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“Thank you for being patient with me,” she tells me.
“I knew you were worth it.” I kiss her neck and pull away, knowing Darla could come running in at any minute. I notice Paige blushing a little and I love seeing the affect I have on her.
Darla comes running back in just as I figured she would, but she’s holding onto a few dolls. “Austin, will you play dolls with me?”
Paige starts laughing and I want to, but I keep a straight face as I answer her. “Of course I’ll play dolls with you.”
I follow her into the living room, where she hands me a doll and begins to tell me what to do with it. I have to feed the doll, then watch TV with her. That’s fair enough. Darla and I play dolls for a while until Paige tells her she needs to go take her bath. I look up and notice Darla frowning, but she stands up and walks towards the bathroom. I stand and walk towards Paige.
“I can go if you need me to,” I tell her.
“No, you can stay. I’m just giving her a bath and then she’ll go lay down soon,” she assures me.
She hands me the remote. “I’m sure you don’t want to watch these cartoons.”
“Yeah, thanks.” I chuckle as I start flipping through the channels.
A few moments later, Paige and Darla emerge from the bathroom and Darla is wearing her pajamas, which she comes to show me. “Mommy says I have to tell you goodnight. I have to go to bed.”
“Goodnight, Darla,” I tell her.
Paige’s phone rings and she grabs it. “Hang on, Darla,” she tells her. She talks for a moment before putting the phone on speaker. “Darla, Daddy wants to tell you goodnight.”
I hear his voice come over the speaker and I notice the reaction from Darla. She’s so excited to talk to him. I knew he never wanted to be around but seeing this from her, I’m glad he changed his mind. If I’m going to be in their lives, I’ll have to meet him one day.
They talk for a moment before Darla tells him bye and Paige brings the phone back to her ear. A moment later, she sets the phone back on the counter and brings Darla to her room.
I keep flipping through the channels until Paige comes and sits beside me. “She fell asleep pretty fast tonight. She had a lot of excitement today,” she tells me.
“You’re a great mom.”
“I try. Brendan gave me a check for her. He’s never paid anything until today and now he paid way too much. But he told me he’s going to start paying every month for her.” She sighs.
“It’s good he’s stepping up, Paige. You can tell how happy she is.”
“Yeah.” She closes her eyes for a moment before opening them back up. “So tell me about your day.”
She grabs my hand and pulls it into her lap. “Well, I found out at the gym today I can indeed fight in my condition so I trained a lot today. I’m just waiting to hear exactly when I’ll be fighting again.”
Her eyes widen. “Really? You’re ready to fight? That’s got to be hard with one arm though right?”
“It’s challenging. In practice today, it wasn’t easy but I could do it. I thought when I lost my arm I’d never be able to fight again, but I’m getting a second chance. I seem to be getting a second chance at a few things and I’m grateful,” I tell her. “Enough about all of that, though.”
I pull my hand from hers and run it through her hair before moving it to her cheek. She closes her eyes and I notice her breathing is erratic. I lick my lips and move them towards hers. She must sense me coming, because her lips slightly part as I close in on her. Softly, I kiss her lips and she kisses me back eagerly. Her kiss is sweet and I miss those lips of hers. I haven’t gotten to kiss them nearly as much as I want.
She breaks the kiss slowly and grins lazily at me. “I’m glad you came over tonight.”
“Me too. I was nervous to ask because I was sure you’d say no.”
“Well, Brendan knows about you, and now that you know about Darla I have nothing to hide. He asked about you, so I told him a little. I mean, if he were seeing someone, I’d ask the same stuff.”
“I get it completely. It means a lot to me that you’re trusting me to be around Darla. I won’t let you down,” I tell her.
“If I thought you would, I wouldn’t have let you in,” she whispers.
I notice a yawn escaping her and I kiss her forehead. “I’m going to head home. You need to get some rest. Can I see you tomorrow?”
“I work but when I get off I can call you,” she replies.
