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Iverson Frye's daughter was four years old when he first got the inkling she might like girls.
It wasn't anything about her interest in machine parts or spaceships or that since her mother had passed she was the only girl in the house and was starting to think like a boy, which is what his aunt had told him at church.
It was just the fact that when she went racing down the road with a group of neighborhood kids and Delilah Rivera took a tumble and started crying, Kaylee skidded to a stop. She hurried back to her friend, petting her hair and looking at her scraped knee, and then ran straight to Iverson to get a bandage and a tissue. She dabbed the tissue at Delilah's eyes, brushed the dirt off of the other girl's knee, and carefully smoothed the bandage over the scrape. Iverson didn't feel the need to get involved. He could see the wound from his front step, and it wasn't even bleeding and Delilah had stopped crying pretty quick.
Fifteen minutes later, when Dominic Rivera fell in the same place his sister had, Kaylee just looked at him and waited for him to stop crying and stand up.
Unfortunately, two years later, Dalton Kalahan was the first person to actually voice the possibility. And he did it in typical Kalahan fashion as the men of the neighborhood were drinking a beer in Iverson's kitchen after working on clearing the road from a rockslide.
"You gotta be careful, Iv, teaching your little girl about machines. That's a man's job. You don't pay attention and you'll have a carpet muncher on your hands."
"I think you oughta leave," Iverson told him as some of the other men chuckled.
"Yeah? You that sensitive about it—"
"Kaylee's six years old," Iverson interrupted calmly. "And I sure as shit don't want a man around her who's thinking about knockin' boots when he sees a six year old. Go on. Get out of my house."
One of the many benefits of being a man who never raised his voice was that folks listened when Iverson was serious, and so Dalton got up and left, and when Iverson raised a challenging eyebrow at Alderic and Bernard, they left too.
At least Iverson was smart enough to know that if Kaylee ended up with a wife, it wouldn't be because he'd kept her next to him as he fixed tractors and threshers. It would be because that's how she was.
When Kaylee went to primary school, she met Richelle Elwood.
Richelle was the daughter of a legal clerk who'd come to Kowlonshi with his wife back when Iverson was still a husband and not a widower. Iverson liked the Elwoods well enough. They were from a Border planet but never turned up their noses at anything on Kowlonshi, and Mrs. Elwood helped work harvests even though she didn't need to, and then she'd spend all the money she earned on food for the work party afterwards. Good folks. Kaylee and Richelle became best friends very quickly at school and Kaylee told Iverson all about Richelle, about her dark skin that had a sort of glow to it if Kaylee had anything to say about it, about her curly hair that her mother did in four braids and tied with elastic bands that had little plastic stars on them. Kaylee told him about how Richelle's mother had been a dance teacher and taught Richelle tap dance and she'd performed a routine perfectly at the school pageant. Richelle had a perfect grade in their grade in writing and Kaylee had a perfect grade in math and they took a picture together for the school's office display board. Iverson asked for a copy of the picture and tucked it into the album that held his children's baby pictures and every photo he had of his late wife.
Kaylee and Richelle had sleepovers and played in the Elwoods' backyard and were frankly inseparable for four whole years until Richelle's father's work assignment changed abruptly with the restructuring of Kowlonshi's local government and the planet's capital changed to a city on the other side of the world.
There were tears and there was pleading to move too, but eventually Kaylee set her little shoulders and accepted that her best friend would be leaving. Richelle moved away to New Sebastopol and she and Kaylee promised each other that they'd write letters every week. They wrote a little, but eventually it petered out. Iverson knew that happened sometimes, especially for kids who were that young.
"Anybody at school catching your fancy?" Iverson asked once school started up again, wondering if he might learn about Richelle's replacement.
"Garrett!" Kaylee said happily. "He's in my math class and he's real cute."
And that was all Iverson ever heard about Garrett. He caught his only glimpse of the boy during the end of year ceremony when a teacher stood on stage and called each student's name for them to come collect little certificates that celebrated finishing another grade.
He could have been Richelle's brother.
Kaylee seemed to forget about Garrett over the summer. There were friends to spend time with in the neighborhood; she modified a bike that Dominic Rivera found in a junkheap and turned it into a pedal cart. She told Iverson that she could use it to help work harvests and transport heavy parts to his worksites when she tagged along, but he also knew that she was driving that thing as fast as she could work those pedals.
