''Daddy'' is a 1989 novel by American

Danielle Steel Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling author alive and the fourth-bestselling fiction author of all time, with over 800 million ...

. It is Steel's 25th novel.

Synopsis

Secretly, though Sarah has always longed for more than to be just a mother. She and Oliver married young and she became pregnant on their honeymoon. She began planning for an abortion until Oliver found out and was thrilled about the baby. At the time they were living in a small New York

apartment An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

and Benjamin had colic quite badly and was driving Sarah nuts. When Benjamin was only a year old though Sarah discovered she was pregnant again, and again planned for an abortion. Oliver fought her on it again, and their daughter Melissa was born. With their apartment growing smaller by the day, they bought their house in Purchase, not far from Oliver's parents, and Sarah concentrated on driving car pools, PTA, and taking the children to various activities. When Melissa was five and Benjamin nine, Sarah discovers she is pregnant again, as the result of the vacation she and Oliver took. Beyond upset, she plans for an abortion with her family doctor who asks how Oliver feels about what she's doing and she admits he doesn't know she's pregnant. He insists she talk to Oliver before the procedure is performed and again he is thrilled about the baby and horrified that she would consider an

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

. They fight about it for several days but in the end she keeps the baby, and reassures him daily that she will not care about it. Oliver promises to love it for both of them, and baby Sam is born on

Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ar ...

. Several years pass and the children are ten, fifteen, and seventeen, and Sarah receives a letter in the mail notifying her of her acceptance to

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

graduate school. Although the school is in Boston and they live in New York, Sarah decides to leave her family and move to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, promising to visit on weekends. The family is understandably upset, and more so when weeks go by and Sarah does not return for a visit. Oliver is working late nights and not getting home until 9 o'clock at night, and the kids are left in the care of Agnes, the housekeeper. Losing control of his children's behavior, Oliver decides to take a rental apartment in New York city so he can get home to his children sooner at night. He arranges to close the house and applies to prestigious New York schools for the three kids. This proves difficult for Benjamin, who has always been a straight A student and has let his grades slip drastically because he is spending all of his time with his girlfriend, a high-school dropout named Sandra Carter. The children are upset when told about the move to New York, and Benjamin flat out refuses. When Oliver questions why, Benjamin informs him that Sandra is pregnant. Oliver realizes the conception occurred right around Christmas, and Sarah's departure from the family. Benjamin drops out of high school to take care of her. He has two jobs, one pumping gas, and the other as a bus boy. Oliver, the children, and Agnes go ahead and move to New York, and when summer comes the children go to Europe with Sarah and her new live in friend, Jean Luc, and Oliver has his first relationship with a woman he meets on the train, Megan Townsend. But Megan ends up breaking Oliver's already fragile heart. By then, Oliver is afraid to love but then he falls for the superstar Charlotte who turns his pathetic life upside down.

References

1989 American novels American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into television shows Novels by Danielle Steel Delacorte Press books {{1990s-romance-novel-stub