CHAPTER 12
DELLA
“I wanna wear the pink ones,” Danny says for the hundredth time.
I didn’t sleep much last night and I’m trying to be patient with her. “You wore it yesterday, Danny. It’s dirty. Wear your purple socks.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, her bottom lip starts to tremble and she looks absolutely heartbroken. “I want my pink ones,” she whispers as the first fat tear rolls down her cheek.
Just then there’s a knock at the door. “Jamie will you let Carter in, please,” I ask as I sit down on the floor in front of Danny.
Jamie looks at me, then Daniele, before she walks to the front of the diner. I haven’t had time to talk to her yet. I haven’t had time to absorb the past twenty-four hours, let alone try making sense of it.
“I’ll make you a deal. I’ll wash them tonight so you can wear them tomorrow.” She shakes her head, pushing her bottom lip out even further.
Jamie kneels next to me. Taking the purple socks from me she says, “Princess Danny has a visitor. Let’s get these socks on so you see who it is.”
Danny forgets about sulking and lets Jamie put the socks on. It’s times like this I feel like a failure.
I stand up and pulling my ponytail a little tighter, I turn, but I’m stopped in my tracks by the look on Carter’s face. His eyes are filled with worry as they lock with mine.
Dammit! He just saw how I couldn’t even get socks on his daughter’s feet.
“I’m a princess,” Danny starts to sing. She starts to spin around so her dress fans out around her.
Carter crouches down and slowly a smile spreads over his face. His eyes are glued to his little girl. I can see that he’s fighting to hold himself back.
“Danny,” I say as I kneel beside her again.
She stops spinning and gulps in huge amounts of air. “That was a lot of work.”
I take her hand and pull her tiny body closer to mine. I don’t know how to introduce her to her father, so I just spit the words out. “This is Carter Hayes.”
Her little face lights up and suddenly she’s very interested in Carter. “Hey, that’s my name. You can’t have the same name, silly.”
Carter sucks in a harsh breath of air and tears start to well in his eyes.
“You’re my little girl,” he whispers as he struggles to keep control over his emotions.
Daniele’s eyes go wide and she looks from me to him. She pulls away from me and walks right up to Carter. She places her tiny hand on his shoulder. “Shh, it’s okay. Don’t cry. You can have the same name.”
A sob shudders through him and he grabs her to him. He buries his face in her dark curls.
I cover my mouth with a trembling hand when she hugs him back. She pats him and gently brushes her hand over his hair. “It’s okay,” she whispers.
I take a deep breath and get up. I walk closer to them and placing my hand on her back, I get her attention.
“Daniele, this is your daddy.”
She pulls away and her tiny hands cradle his face. “I have a daddy?”
I can’t hold it in anymore. I get up and turn away from them as the tears burst free.
“Yeah, I’m your daddy,” he says.
“Where did you come from?” she asks with all the innocence in the world.
Quickly, I wipe the tears from my face and I turn back to them. I can see the lost look on his face. He has no answer for her.
“Your daddy had to fight a dragon so he could come save his princess,” Jamie suddenly says.
I’ve never loved my sister more than I do in this moment.
Carter looks at Jamie from over Danny’s head and he mouths thank you.
“You’re a king?” Danny asks.
Carter nods and smiles at her with all the love only a father can have for his little girl. “Yeah.”
“Is mommy your queen? Are you going to get married? I want a pink dress, Daddy,” she says with a serious look on her face.
Carter picks her up as he raises to his full length. “I’ll buy you all the pink dresses you want, but first I have to talk to your mommy, okay.”
Danny sighs heavily. “Okay.”
He presses a kiss to her chubby cheek before he reluctantly hands her over to Jamie.
“I want pink milk,” she says to Jamie as they walk to the kitchen.
***
CARTER
“She’s going through a pink phase right now,” Della says as she nervously starts to play with her watch.
“Is it okay if we talk here?” I ask.
“Sure, let’s sit at one of the tables.”
I follow her to the nearest one and pull a chair out for her to sit. When I’ve taken a seat myself, I say, “I spoke with Rhett last night and with Charlotte this morning. The reason she ignored your letter is because she gets constant demands that I’m someone’s father and that I should pay up. She dealt with your letter the same way she dealt with all the others.”
“But I wasn’t making any demands. I just wanted you to know,” Della quickly starts to defend herself.
“I know,” I sigh. “I never told Charlotte about you. There was no way for her to know who you really were.”
“Oh.” Della slumps back in her chair and her eyes drop to her hands. “I suppose it makes sense with me just being a one night stand.”
I cross my arms over my chest and frown at her. “If my memory serves me correctly, I was the one the one who fucking spilled my guts all over the place and you were the one who just walked over it.”
“What?” she breathes.
“I made it pretty fucking clear that I wanted more. I was ready to give you the fucking world and you just walked away from it.”
“You’re still an alpha asshole!” she hisses at me.
She actually just fucking hissed at me.
“Don’t fucking hiss at me,” I growl.
“Don’t accuse me of things I didn’t do!” she shrieks. “And don’t growl at me.”
Anger takes over and I stand up. “Don’t tell me what to do. No one fucking tells me what to do.”
“Guys,” Jamie suddenly snaps from the entrance that leads to the back. “There’s a little girl in there that can hear all of this.” She looks to Della. “Shit happened and you need to get over it. Danny is all that matters right now.” Then her eyes fall on me and somehow this teenage girl has the power to make me feel ten inches small. “You’re not some big shot CEO here. You’re just a father and you need to start acting like one. You can’t use that language around her.”
Jamie walks up to me and holds out her hand. “Money, please. I’ll take your daughter out to buy something pink while you rip each other apart.”
Guilt washes over me as I give her one of my credit cards.
“What do you expect me to do with this?”
Fuck, this girl has balls.
“Swipe it,” I grind the words out. “If my little girl wants something then you fucking swipe the card.”
She grabs the card from my hand but instead of walking away, she takes another step closer to me. She only reaches my shoulder but that doesn’t intimidate her.
“You will never talk to me like that again. I’m your daughter’s aunt. I changed your daughter’s diapers instead of getting sleep for my exams. I filled your shoes and you will respect me for that.”
Once again, she’s put me nicely in my place. “You’re right. I’m sorry. Thank you, Jamie. It might not mean much now but I’ll make it up to you.”
“I want nothing from you,” she says, her face pulling with disgust. “Just be the father my niece needs.”