School started back up and Iverson heard about everything. Kaylee was very much a social creature and he was glad that she took after her mother in that regard. She joined the shop teacher's after school club, which ended up with her fixing most students' projects. She learned how to call contra dances and started doing it every Tuesday evening in the church's community room. She talked about Andrea and Olive and Murielle and Sylvie. Sometimes these girls had dinners and sleepovers at the Frye house, and sometimes they didn't.
It wasn't that Kaylee didn't spend time with boys. She and Dominic had somehow become two daredevil partners in crime when it came to building machines, and she sometimes played baseball with her little brother Arthur and his friends, and she was locked in a semi-serious rivalry with Eliot Giddens over who had the best math scores in their grade. Iverson had been worried about how much the two of them seemed to have verbal confrontations until one of these arguments happened in the street out front of his house and he realized it was mostly for the bit. Kaylee spent time with plenty of boys, but never once did she ever talk about any of them the way she might about one of the girls. Those girls she spent time with were talented, glowing, gorgeous, funny, clever…any number of heartfelt compliments. The boys she said she was sweet on could be cute or, if she got to know them, nice. And that was just about it.
When Kaylee was fourteen, she started at a new school, and after the very first day, she ran home and told Iverson all about Flora-Kate. She was two years older but she'd taken time out of her lunch to show Kaylee around the building so she wouldn't get lost. She had the most wonderful fashion sense. She sang like an angel and was probably going to get the lead role in the school play.
Flora-Kate never came over to the house and Iverson was fairly certain this was more of a crush-at-a-distance rather than a friendship, so he never pushed. He just let Kaylee tell him about Flora-Kate's singing in between stories about her favorite classes and lunchtime dramas.
Kaylee went to the end of year school dance with Ryan Korbes, who showed up at Iverson's front door to pick her up, so at least Iverson got to meet this one. He was a slim redhead covered in freckles, with eyelashes that would have made Iverson's late wife weep. He was so delicate looking that Iverson felt bad doing the expected fatherly protective speech and delegated the task to Arthur, who was yet to hit his first growth spurt. It just felt more appropriate.
"How was the dance?" Iverson asked three hours later after Kaylee had said goodnight to Ryan at the door. She beamed at him.
"It was great! I had such a good time, and I danced every single dance, even when Ryan didn't want to. I found other folks who wanted to dance."
"Good, sugarbeet."
"Flora-Kate had the most amazing dress," Kaylee said dreamily. "It was mint green with pink roses all over it and three layers of ruffles at the bottom. She looked so good in it, and she twirls so well…" she sighed happily. "It was a good night."
Iverson just nodded and told her to wash up and get to bed.
The school dance was followed quickly by final exams and graduation ceremonies for Kowlonshi's new adults, and then it was fair season. Iverson and his kids looked forwards to the fair practically more than Christmas. It was where the newest machinery for farming and canning was always displayed, where the best food was, and where everyone put on their favorite clothes and had some fun in good weather. They looked over the exhibition hall, ate some incredibly messy roasted corn, and were on their way to look at the quilting competition exhibit when someone approached.
"Hi Kaylee!"
Kaylee turned, and so did Iverson.
"Oh, hi, Flora-Kate," Kaylee said, smoothing the front of her dress even though it wasn't rumpled. Iverson stepped back and pulled Arthur with him while the two girls chatted. Flora-Kate was a very put-together girl; her dress was neatly pressed and clearly had been chosen with care, and her hair was a carefully arranged mass of red curls that tumbled over freckled shoulders.
"Don't she look sorta like—" Arthur whispered.
"Hush," Iverson told his son.
Flora-Kate and Kaylee talked briefly about what each of them liked best at the fair, and then Flora-Kate made her exit, heading towards the animal exhibition building.
"So that's Flora-Kate," Iverson said.
"You saw her in the play, daddy," Kaylee reminded him.
"Oh, sure but that was from a distance. She seems like a very nice young lady. Kind of her to stop to have a chat with you."
Kaylee actually blushed at that.
"She's nice to everyone," she explained. And maybe she was.
Flora-Kate graduated the next year, finally leaving room for a new singing star at the school, and took a job on a cruise ship that was half hospitality and half entertainment. Iverson thought she certainly had the disposition and discipline for it.
