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CHAPTER EIGHT
Peter
“Princess,” I say. “Please come here.”
She stands up sulkily from where she sat working on her homework. I might be inclined to punish her for her attitude since today is day thirty-two of it. In this case, though, her reasons are justified. She makes her way to where I sit and I gesture to the couch next to me. She rolls her eyes and sits down.
“Yes, Daddy?” she asks. The sarcastic tone in her voice is apparent.
“At the beach, you told me you thought you were falling in love with me,” I say, “and I want to know if you were being honest.”
“Do you think I would like about something like that?” she snaps. “You think I just go around telling men that sort of thing?”
“Don’t take that tone with me little girl,” I say and her eyes get that familiar look of fear and respect mingled with arousal. “Answer the question.”
“Yes,” she says. Her voice is full of hurt. “I was being honest.” She crossed her arms and the hurt turns to defiance as she glares at me. “Honest,” she says firmly, almost like a dare.
“Do you still feel that way?”
She looks like she’s ready to scream at me and I can see the tremendous self-restraint as she says icily, “Yes, Daddy.”
“I felt the same way on the beach and I didn’t have the guts to tell you,” I say. That surprises her and she softens. Her jaw drops and her mouth stays open for a moment. Finally, she closes her mouth and just stares at me. “I felt the same way and I didn’t have the guts to tell you right then.
And now, now I know I was wrong.” She looks desolate and I quickly add, “I was wrong because I wasn’t falling. I was already there. I already fell. I already loved you then and I love you now.”
The surprise comes again and her expression this time is almost like she’s been electrocuted. She keeps the open-mouthed shock but she practically buzzes. “Daddy?”
“I… I was hurt before,” I say, “and it’s not your fault. I thought I loved a little girl. I thought she was my forever little girl. I told her I loved her. She broke up with me the next day.”
“Oh, Daddy,” she says. “Poor Daddy.”
I shake my head. “No. It was the best thing that ever happened to me because I didn’t love her. I only thought I did. Then, I met you, Serafina, and I learned what love really is. I love you and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you when I should have.”
“Oh, Daddy!” she cries and she throws her arms around me, holding me tightly. “Oh, God, Daddy, I was so afraid. I was so sure you…” she doesn’t finish but just holds tight. I hold her just as tightly and she finally says, “but you love me. You loved me the whole time.”
“And I always will, little girl,” I say.
She squeezed tightly and then says, “Wait!”
She wrenches herself free and says, “How dare you put me through that! How dare you make me wait a whole month feeling like an idiot? Who the hell do you think…” She stops, staring at me angrily and then bursts out in laughter. “God, Daddy, I can’t even be mad at you.” She throws her arms around me and says, “but I should be.”
I kiss the top of her head and say, “Sorry, princess. I was scared because you’re everything I have ever wanted and I couldn’t bear the thought that my forever little girl would leave me alone forever.”
She pulls back and says, “Daddy, I’ll never leave you.” She smiles a bit mischievously and says, “Oh, I’ll bring this up every now and then so I can win an argument but I’ll never leave you.”
I chuckle and say, “Well, you better do that a lot for the next week or so because that’s probably all you’re going to get before I decide bringing up the past just to get your way demands punishment.”
“Three weeks,” she says with a smile.
“Two.”
She smiles and nods and then says in a pouty voice, “You made me think you didn’t love me and all I get is two weeks to complain about it?”
I laugh and attack her, digging my fingers into her sides as she shrieks and then giggles and tries to get me to sop. “No tickling! No tickling!”
I only torment her a little while longer and then I pull her to me and kiss her. “I love you, little girl,” I say.
“I love you, too, Daddy,” she says.
“Forever,” I add.
She draws in breath sharply and then lets it out with a sigh. “Me, too, Daddy.”
