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“Thank you. You didn’t need to make us lunch or ask her what her favorite movie was,” Emma’s voice is practically a whisper.
Oh hell no. She is not about to sit here and think she needs to be grateful for me taking care of them. I will break her of that habit because they deserve the world and then some from me.
“Don’t ever thank me for taking care of you both. The two of you are my responsibility and I will always take care of you, making sure you all are safe and provided for. I want to get to know Alexis; what she likes and doesn’t like. She’s my daughter and I wanna learn these things so I can better take care of her. My hope is that both of you will be happy here until things are wrapped up back home and then the three of us can start our life together.” I reach over and grasp her hand in mine.
“You’re my dad?” A little voice gasps from behind us.
Fuck!I thought she was still in the bathroom. I didn’t realize Alexis had come out. Well, I guess that is now out of the bag. I had planned on easing her into that information, not dropping it on her like this.
“Sweetie,” Emma jumps up and moves to kneel in front of her. Our daughter's eyes are large, and I can tell she’s confused and holding back tears. When Emma reaches forward to try to hug her, she backs away until she backs into the couch and can’t go any further.
“Alexis,” I command, squatting down to get on her level. Her eyes snap to me as she hardens her expression and her lips stop quivering. When I know I have her attention, I continue. “Yes, I am your father. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you and that you grew up without me. I promise you that all of that changes now. I had no clue your mother was pregnant with you when I left. If I had, she would have been coming with me.”
“You left us,” she mumbles, wrapping her arms around her middle.
“I did and that’s on me. It doesn’t mean I never wanted you. Trust me, I do.” My voice softens as I continue to talk. Holding my hand out, I beckon her closer but let her make the decision if she wants to come to me or not.
Hesitantly, Alexis takes small steps forward until she places her small hand in mine. I make sure to look her in the eyes and keep my voice soft as I talk. “You are my daughter, and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life getting to know you and watch you grow into an amazing young woman. If you are anything like your mother, I know you are going to give us a run for our money when you hit high school.”
“You want me?” Her voice breaks in disbelief still trying to wrap her head around what I said.
“Of course I do. You’re my daughter.” I smile and pull her into a hug. “Sweetheart, your mother may be my soul, but you are my heart. I will never give you up or let anything happen to you. No longer do you just have your mom. Now you have a large family who will love you and protect you. If anyone bullies you, well, you got 3 ex-marines who will kick their asses.”
“Language,” Emma hisses but laughs at the same time. She knows my friends and I will do everything for this little girl.
“You don’t need to call me dad or anything that you aren’t comfortable with. We will take this at your pace.” My words seem to soothe Alexis as her little arms reach up to wrap around my neck and she sinks into my hold.
“Just keep my mommy safe,” she whispers in my ear before pulling back. When she does a huge smile is on her face before she turns around, runs around the couch, and jumps on it facing us. “Can we continue the movie now?”
I let out a deep laugh while at the same time, Emma breathed a sigh of relief. “Glad to see how resilient our little one is,” I state softly to Emma while helping her to stand with me. “Go watch the movie. I can handle the dishes.” I give her a little push toward the living room and a soft swat on her ass.
I watch her jump from the movement, but she doesn’t say anything.
Damn, I was really hoping she’d give me a response.
“No, not you, Mommy,” Alexis demands, her face scrunched up as she watches us. “I want Daddy.”
At that, I double over laughing just knowing the expression Emma has at being told Alexis wanted me, and I head towards the couch giving our daughter what she wants. The dishes can wait for all I care. My daughter actually wants to spend time with me and called me dad. This is the best day I can ever think of.
TWENTY-ONE
EMMA
The last couple of days passed in a blur of the three of us bonding as a family. It was hard trying to find the right groove. I knew Trevor didn’t want to ever tell Alexis no because he was still trying to gain her trust, but damn, it would have been nice if he could have at least been the bad guy more than twice. I know it’s going to take time for us to both find our groove. Most of the time Trevor always deferred to me when it came to any big decisions, which I appreciated. The one thing we still needed to work on was getting Alexis’s schoolwork. Sky had put it in the school system that she was out sick but did manage to get a bunch of her schoolwork for the week so she didn’t fall behind.
For a good thirty minutes, after we got Alexis into bed last night, Trevor and I were discussing maybe trying to get her into an online school, but I was just unsure. I didn’t want her to miss out on being with her peers and learning socialization from them. His argument was that it was just until things got cleaned up back home and then we could put her back into school. I told him we’d give it another week and evaluate if he couldn’t manage to get my father under wraps sooner.
I have to admit I was surprised that Trevor had spent the whole week in the cabin with us. Originally, I don’t think that was his plan, but after Alexis learned the truth, I think he wanted to prove to not only her but also to myself that he meant what he said. I already knew he would do an amazing job being a father and it makes me happy to see him prove it.
We both knew that tomorrow would mean another fight night. All morning I had begged Trevor not to go and just drop out, but he refused. He said that my father would get suspicious if he didn’t show. I tried to argue that after one fighter already died, it wouldn’t matter, but of course, he wouldn’t hear of it. No, my stubborn high school love insisted that he had to see this through if only as a precautionary measure should all of his other plans fall through. If he won, he would get to marry me, and that was all he cared about. He wouldn’t risk anyone earning my hand in marriage. He didn’t want to risk someone trying to say there was a contract in place and that they had rights to me even after my father's death. When he explained it like that, I got it.
I know my father isn’t the squeaky clean, rich influencer in the city. No, he has seedy friends which is how he gained his money and power. That first night at the fights was clear enough with some of the people who showed up there. There was a good mix of criminals and normal rich folks scattered around the crowd from what I had seen. If I didn’t know before, it was definitely confirmed then.
Trevor was determined to bring my father down. When we would stay up talking after Alexis went to bed, he would ask me questions about my father and brother. If there was anything that I could remember that would help build his case. I wish I could help him more than anything, but I couldn’t. They tried to never do business in front of me and very rarely did they ever bring someone to the house to do the business. One day I heard them arguing in the office. It was my father, brother, and brother-in-law fighting over some sort of transaction but I couldn’t hear enough to get anything useful. I do know that it was about three weeks later my father announced there would be a fight to determine who I was going to marry. I always knew I would be used to bettering the family to my father's standards, but I had thought that just maybe having my daughter would save me from that.
“Emma,” Trevor commands, shaking my shoulder and pulling me from my thoughts. I didn’t realize I had been staring blindly at the TV, not really seeing anything until he shook me.
“Shit, sorry,” I mumble, shaking my head and looking at him. “What's up?”
