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The town Mila lived in was as bad as I’d thought it would be. The roads were shit, and half of them weren’t marked. By the time I got to the trailer park where she lived, I was ready to stab someone.
The trailer she lived in was more run-down than the others around us, which wasn’t encouraging. There were foot-sized dents in the siding, the wood lattice that ran along the bottom was rotting out, and unlike the neighbors, there wasn’t even a half-assed attempt to have a garden. The trailer was on a dirt lot, and the deep tire grooves told me that anytime it rained, the outside could probably be used as a mud-wrestling pit.
I sent up a silent prayer for her to be receptive to going to California with me when I left. I hoped that seeing her would give James some strength. He definitely needed it.
My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest when I raised my hand and knocked on the trailer door. Please let her be fucking normal, I mentally chanted.
When the door swung open, and I saw her, I felt better. The fact that she had her father’s shocking blue eyes confirmed that Brecken had found the right girl.
“Can I help you?” she asked, her voice soft.
I expected her to know me on sight because most people did if I wasn’t wearing a hat or trying to blend in. In Mila’s case, there wasn’t a lick of recognition on her face.
“Hi, Mila. My name is Vaughn Corbett, and I’m here today to talk to you about your biological father.”
She blinked up at me dazedly. “My what?”
The penny dropped as I realized why she looked confused. Holy fuck. She didn’t know she was adopted.
The next few minutes were awkward, but eventually, she let me in. The inside of the trailer was as depressing as the outside, but at least it was clean.
I spent an hour filling her in on her true heritage. It made me ill to realize she’d lived her entire life believing that Franklin and Sally Brown were her biological parents. Thank fuck, they weren’t. I took a good amount of pleasure in telling her about her real father and what a great man he was.
She was hesitant about coming with me, but I kept talking because I knew James would want her out of that trailer as soon as possible. In an effort to make her understand what kind of man he was, I decided to share some of my history with her.
“I grew up in foster care, truly a kid with nothing to hold onto and no expectation that things would ever improve. I met your dad at a 7-Eleven as I was stealing a candy bar. My foster parents didn’t buy anything like that for us, and I was sick and tired of having nothing. I don’t know why I decided to steal that day, but I do know that your father seeing me do it changed my life forever. He stopped me, took the candy bar, and then bought me two.
“When we left the store, he sat outside on a bench with me for a half hour while I bitched about my life. When I finished, he told me I had two choices. Either I could believe that I’d never amount to shit, which would guarantee I wouldn’t, or I could stop expecting the worst and work for something better. Believe you can, and someday, you’ll live a life better than anything you imagined. Because of him, I chose option two.”
Her eyes were soft with emotion as I finished speaking. “He helped you?” she asked.
I nodded. “He could’ve looked the other way and ignored me, but he didn’t. He could’ve bought the candy bars and walked away, but he didn’t do that, either. Instead, he took time out of his day, sat with me, and listened. He’s been there for me every single step of the way. Your dad isn’t just good—he’s literally the best person I’ve ever known.
“He’s also the man who has prayed for you every single day of your life. There’s never been a minute when he forgot you or didn’t want to meet you. No stone was left unturned in the search for you, Mila. Not one. Your father loves you. He almost died in January, but he defied the odds, made it through surgery, and held on. I believe he did that because of you. Although he’s never met you, you’ve always been his everything.”
When she agreed to go with me, it felt like the weight of the world had been lifted from my shoulders. I didn’t think I’d ever be able to repay James for how he’d changed my life, but getting Mila out of the trailer and to her rightful home was a damn good start. And once I got her to Los Angeles, I’d turn my attention to getting Marcella the fuck out of James’s life.
