Walk Through Fire (Chaos #4)(137)

“It was,” High disagreed. “It was the most generous gift anyone could give seein’ as she found out she couldn’t have babies and she made it so I could go on in my life and have you.”

Zadie blinked.

Cleo’s mouth fell open.

“Best Millie can do is have cats,” High told his girls. “She wanted more. A lot more. We were gonna have tons of kids. Four. Five. Boys. Girls. We didn’t care. Now all she’s gonna have is cats.”

Cleo’s lower lip started trembling so she bit it.

Zadie looked down at the table.

“She makes me happy,” he said gently. “I know she’s just come in to your life but she’s been a part of mine for a long time so I’m gonna share with you that I love her and she makes me happy. I wanna make her happy. And it’d mean a lot if you helped me with that.”

Zadie’s eyes cut to him and declared nastily, “Mom’s our mom.”

“Not sayin’ that she isn’t, Zade,” he told her, expending the effort not to get pissed that nothing but what she wanted was sinking in. “Your mom will always be your mom. She’s not out of the equation. I’m just adding Millie to it. Everyone’s got an endless capacity for love. Which means everyone’s got the shot at receiving an endless supply of love. Don’t matter who you give it to or get it from. Just matters you got a heart big enough to give it and a heart open enough to get it back. I can promise you, Millie’s got that kind of love to give.” He shrugged. “Up to you whether you open yourself up to receive it.” He focused closely on Zadie. “I’ll just say, your old man will be disappointed if you decide not to do that.”

“I like her,” Cleo piped up, and High saw his youngest aim an irritated frown at her sister before he looked to his big girl.

“I’m glad, baby,” he said quietly.

Zadie didn’t say anything, so Cleo looked to her sister.

“Zade?” she pushed.

Zadie hopped from her knees in the seat and grabbed her bowl, muttering, “We’re gonna be late for school.”

She didn’t give a shit about school.

She wanted this conversation to be over.

She took her bowl to the sink.

“Rinse that and put it in the dishwasher,” he ordered.

“Whatever,” she mumbled, dumping the milk in the sink.

“Look at me, Zade,” High demanded.

She gave him a squinty look that told him she had things to do and he was wasting her time.

“First, wipe that look off your face,” he said. She didn’t, so he went on, “Now.”

She huffed and changed her look to a bored one.

High let that slide.

“Your old man loves you,” he told her.

She changed her look to a disbelieving one even though she knew deep down that was not right.

He let that slide too.

“Measure of the love you got for me how you decide to give it back,” he said.

“Measure of the love you got for me you got rid of Mom and found some other woman,” she returned.

He stared straight into her eyes and whispered, “Ouch.”

That got her.

She flinched.

But she didn’t say anything.

“Honest to God, you okay with layin’ that kinda hurt on your old man?”

She stared at him a beat before she turned to the dishwasher, opened it, and shoved her bowl in.

“Now more hurt, you not answerin’, which means you obviously are,” he noted.

She looked back at him. “Just because I don’t like your girlfriend doesn’t mean I don’t love you, Daddy.”

“Hit me, darlin’. Lay it out straight. You won’t get into trouble,” he told her. “Tell me, what did Millie do to make you not like her?”

Zadie didn’t answer.

So Cleo joined the conversation.

“She can’t say anything because Millie’s nice.”

Zadie turned to her sister and hissed, “She’s old and fat.”

“You’re so full of it,” Cleo snapped back. “She’s super pretty.”

Right.

This had to end because now his baby girl was pissing him off.

“She’s two years younger than your mother,” High declared. “And I hope to God you don’t think she’s fat, Zadie, because you think what Millie is is fat, we got more problems, those bein’ about how you think a woman’s body should be.”

She turned to him while he spoke and opened her mouth when he was done.

He lifted a hand before she could say a word because he saw on her face that what she was going to say he wasn’t going to like.

“Enough outta you. There’ll come a time when you look back at this weekend and you’ll wish for it back. I love you too much to let you make that worse.” He dropped his hand and jerked his head to the couch. “Get your books and jacket. We gotta get goin’.”

Zadie stomped to the couch as Cleo got up and dealt with her bowl and High poured himself a travel mug of coffee.

Zadie then stomped right out as Cleo helped him shut down the RV to leave.

He’d shrugged on his cut, nabbed his keys and the mug, and was reaching to the door Zadie had slammed when his big girl looked up at him.