“Yes and no. I’m selfish enough to wish I’d raised you myself. But then it would deny you the father you loved.”
“You can’t replace Dad, you know,” Laila said.
I didn’t want to show that hurt, but it did. A lot. It was hard accepting that another man got the privilege of raising my children. It was possessive, but genuine. Lars and Laila were my flesh and blood, two perfect humans I’d never dreamed of having. Now they were here within my reach, and I didn’t know how to act. Everything in me urged me to father them as I wanted, but they wouldn’t accept that.
If it had been someone else’s kids, I’d probably have been full of advice. But they were mine, and I was lost.
“Nothing to say?” Laila demanded.
“I don’t want to replace Vulcan. From what I hear, he was a fuckin’ saint.” Laila bristled at my words. “But I have a right to know my children.”
“That remains to be seen.Far’sname is on our birth certificates, and we share his surname. You’re no one, and I don’t mean to be cruel. But you’re not.”
“Why did Lars let you come alone?”
“Let?” Laila laughed. “Nobody lets me do anything. I chose what I do. Lars dislikes you. He believes you want to take over from Dad. Like most guys, he doesn’t think using his brain.”
“That’s insulting.”
“Tell me it’s not true. Men are immature boys who haven’t grown up.”
“You swap between Danish and English.”
Laila appeared thoughtful, and she never looked more like Jody. “Guess we all do. Mom and Aunt Aster insisted we were fluent in English. If we learned the word for apple in Danish, we learned it in English. Our cousins are the same; we’re all bilingual.”
“Was Denmark a good place to live?”
“Yes. It was home. Now this is. It is what it is.”
“That’s practical.”
Laila wrinkled her nose and looked around. “This isn’t Denmark and won’t ever be. But Denmark has too many sad memories. Life for us was bad afterFarandOnkel Kanondied. And whenMoster Aster(Aunt Aster) passed, we understood life would never be the same.”
“I remember Aster; she was larger than life.”
“Yes.Moster Asterwas constantly smiling, andOnkel Kanonused to shake his head and say she was always in trouble. We were a close family, and now we’re broken.”
Grief drenched Laila’s voice, and I wanted to take it and make her happy, but that wouldn’t happen. Laila didn’t know me and was clearly suspicious, but she loved Vulcan as her father. And at sixteen, she’d been bonded with Vulcan for years.
“Well, I had better get back. They’ll be wondering where I am,” Laila said, getting to her feet.
“I’ll walk you to your car,” I replied.
Laila looked amused. “I don’t have one.”
“Tell me you didn’t take an Uber here!” I exclaimed.
“Pfftt, Dad was a biker. What do you think I’m riding?” she asked as we rounded the corner. Aster headed straight for a Harley Fat Boy, and my jaw dropped open.
“Is that your father’s?” I demanded. Holy crap, if Laila had stolen Vulcan’s Hog, there’d be hell to pay. Laila snorted and swung up onto it.
“No. This is mine. In Denmark, you can’t ride a full motorbike until you’re eighteen. But Lars, the cousins, and I grew up riding bikes on Torden Hingste’s land. This is restricted, but I can ride it legally here. Dad bought Lars and me ours for our fourteenth birthdays. He wanted us to be fully familiar with a bike before eighteen. We rode them everywhere and are both comfortable with them.”
“And over here you have to be sixteen,” I murmured as Laila pulled on her helmet. I realised she was also dressed in riding leathers. Jesus, the love of the road was in her blood, just like mine.
“Exactly. See ya around,” she said, flipping the visor and roaring off.
“Ain’t no question. That’s your kid,” Onyx stated from behind.