The first time Iverson and Kaylee saw Myrtle Herman, it was in the middle of summer break just before Kaylee started her last year of school. They were sitting on the front porch, waiting for Arthur to come home from playing baseball so they could make their dinner sandwiches (it was far too hot to turn the stove or oven on for anything else). Iverson was considering either going to collect his son or heading inside for a cold tea when a young woman walked down the road, dragging a bicycle beside her. The back wheel wasn't rotating. Kaylee was out of her chair and at the road in seconds, asking about the bike, and before Iverson knew it, his daughter had his toolbox out and was chatting to the new girl while fixing her bike.
Myrtle Herman left their driveway with a bike that rode like it was fresh out of the shop and an invitation to dinner the next evening.
Myrtle was new to town, having moved in with an aunt after some unspecified tragedy. She had bright blonde hair and was fat in a way that her aunt apparently did not like and was attempting to change via what frankly sounded like starving the teenager, so Iverson tried his best to have her over for dinner as often as he could. She was a sweet girl, if a bit quiet. Soon, Kaylee seemed to be spending every single free moment with Myrtle, even treating the school's winter formal dance as an opportunity to spend time together, although they both seemed under the impression that it was a friend outing.
Kaylee had never been one to use the house's phone line very much, but now it felt like Iverson couldn’t get her off of it.
"Kaylee, you have got to get to bed," he said one night in January when Kaylee was still talking at nearly midnight. "Myrtle—"
"Myrtle's going through a really bad spot, daddy," Kaylee said immediately, holding her hand over the receiver. "I'm trying to be there for her."
"Kaylee—"
"It's real bad."
"Alright, alright. But you're still getting up when you usually do, and you can't complain about it."
And Kaylee didn't complain a peep. She kept up her grades and still helped Iverson with work when she could, and took Arthur to his baseball games, and still stayed on the phone with Myrtle, and it was showing in the shadows under her eyes. Iverson had no idea how to talk to her about it. One night before Kaylee had an exam the next day, he resorted to turning off their phone line and telling her he'd contact the company in the morning. It hardly deterred his daughter, and she went right back to staying up far too late, guiding her friend through whatever turmoil she was experiencing.
In March, Iverson came home to find Kaylee curled up on the couch. Alone.
"Is Myrtle coming over?"
"Myrtle doesn't wanna talk to me," Kaylee said in a small voice.
"Oh…sugarbeet, what happened?" Iverson wondered.
"I don't know! I thought that I…I thought I was trying hard enough to be there, to be a good friend, but…" she trailed off, and Iverson didn't push. He just made her a cup of green tea and sat next to her on the couch.
Myrtle never came over again. Sometimes when Iverson thought about her he cringed at what her aunt must have been doing now that Myrtle was back in her house for dinner every night, and after a lot of careful complaining to the right people, he managed to get town busybody Mrs. Swann to start making loud comments at church about what a shame it was that Miss Herman was preventing her niece from getting enough nutrients for a young person's developing brain.
Kaylee still called contra dances at the church and she joined the high school's shop club, and she focused on her schoolwork, and Iverson was proud of her but was a little disappointed that she wasn't finishing her school with a close friend by her side. When he brought in the mail one day in May and found an envelope addressed to Kaylee from Myrtle. He very nearly threw it out on sight. Myrtle may have been going through terrible upheavals and he hoped that she got out of whatever hell she was experiencing, but that didn't mean she got to make his daughter so upset.
Kaylee cried for practically two hours straight after reading what was in the envelope before she was able to say what had happened.
"She's doing okay," Kaylee said. "She's gonna be fine and she told me that it wasn't my fault. She wrote an essay about our friendship and she sent it to me."
"Essay? It ain't just a letter?"
"She used it for university applications and it got her into a school on Bernadette for free."
So Myrtle Herman went away to the Core for school on a full ride scholarship that she'd got partially because of whatever story she'd written about Iverson's daughter.
Kaylee broached the subject of birth control pills the next week, and while Iverson took her to the clinic without blinking, he honest, hand to God, didn't know what to think. He met the young man who was likely responsible for Kaylee's interest in the medication on a Sunday after church and only felt a little guilty that he knew what the boy would look like before he even saw him. Randolph Warner was a blond with enormous brown eyes and could really only be described as plump. In a factory and farming town with so many broad shouldered sinewy lads who had started shaving at fourteen, it was known only to God where Kaylee kept finding all these soft pretty boys.
