Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 128980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
“Did you know my mummy?” she finally asks, looking up at me.
“Yes.” I point to the picture, but she doesn’t look again, keeping her curious eyes on me.
“What was she like?”
What was she like? I know Abbie has filled her little head with an abundance of information that will shine her mother in the best possible light. And so she should. “Aunty Abbie has told you all about her.”
“I want you to tell me.” She places the picture down and continues to watch me, waiting.
What can I say? Monica broke me. Made me want to kill someone every day for the rest of my life. The reason I’ve been missing from my little girl’s life is because she screwed me over and made me a hateful, selfish bastard and I wanted to shelter my baby girl from that?
“She was wonderful and beautiful, just like you.” My answer fights past all of the nasty shit with ease as I bully myself into remembering the better times. Like how we met. Like how fast we fell in love. It’s the first time in years that I’ve allowed my mind to venture that far back into my past—to the times before the shit and anger and hurt. They were buried too deep. The memories were too hard to find. Somehow, it seems easy to locate them now.
She giggles, her long lashes fluttering. “Have you finished fighting the bad men now, Daddy?”
Her curveball question has me looking up, startled. “Huh?”
“Aunty Abbie said you would be home one day, when you finish fighting the bad men.” Her little head cocks in question. “Have you finished fighting the bad men now?”
I could crumble. Good God, I’m on the verge of pooling into a huge blubbering mess. “Yes.” I clear my throat and take the photo off the table, tucking it back in my pocket. “All the bad men are gone.”
They aren’t. Never will be. But they are from my life, and that’s what matters for now. I haven’t got the heart to dash that notion. Her innocence is infectious. I want in on it.
“Does that mean you can start being my daddy now?”
That’s it. I can’t hold them off anymore. There are too many and nowhere for them to go but down my cheek. I wipe them away furiously, sniffling like a fool. I nod, the emotion strangling me.
“Why are you crying, Daddy?” She reaches over and places her hand on mine.
“I’m crying because I’m happy,” I tell her. “I’m really happy that I can be your daddy now.”
I have no fucking clue how this is going to work. My sense of possession toward her is growing with every second that I sit here. I’ve fallen in love with her. Madly. So fucking madly. This smart, sweet, vivacious little girl is mine. I realize we need to do this slowly. Get to know each other. Form a bond. I have no right or claim on her, but as I look across the table to her, I find her big brown eyes alive.
And I realize…
She’s made a claim on me.
Chapter 36
CAMI
Watching him from the kitchen window handling the spirited little girl has me all choked up, wrestling down the lump in my throat. He looked so terrified. Leaving him to it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. But I have every faith in him. He needs to do this, take that final step into his past and make it right. The past week has been spent quietly, me coming to terms with my father’s betrayal, and Jake wrapping his mind around his future. A future with me, and hopefully, with that little girl, who is currently introducing Jake to her teddy bears. I smile as I watch him gingerly reach forward and shake a limp paw. God love him, he looks petrified of the tiny girl and her collection of stuffed bears.
“He’s doing okay.” Abbie appears beside me at the window, smiling fondly. “She’s a character. No nonsense and matter-of-fact.”
I laugh a little, thinking of someone else with similar qualities. “She’s adorable.”
“Yes, she is.”
“How have you coped?”
“You just do, don’t you? I always lived in hope that Jake would come back. She knows Mummy is in heaven, and she thinks Daddy has been fighting all the baddies.” She laughs, and I join her.
“It’s true, I guess.”
“Yes,” Abbie agrees, nodding to herself. “I didn’t know Jake for very long, but I know a good man when I see one. It’s a shame my sister toyed with that.”
“What was she like?” I ask, feeling comfortable. I’ve been in the kitchen with Abbie for less than half an hour and feel so relaxed. She has a serene, calming aura surrounding her that you can’t help being affected by.
She folds her arms across her chest. Her dark hair is tied up loosely, and she’s dressed in a tie-dye shirt and jeans that have paint splattered up the pockets.