CHAPTER 13

Levi

IT’S BEEN A WEEK since the attempt to take my daughter. Since I almost ruined the most important relationship besides Lily. Emmy is this beacon of light, and I swear, seeing the hurt on her face when I threw those words at her, I’ve never felt like such a piece of shit. I’m so glad she heard the words I spoke that night. To say I felt like a dick would be an understatement. At least she didn’t see me falling apart. I needed her strength even when I didn’t deserve it.

Today is my first day back at work. Emmy’s words resonated with me and I took the time off. And if I’m being honest, I needed it. We all did. Lily has been completely attached to the two of us. My client from that day is my only appointment today, and I’m looking forward to getting it done. He was actually really cool about needing to reschedule, saying as a fellow father he understood completely. We had a really quiet week, and last night Lily slept in bed with us.

Even as a baby, she always slept in her own bed. I know she’s been scared, but even at four years old she’s tough as nails. I’m worried about her, not knowing how much of an impact last week made on her. The police called this morning to let me know there is no update. This asshole vanished into thin fucking air. All they found was a piece of paper with Lily’s full name, her description, and the address of the park.

It turns my stomach and tears at my heart in the worst way possible that this wasn’t a random abduction attempt. This was planned, and the vile people behind it will pay dearly if I have any say in it. Yesterday, with Cade’s help, we found a security company and had a system installed, a camera included. It was crazy fucking expensive, and I hate knowing he helped me pay for it, but I couldn’t be more grateful. Knowing my girls will be safe gives me a peace of mind that no amount of money was an issue.

Sitting in my office, getting my supplies ready, I look up when a knock sounds on the doorframe. I smile when I see Sydney standing there, two coffees in hand. She hands me one and I give her a grateful smile.

“How ya holding up, bro?”

I shrug and take a sip. “I don’t know.”

“They’re gonna find him, Levi. Have faith. I know I do.”

“What would I do without you, Syd?”

“Get your own coffee.” With a wink, she heads back out to the waiting room.

Pulling out my phone, I take another sip and fire off a text to Emmy.

Levi: I miss you.

Em: Miss you more, handsome. Lily didn’t want to go with your mom.

Levi: Fuck. What happened?

Em: Didn’t want to leave me. Cried until your mom promised to get her a donut. Broke my freaking heart, Levi. This sucks.

Levi: I know. But she’s scared, and I don’t blame her.

Em: I love you.

Levi: Love you more, baby. Call me on break?

Em: You know I will.

Dropping my phone onto my desk, I turn back to my coffee, ready to get home to my girls. Emmy doesn’t have class tonight, but she’s working until four. Lily and I will be home before her, and I’m thinking we’ll make dinner for my Em tonight. That way she can relax before doing schoolwork. I want her to be completely de-stressed.

I worked for almost six hours nonstop and that guy’s tattoo still isn’t fully done. In three weeks he’ll be back for the final touches. Peeling off my latex gloves, I roll my shoulders, stretching my muscles. Groaning loudly, I toss the gloves in the trash and clean up, ready to get out of here.

Thirty minutes later, I’m out the door, heading for my parents’. The drive is easy, no traffic whatsoever, and in ten minutes I’m pulling down the long driveway. Parking my truck, I head inside, smiling when I hear the loud giggling coming from my daughter.

Stepping into the living room, I find her surrounded by white paper and markers, drawing to her heart’s content. My mom is sitting in the rocking chair next to her, laughing at something Lily is showing her.

“Looks like I’m late to the party, huh?” I laugh.

“Yay, Daddy!” Lily shrieks, jumping up and running to throw herself into my arms.

Grabbing her, I sit her on my hip and give her a smooch.

“Hey, Lily bug. You have fun with Nana today?”

“Yes! We had so much fun. I love my Nana.”

Mom is beaming and stands up to come kiss Lily.

“I love you too, my beautiful Lily. I’ll clean this mess up. Why don’t you go home and hang out with your other girl.” Mom kisses my cheek and hurries us off. I laugh at her excitement, but I know how she feels. I love going home to Emmy.

As we drive back to my house, I turn the music off and look at my daughter in the rearview mirror.

“Hey, Lily. Can Daddy ask you a question?”

“Okay.”

“What would you think if I asked Emmy to come live with us? Would you like that?”

Lily cheers loudly while clapping.

“Then we can have sleepovers every night!”

