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No matter what else happens.
It didn’t matter what I wanted unless Aspyn agreed, and that one little statement had made it clear she didn’t agree, at least not yet.
I resisted a sigh. Through a miracle and the grace of God, I’d managed to reconnect with Aspyn, but that didn’t mean I had unlimited luck. I’d have to think about the best time and place to try and broach the topic of our long-term future together.
I had something else I needed to handle, and it was another necessary step on the path to us all being together.
“Kadie,” I said.
She looked up from her meal, cheese sauce on her face. “Yes?”
“Do you know who your daddy is?”
Kadie furrowed her cute little brow for a moment before shaking her head. She looked over at her mother.
Aspyn didn’t say anything. She just watched us, tension lining her features.
My fingers curled into fists, and my stomach twisted. Her expression was making me nervous, looking as if she expected something awful to happen once I told Kadie the truth.
I wasn’t sure if I should tell her. Maybe Aspyn sensed something I didn’t.
Or was it all a test?
“I’m your daddy,” I blurted out. Sometimes the only way out is through.
Kadie tilted her head to stare at me and then wiped her messy face with her sleeve.
I swallowed, waiting for her to respond. She was a little kid. It wasn’t exactly like she’d had time to build some big resentment toward me. Or so I hoped.
“Where were you?” Kadie said. Her voice was curious, not angry.
“In Texas,” I said simply.
“Is Texas far away?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
Kadie nodded and picked her fork up for another bite. “Okay. Love you, Daddy.”
My heart swelled at those words, and, damn it, I’m not ashamed to admit I even teared up a little.
“I love you, too, Kadie,” I said.
So simple, and it was already over. All the pain of the past few years suddenly felt distant, as if it was some strange dream I was finally waking from. My real life was the girl and the woman before me, the two people filling the hole in my soul.
I glanced over at Aspyn.
A single tear leaked down her face, but she wiped it off the second I looked at her. She shot me a smile and then turned to Kadie.
“Why don’t you finish up, sweetie,” Aspyn said, “so we can get to your bath?”
* * *
After Kadie’s bath and the rest of her bedtime routine, including a few stories, she was lying in her crib. She was too big for it, I thought. I was glad that I ordered her a toddler bed for my place in addition to a crib.
No. Our place. I needed to think of it that way so Aspyn would start to think that way.
Aspyn and I headed to the couch to watch some TV, flipping through the channels. It wasn’t like we really cared all that much what was on. I think we both just wanted to enjoy sitting together, holding one another. After that, we headed to bed.