Randolph grew his hair long and let Kaylee braid it. They went steady until Randolph earned an associate's degree in programming computers via correspondence courses on the Cortex and managed to get into a program to learn more on Beaumonde, and then he left Kowlonshi and Kaylee never mentioned him again. Iverson didn't even think they sent each other a single letter.
After a few months of looking for work after finishing school, Kaylee started a mechanical support job at the cannery, going in to fix the machines. It wasn't consistent work, and she didn't get any benefits from it aside from the hourly wage, but a job was a job, and even better; it was a job with machines, so Kaylee was happy.
"How's everything goin' at work?" Iverson asked her when she came home from an unusually long day. Kaylee brightened and subjected him to about twenty minutes of explaining a mechanical fix she'd done on a machine that peeled tomatoes.
"But it was fine," Kaylee assured him. "And I was working with Zoya."
"Zoya?"
Iverson was then treated to a whole rundown of who Zoya was. She was a transplant worker off of St. Albans with several years' experience of working in factory machine repair. She spoke four languages, had eight piercings in each ear, was tattooed all up one arm, and had called Kaylee the cutest genius in the System.
The cannery didn't keep Kaylee on for very long. They decided they only needed one mechanic, and since Zoya had the work experience behind her, they let Kaylee go. She went back to helping Iverson at his garage, fixing threshers and plows and tractors when they came in. He was happy the folks he knew took care of their machines but he did wish there was more work, both for him and for Kaylee.
Kaylee saw Zoya a few times around town, and seemed to have nothing but goodwill towards the other woman, talking about how worldly Zoya had seemed, how cool her tattoos were, and how fascinating it must be to be a travel mechanic and fix all sorts of machines.
Iverson should have probably read the writing on the wall.
Kaylee blustered into the house on a Friday afternoon, her dress half unzipped and her hair a mess and a huge smile across her face.
"I got a job offer!" She said as soon as she caught her breath.
"A job offer?"
"Uh-huh! Live-in mechanic on a transport ship."
"Transport—"
"They're ready to leave as soon as possible," Kaylee said giddily. "I'm gonna go pack."
"Okay, you can pack," Iverson shouted after her as she disappeared into her bedroom. "But I'm going with you to the docks to check this out!"
Kaylee changed her clothes, packed up her things, and Iverson walked alongside her as she pedaled her modified cart to the docks.
Aside from the fact that the ship was outdated and Iverson knew that cargo transport was code for contraband smuggling when a beat up ship claiming that distinction landed on planets that had plenty of formal trade contracts, there really was no reason to tell Kaylee she'd better stay at home. Maybe Iverson was too trusting, but he did think he'd always been good at judging character quickly, and the captain and first mate seemed like good people.
So he let his daughter go.
Iverson was pretty happy with the further image he got of the crew based on Kaylee's letters. The captain was a man he felt he could have a beer with, a man who knew how hard life was on Kowlonshi and also somehow knew what it was like to have a strong-willed daughter, even if the man seemed no older than thirty five and was apparently single and childless. The first mate sounded like a trustworthy woman with a good head on her shoulders, and Kaylee recounted in great detail how thrilling it had been to watch the woman in a shootout, how she'd reloaded her gun while twirling it back towards herself on a finger in one seamless movement, and how she'd smiled so warmly at Kaylee after the fight and asked if she was alright (she'd been fine; the crew knew what they were doing). The pilot seemed like exactly the kind of person that Kaylee liked to spend time with; funny and equally as obsessed with spaceships.
It was a few months into Kaylee's absence when Iverson got the first letter that mentioned Inara.
Kaylee had quite a lot to say about Inara Serra. She told Iverson about all the fine things that Inara brought on board the ship, how she'd asked Kaylee to help her decorate the short range shuttle she was renting from the captain, how she did Kaylee's hair and had her over to the shuttle for tea and had made matcha pancakes for Kaylee's birthday.
At first, Iverson was worried. Kaylee told him that Inara was a registered working Companion, and he was well aware that Companions were trained to make everyone they spoke with feel special. However, he'd never heard of Companions willingly exploring planets like Deadwood when not working and going out of their way to buy fresh fruit for the mechanics on board ships they flew with.
