Rome (Marked Men, #3)(67)

Just as I was running out the door my phone rang and I couldn’t ignore it because it was my dad. I stopped and took a seat on the front step of the house. I kicked my legs out in front of me and steeled myself for the typical interrogation I got when I hadn’t talked to him in over a month.

“Hey, Daddy.”

“You staying out of trouble, sunshine?” My dad was a gruff, take-no-crap man, but I never doubted for a single second his undying devotion to me.

I looked at my boobs, which were way bigger than they had been a month ago, and at the round swell of a belly that I had never, ever had before.

“Not exactly.” I wasn’t quite sure how to break the news to him. When I had fallen apart after Jimmy, my dad had done his best to put me back together, but there were just some things a girl’s dad couldn’t fix for her and a broken heart was one of them.

I heard him sigh. “So you saw that the wedding is off?”

I was clicking the toes of my sparkly shoes together and patting my tummy and only listening to him with half an ear.

“What wedding, Daddy?”

“Cora, are you even paying the slightest attention to me?”

“Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind. Things have been crazy here. You should come visit.”

He laughed and it sounded like rusty pans banging together.

“There’s no air there, baby girl.”

He wasn’t wrong. So I smiled and trapped the phone between my cheek and my shoulder.

“I met a guy, Dad.”

“Oh, Cora.”

I laughed at him. “No, Dad, you’ll like him.”

“I doubt it.” He huffed and puffed like any good dad who never wanted to admit his daughter ever had sex did.

“He’s different. Not like Jimmy at all. He was in the army.”

“You’re dating a soldier?” He sounded so incredulous I debated being seriously offended.

“I’m dating an ex-soldier, but more than that, I’m dating a really good man. He’s special, Daddy.”

“That’s all I ever wanted for you. And with Jimmy calling the wedding off to that girl, I’m happy you have someone so you aren’t tempted to contact that piece of shit. Let that dog lie exactly where you left him.”

I almost dropped the phone. I had been so busy with Rome, so caught up with the baby and trying to figure out what I was going to do next, that I hadn’t given Jimmy or the wedding a single thought, let alone spent a single second Internet-stalking him.

“What?”

I heard my dad sigh and swear under his breath.

“Apparently the little chickie he was stepping out on you with took a page out of his book. He caught her stepping out on him with one of the other artists at the shop. He tracked your aunt down looking for you. I told her to tell him it’s been too long, too much water under the bridge. Next time I’ll let him know you’ve moved on to someone else.”

I had moved on. Jimmy was very much a part of my past, but that didn’t stop my heart from thudding hard and heavy in my chest and my ears from ringing. I must have made a noise of distress because my dad demanded to know if I was okay.

I had to rapidly shake my head to get my thoughts ordered back together.

“I’m fine, Dad. That was just a blast from the past I wasn’t expecting.”

“But it doesn’t matter because you’ve moved on, right?”

“Right.” Only I didn’t sound nearly as confident about it as I wished I did. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Dad, I’m pregnant, so air or no air, you need to come to Denver when this baby gets here.” He was my only family and I needed him here for the birth.

Echoing silence met my declaration. I knew he wasn’t going to give me a long-distance high five, but the absolute quiet wasn’t expected either.

“Daddy?”

He cleared his throat and sounded even rougher than usual when he decided to speak. “You happy about it, sunshine?”

“I was surprised and I freaked out, but I’m happy about it. Like I said, he’s a good man, Dad. He isn’t going to let either of us down. He tells me that he’s all in and I believe him.”

“That’s a lot of faith you’re handing over to him after what you’ve been through, Cora.” My dad, always the über-pragmatic sailor. I wish I could tell him I hadn’t really handed anything over yet because I was too scared to let go. He would tell me to stop being such a sissy and just give it up.

“I know. But I do trust him.”

“Well, I’m proud of you. I might not tell you enough, but the way you rebuilt your life, it was something else. I know I never knew how to handle all that girly shit with kid gloves, but you make me wish I had been a better dad, and I know you’ll be a terrific mom.”

I choked up a little and climbed to my feet. “No one is perfect, Admiral Ass Hat. I turned out okay and you did what you could. I should’ve been a boy.”

He snorted at me. “Be glad you aren’t, because then I would have to kick your ass every time you call me that. When is that baby due? I need to buy a plane ticket.”

I told him around the end of March and he swore he would be there. He asked me a million questions about Rome and about how I was feeling, and I didn’t realize that I was crying silent tears until I got off the phone with him. My dad and I had a complicated relationship, but I loved him and I forgot how much I missed him until times like this. Family was important, that’s why I was going to make sure this baby had as much of it as I could. I rubbed my palms over my face and raced to the shop.