AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ss she is and make you my queen.”
A laugh breaks free, and her smile is blinding. “I love you too,” she says, scooting to the edge of the couch. “My heart cracks when I think about not being with you. When I think about telling Paisley that you’re no longer going to be around. I just worry—”
I cut her off by pressing my lips to hers.
When the kiss ends, she admits, “She stood up for us, and I didn’t. I was too afraid to cause a scene, so I grabbed her and our stuff and hightailed it out of there. What kind of mother does that? What kind of mom doesn’t stick up for her kid?”
“Didn’t you?” I ask her. “You showed her how to be the bigger person.”
She laughs humorlessly. “That was you. She told them her East says to speak from your heart and that their hearts were not nice.”
“That’s my girl,” I say, cupping her face in my hands. “I love you. You’re an amazing mother who was put into a tough situation. I need you to know that no matter what, I’m on your side. God forbid something like that happens again, but if it does, my family comes first. You and Paisley are my family.”
“I love you,” she says, wiping her eyes.
“Say no more. That’s all I needed to know. Trust in the love we have for one another. Trust me to take care of both of you.” I kiss her one more time. “Now, I need to take our little girl out on a date, so she and I can have a chat.” I stand and pull her with me. “You okay with me taking her out to dinner?”
She nods, more tears tracking down her cheeks. “Yeah. I’m okay with that. She’s in her room.”
“Love you, Ris.” I kiss her one more time then head down the hall to get our daughter. The reality that I get to call her that, that I can tell her that she can call me Daddy is humbling and exciting. It beats any win I’ve ever had in baseball.
Paisley’s awake when I enter her room. She holds her arms open for me, and I scoop her up in my arms, giving her a big hug. “Those girls said bad things,” she tells me.
“I know they did, princess. I’m sorry.”
“S’okay.”
“Hey, I thought that you and I could go out to dinner. Just the two of us.”
“Really?” she asks, perking right up.
“Yeah, your mom said it was okay.”
“Is Mommy not gonna go too?”
“Nope, this is just us. We can go have pizza and bring her leftovers.”
“Cheese pizza?”
“Is there any other kind?”
“Yay!” She jumps off the bed, grabs my hand, and pulls me down the hall. “Mommy, are you sad ’cause we gonna get pizza?”
“No, sweetie. You have fun with East and be good, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy. Come on, East.” Still holding my hand, she tries to pull me to the door.
Sliding my other hand behind Larissa’s neck, I kiss her slowly. “We’ll be back soon.”
On the way to get pizza, Paisley talks about the game, how fun it was and how mad she was at the “mean girls” when they said I wouldn’t be her daddy.
We settle in a booth, Paisley sitting across from me because “that’s what big girls do.” We order our food, and once our drinks are delivered, it’s go time.
“Princess, you asked me a pretty important question today.”
“I did?” I have to fight back my grin at her confusion.
“You did. You asked me if I would be your daddy. Do you know what that means?”