The money Kaylee sent home didn't make them rich, but it wasn't anything to turn their noses up at either. Serenity didn't have many jobs to work on Kowlonshi, and Iverson had to just sit with that, but after a bit of back and forth and one planned wave video call that Iverson took at the town's business center, they managed to find a job that would take Kaylee home in time to watch Arthur's graduation. Kaylee wrote that she'd be bringing Inara with her to stay at her childhood home for the three days they were spending planetside, and Iverson and Arthur aired out Kaylee's room and moved the boxes of solder and extra oil they'd been storing there. Arthur planned the welcome home dinner and the kitchen smelled like burnt sugar when Iverson came home from work the day before Serenity was scheduled to land.
"What on earth are you cooking up in here?"
"Working on the dessert."
"You do remember this woman's a Companion from the Core. We'd better be putting our best foot forward and all."
"She's also someone Kaylee likes to spend time with. Kaylee ain't gonna bring a mean snob into our home," Arthur pointed out.
Kaylee and her guest arrived the next evening on a rumbling mule vehicle right when they said they would, and Kaylee flung herself off of it practically before it was stopped so she could squeeze Iverson and Arthur in hugs so tight Iverson could hear his son gasping for breath.
"Hello sugarbeet. Welcome home. Don't suffocate your brother, now."
"He's too big to suffocate! Look at you; so grown!" Kaylee smushed Arthur's face between her hands. "About to graduate and everything."
"Kaylee, be a host," Iverson told her, gesturing to the two other people climbing down off the mule and making their way to the front door.
"This is Inara," Kaylee said, beaming, and Iverson looked at the woman who'd followed Kaylee to his home. She was stunning; a true beauty with a warm, welcoming smile and shining dark hair. She was wearing a purple silk gown and a light shawl covered with a flower pattern and somehow looked wildly overdressed and also perfectly at ease in the dirt road in front of Iverson's house.
"It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Frye," Inara said as they shook hands.
"It's wonderful to finally match a face to a name, Inara. Kaylee has said so much about you."
"Only good things, I hope," Inara joked, bumping her hip into Kaylee's.
Behind Inara, there was a dark haired man in a crisp white shirt and a bronze silk vest.
"Oh, and this is Simon," Kaylee said. Simon stepped forwards and extended a hand.
"Mr. Frye," he said as they shook hands. "It's nice to meet you, sir."
"Likewise," Iverson said with a smile. He was sure Kaylee had mentioned a Simon. Part of the crew. Newer. A medic, if Iverson remembered correctly. She'd mentioned something about him having a sister. He was probably Inara's brother; the resemblance and shared fashion sense was certainly there.
"Simon would come to dinner, but the captain's got him working the job in town," Kaylee explained nervously. "I just wanted him to come meet you."
"Course," Iverson said. "Well, best of luck with whatever you'll be getting up to with that crew, Simon."
He turned his attention back to Kaylee and Inara and Simon looked relieved to be allowed back to the mule, where he carried Inara's and Kaylee's bags to the door and then climbed onto the mule. He was barely sitting down before a blond man wearing a flight suit (the pilot, probably. Walsh? Iverson couldn't remember) drove them off, leaving Inara behind with the Fryes.
Dinner was a delight. The pigeon roast had turned out perfectly, as had the sauce that Arthur had made from cherries he'd gotten by shaking a tree at the end of the lane. Inara told beautiful stories about Sihnon and funny stories about the rest of the crew and Kaylee looked at her with bright, proud eyes. After dinner, they moved to the couch, and somehow, Inara Serra in her purple silk gown didn't look out of place on the Fryes' orange plaid couch whatsoever. Arthur cut them slices of almond cake that he'd made the day before, and he was really doing well with his whole new baking hobby.
"We've got some bottles of wine in the cellar," Iverson offered. "It ain't nothin' fancy—I make it myself, but—"
"Kaylee has brewed drinks for us on board Serenity," Inara cut in smoothly. "And all of it has been delightful. I would love some."
"Got a fruit in mind? I have berry, watermelon, dandelion, rhubarb…"
"I'll defer to your choice," Inara said.
"I'll come help pick, daddy," Kaylee said, and followed Iverson out of the house and to the crawlspace storage. They both ducked through the low door and headed for the sturdy shelves that held the preserves and wines.
