and back in bed, okay?”

Penelope nodded and they both stood up from the floor. She took one of the pads from the box he held and he directed her to the small water-closet in the ensuite while he went to retrieve her some clean pyjamas from her dresser. He waited while she cleaned herself up in the privacy of the ensuite and she finally stepped out shyly, redressed.

“I feel yucky, Daddy.” Penelope whispered, walking with a bit of a waddle as she got used to the pad. “My tummy hurts.”

“I bet it does.” Daniel held out his arm and she curled into him with a pout. “Do you want to stay with us tonight?”

“Yes please.” Penelope mumbled.

So they returned to the bedroom – Florence still fast asleep on her side of the bed – and Daniel got Penelope tucked right in the middle before climbing in after her. She sniffled and turned to face him, cuddling her puppy to her chest and he pulled her close.

Daniel pressed his lips to her head in a soft kiss as she drifted back to sleep in his arms and he whispered a soft, “You’re always going to be my little girl.”

Lucy

Sunday, September 2, 2035

With Lucy, Daniel was not prepared. Well, not prepared for the ear-piercing scream that echoed through the entire apartment at 6 in the morning on a Sunday. It woke everyone – probably even the neighbours – and Daniel was flying out of bed at record speed, tripping over the sheets in his rush to tend to the screams of terror from his youngest. Florence was gone away on a weekend trip with a few girlfriends and Daniel was not ready to have to report an injury or a murder to his wife while she was gone away at the spa (honestly, by the sounds of Lucy’s scream it seriously sounded like she had been stabbed).

The young singer had lungs and held her piercing scream for an impressive amount of time until Daniel was nearly falling into her bedroom in a panic, finding his eleven-year-old sitting up in bed in a pool of blood. He froze in place as he stared at it, eyes wide, and looked up at her with enough shock that had Lucy screaming in fear again.

“Daddy, what’s wrong with me?!” she shrieked, tears brimming in her blue eyes as she glanced down at her pale pink pyjamas; the shorts dipped in deep red between her legs. “It’s not supposed to be this much!”

“It can. It can. Okay. It’s okay. You’re okay.” Daniel rushed right over to her and took her hands to help her out of bed.

Lucy cringed as she moved, bursting into tears as she got to her feet. Clementine and Penelope were in her doorway by then, both still half asleep but lured out of bed by all the screaming. The sight of their panicked father and blood-soaked little sister had them snapping awake.

“Oh my God, Lu-Lu.” Clementine gaped.

“I’m dying! Am I dying?!” Lucy sobbed as Daniel led her to her bathroom.

“I don’t think so! It’s just ridiculously heavy!” Clementine said.

Lucy cried harder as Daniel sat her on the side of the bathtub. Normally, the sisters would take over for the father, but Clementine and Penelope knew Daniel had it perfectly handled so they focused on stripping the bed to clean the sheets. Lucy was wailing, hot heavy tears pouring down her cheeks that Daniel couldn’t wipe away fast enough.

“You are just fine, Princess. You’re okay. I was just surprised, you’re not dying.” Daniel assured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I’m gonna run you a bath and while you rinse off I’ll call Mum, alright?”

Lucy sniffled and nodded. She watched him start to run the bath, sitting perfectly still on the side of the tub as if she was afraid of moving. Daniel poured in a cap of lavender bubble bath for her and let the bubbles rise in the water.

He took his daughter’s tear streaked face in his hands, “You get in there and I’ll be right back with some clean pyjamas, okay?”

Lucy nodded and he left with a kiss to her head, closing the bathroom door behind him. The older girls had just put on the laundry after drenching the sheets in stain remover and returned to the bedroom.

“The mattress is definitely stained.” Clementine whispered to their father who was staring, concerned, at the double bed. She pulled open the curtains to bring some light into the room.

“Yeah, she’s gonna need a new one.” Daniel ran a tired hand through the back of his hair, thinking about what to do about it. He finally resorted to a flat, “I gotta call your mother. Can you girls start breakfast?”

“Sure.” Clementine agreed, and the girls slunk out of Lucy’s room and towards the kitchen.

Daniel rushed into the master ensuite and dug around under the sink for one of Florence’s extra boxes of pads and took it back to the bedroom down the hall. With an extra towel, a second set of pyjamas, and the box of pads in hand, Daniel knocked on the bathroom door.

Lucy’s soft voice came from the other side, “Yeah.”

“You decent?”

“Yeah.”

Daniel stepped inside the bathroom and set the clothes on the counter. Lucy was mostly submerged under the water until only her head was poking out of the bubbles and she was pouting up at him.

“Feeling okay, Princess?” Daniel asked.

“Sleepy.” Lucy shrugged.

“Don’t fall asleep in there, okay?”

Lucy nodded.

“You know what these are?” Daniel held out the box.

She nodded again.

“Okay.” he set it on the side of the counter.

“Daddy.”

“Yeah, honey?”

“I want Mommy.”

“I know. I’m gonna call her now.”

“M’kay.”

Daniel left his youngest to her privacy and returned to his own room to grab his phone and call his wife. Florence came home early from her weekend trip, making a beeline for Lucy’s room as soon as she got inside – only stopping to kiss her other two daughters and her frazzled husband on the way. They had to order a new mattress meaning Lucy had to sleep with her sisters while they waited for it to be shipped. However, Lucy – living up to her nickname – acted like a whole princess for that week, kicked back on the couch and being served by her family with whatever she wanted.