Love Survives (Love's Suicide #2)(62)

By three twenty I was sitting in their driveway. Kat’s husband Bobby came outside to greet me. “Sorry about last night. I won’t barge in again. This transition needs to be more organized.”

“I agree. I may have overreacted last night.”

“I’m not here to cause problems in your marriage. I just want to know my daughter.” I could tell this got to him; the fact that I’d called her mine. It was hard to put myself in his shoes. He’d been the only dad that child had known. Now I’d come into the picture and expected to have the title. It must have been killing him.

“I appreciate that.” He looked away for a second. “Come on in. Katy’s been sleeping for a couple hours. She had a rough night after you left. None of this has been easy for her.”

“I know the feeling.”

He led me inside to find B watching a show on television. She was dancing around not even paying any attention to us. “I’ll go get her up.”

It wasn’t until a commercial came on that she turned to see me sitting there.

She wobbled from side to side, smiling, and then ran over and jumped on my lap. “Hey, pretty girl. Whoa. Careful.” I held onto her as she started climbing up to remove my hat.

“Out.” She pointed to the door then climbed down to show me something.

I followed her seeing she was looking at her swing set. “You want to go there?”

“Go. Go.”

I picked up her and carried her outside. When I sat her down she ran over to the swing and looked in my direction. I lifted her in it and started pushing. She held onto the sides and smiled as the wind hit her face. Each time she laughed, so did I. She had that effect on me.

I heard the porch door closing and knew someone had come outside, but paid them no attention. I was too busy with my little girl to care about anything else. In fact, I could have spent my whole evening swinging her and been completely content. She was already everything to me, and I wanted her to know it.

“You’re so pretty,” I said as I continued pushing her higher.

Finally I heard the grass crunching behind me. One quick look showed me it was Kat. Her eyes were still swollen. I could tell she was struggling with everything that had transpired between us. “Hey. Sorry about that. I didn’t get much sleep last night.”

I laughed sarcastically. “You think I could sleep? Kat, I just found out that I have a kid. Every aspect of my life is about to change. Sleep is the last thing that’s on my mind.”

For a second she stood next to me without saying anything. She just kept watching what I was doing. “So would it be easier if I drove since I have the car seat in my car already?”

I halted the swing and began to lift Brooklyn out. “Yeah if you don’t mind.”

When we got inside the car I sat her in the safety seat and felt overwhelmed. There was too much going on to know what went where. “I might need your help. I’ve never done this before.”

Kat laughed at me as if anyone could have figured it out. “There’s a lot of things you’re going to have to learn.” We both got into the front seats before Kat questioned me. “So where are we going?”

“Is there a park nearby?” I knew Brooklyn liked to swing, but other than that I was lost. She was right. I had a lot to learn.

“There are several. If you really want to see B smile, we should take her to the indoor play park. She gets a kick out of climbing through the tunnels and going down the slides.”

It sounded like a plan, one that I could enjoy and maybe take her to when it was just the two of us. While Kat drove, I turned and talked to our daughter. It was a little uncomfortable being so close to her. For so long I’d wanted to hold her in my arms. For the past two days we’d been together, yet I hadn’t hugged her once. I wasn’t sure if I was okay with that. On one hand, I was angry as hell, on the other, I just wanted her in my life.

I think it was obvious I hadn’t been around children when we walked inside of the play park. The sound of kids screaming as they ran around unattended made me want to hide. I cringe every time one would run by grabbing onto my pants, or stepping on my boots. They were like little terrorists, using their size to attack the larger enemy. Every bone in my body wanted to grab my little girl and protect her from their germ-filled hands.

Kat reached for our daughter, taking her out of my arms. “Come on sweet girl. You want to go play?”

“Mama, slide. I go slide.”

I smiled when she spoke even though I was genuinely worried for her safety. “Have fun, little bug.” I liked the sound of it.

“Bug? You nicknamed our daughter already?”

I shrugged and looked over at her, grinning cheek to cheek. She brought that out in me. In fact, It was hard to remember the last time something had made me so happy. “I couldn’t help it. She’s my little B.”

My little girl made friends with two others quickly. She followed them around the play set, talking up a storm. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was the most beautiful child in the building by far, but probably the prettiest I’d ever seen in my life. She belonged on commercials with her chubby cheeks and little dimples. I was in awe of her.

When I realized we were sitting there so close, I knew we needed to talk. I couldn’t avoid Kat, and she couldn’t do the same to me. There were important issue that needed to be handled. “So, I had a lot to think about when I left last night. I think the first thing that needs to be addressed is my parents. Look, Kat, I don’t care about my brother, but Mom and Dad need to meet her. I get that you’re going to be mad, but I asked them to come visit next weekend. I hope you don’t already have plans.”