"Let's see what we got," Iverson said, pulling the little chain to turn on the light they had down there. "I'm sure it ain't a Sihnon plum brandy blend, but we've got good nectar down here."
They only looked over the bottles for a few moments before Kaylee paused. At first, Iverson thought she'd just found a wine she wanted to bring up.
"I really like Simon," Kaylee said suddenly. "I wish he'd been able to stay for dinner." She chewed her lip. "I think maybe…I mean…daddy, do you think I'd do well as a doctor's wife?"
Iverson simply could not stand it any longer.
"Kaywinnet!" He snapped. "You only like that boy because he looks like the woman you're in love with!"
And he didn't even. Not really, but it felt like Iverson's brain was playing a slideshow of pictures of every other boy she'd ever brought home, each of them displayed next to a picture of every girl Kaylee had talked about at length.
"What?! Simon is everything I want," Kaylee insisted. "He's—"
"Someone elegant and beautiful and educated with a good job who knows you like no one else? Yeah, I know that's what you want. That's what you've always wanted, and she's sittin' in my livin' room, Kaylee!"
Kaylee stared at him and for a few horrific moments, Iverson was worried that he didn't know his daughter at all, that he'd misread years of her life, but then instead of asking him any further questions, her eyes shifted to the side and suddenly she was tearing up. She looked so lost and so young and Iverson remembered that she was young, that she'd shouldered so much responsibility so young and flown out to worlds unknown to take a risk and earn a living. It must have been hard to carry, the idea that she was one of the Frye breadwinners and that she had to do her best to be what everyone on Kowlonshi wanted from her.
He sighed and opened his arms up.
"Kaylee, sugarbeet, I'm sorry, just—"
Kaylee was tucked in his embrace before he could finish his sentence. She was crying.
"You knew?" She eventually asked through sobs.
"I did," he said, rubbing her back.
"How?"
"I…I had some inklin'," Iverson said carefully. "It was hard to tell. You got such a big heart so I thought maybe you just had a lot of love for all your friends. But you never seemed so star struck as when you were telling me about Flora-Kate. You remember that?"
"Uh-huh."
"Sugarbeet, you've always had an eye for girls. I think maybe you figured you liked both but…I've never heard really anything about any boy you've liked. Sorta like bein' with 'em was an afterthought. Something you had to do just like homework or folding your laundry."
She nodded. His shirt was wet.
"It's okay?" she asked. For a minute, he didn't understand.
"Of course it's okay," he soothed. "Of course it is."
"But Simon…I've been flirting so much…"
"Simon will have to cope. If he's a good man and a friend of yours, he'll manage."
"But what if—"
"But what if what? What if he's upset? What if he's disappointed? Okay, well, what if you spend the rest of your life disappointed? Don't you ever let his feelings dictate what you do with your life."
She pulled back to look up at him.
"I won't," she said. And it sure sounded like a good promise to him.
When they walked back into the living room with the long promised bottle of berry wine, Inara took one look at Kaylee's red eyes and stood immediately, rushing to her side and producing a translucent handkerchief from nowhere to wipe Kaylee's eyes and combing her fingers through Kaylee's hair. From the way Arthur looked up at Iverson from the couch, he'd probably spent the last near quarter hour trying to placate their guest while his sister had a breakdown in the cellar.
Kaylee was quiet for the rest of the evening, partially lost in thought. Inara seemed concerned, but didn't bring it up, and after the wine was drunk and the cake plates had been washed, both women slipped off to Kaylee's old room with their bags.
"Are you okay, mei-mei?"
"I'll be fine," Kaylee told her. "I just have a lot to think about."
The rest of their stay was unmarred by any emotional episodes aside from those that went alongside watching Arthur graduate. Iverson didn't know what sort of job the rest of the crew was working, but the pilot looked like he was in good spirits when he came to pick up Kaylee and Inara to return to the ship.
Kaylee hugged Iverson like she didn't really want to let go.
"Go on," he said into her hair. "Get back to that job you love. Don't rush yourself on anything."
She gave him one last squeeze and helped Inara onto the mule, and then they were off.
Iverson knew he wouldn't get any updates right away. Kaylee would have to take her time and it probably wouldn't be easy, but he wanted to see his daughter happy, and well…maybe it would also be nice to be able to offhandedly tell folks that his daughter's girlfriend was a registered Companion.