Looking at the huge smile on my daughter’s face, I decide that we’re gonna do it. Tonight, we’ll ask Em to move in with us. I hope she says yes. I know our relationship has been pretty fast, but we love each other. I think we both felt it long before we said it, so why not?

Pulling in the driveway, I see Em’s car is already here, which is strange. Raising an eyebrow, I park next to her, noticing that she’s still in the driver seat. Jumping down, I unbuckle Lily and then pull Em’s door open.

“Now, before you freak out,” she begins, pulling a baseball hat down low before stepping out of her car.

“What happened? Saying don’t freak out is not a good conversation starter, babe.”

Emmy pulls her hat off, and I notice the large bandage across her forehead. I reach out to gently inspect her face, concern noticeable on mine.

“I’m fine. We had some girl come in tonight, I guess she was high as a kite, screaming gibberish about her daughter. Anyway, I was in the room cleaning when she threw a bedpan. Got me in the face, and they had to close it with glue. It should heal to where you don’t even notice it.” Giving me a quick kiss, she moves around me to grab Lily, tossing her in the air.

“How’s my best girl doing? You have fun with Nana today, baby girl?”

Hand in hand they walk up to the front door, leaving me behind with a small smile on my face.

My girl is absolutely amazing.

“Emmy, Daddy and I want to ask you sumfin,” Lily says, putting her empty cup down in front of her. Together, we made spaghetti for dinner and now that we’re done, Lily is chomping at the bit to ask her.

Emmy laughs and takes a sip of her wine, folding her legs under her.

“Shoot, Lil. What do you want?”

“For you to come live wiff me and Daddy.”

Emmy’s eyes go wide and she turns to me, a shocked expression on her face.

“Please, Emmy. We could have so many sleepovers!”

Emmy smiles at Lily, then looks at me with tears shining bright.

“Are you sure?” she whispers, wringing her hands together nervously.

Reaching over, I calm her hands with mine, looking deep into her beautiful eyes.

“Yeah, baby, I’m real sure. It’s totally up to you, but I’d really love to have you here every day. Permanently.”

Laughing, Emmy jumps up and sits on my lap, kissing me hard. “I’d be honored. Thank you, Levi. I love you so much.”

“Love you too,” I whisper.

“Ewww! You kissed my daddy!” Lily giggles.

“Shit,” I groan.

“Daddy! That’s a bad word! Owe me a buck, now!” Lily marches over to the kitchen counter, grabbing the mason jar dubbed the “swear jar.”

Shaking my head, I reach into my pocket and toss a dollar into it.

“Way to go, Levi.” Em snickers, covering her mouth with a hand.

“Like you don’t say bad words, baby. Oh please.”

“I do not,” she retorts, taking a sip of wine.

“Then why did you say ‘Oh fuck’ last night when I was sleeping?” Lily asks.

Emmy sprays red wine across the table, coughing and spluttering.

Throwing my head back, I laugh harder than I ever have, unable to contain myself.

“Levi!” Emmy growls, wiping her face with a napkin, face the color of the liquid in her glass. I wipe at the tears streaming down my face, finding Em staring at me.

“It’s all your fault,” she whispers, trying hard to cover her own smile.

“You’re damn right it is,” I quip, winking at her.

“Daddy!”

“All right, all right.”

Tossing a five-dollar bill in, I look at my daughter.

“This should cover the rest of the night. Now, who wants ice cream?”

In minutes, the embarrassing moment is forgotten and Lily enjoys her dessert. Emmy is going to move in with us, and Lily’s okay with it, excited even. Life couldn’t be better.

“Daddy!”

Lily’s high-pitched scream has me jolting out of a sound sleep and blindly racing toward her bedroom. Switching on the light, it takes a second for my eyes to adjust and when I do, my racing heart doesn’t calm.

“What’s wrong, sweetheart?”

Holding her stuffed bunny, she frantically jumps from the bed and attaches herself to me, burying her tiny face in my neck. Keeping her tight against me, I sit on the edge of her bed and softly stroke her blonde hair, waiting until she calms. She’s four, so realistically I know it was probably just a simple nightmare, but that doesn’t stop the thudding of my pulse.

“Lily, you need to talk to Daddy so I can help you, baby. What’s the matter?”

She lifts her sweet face from my shoulder and hiccups loudly. Gently I brush her tears away and place a kiss to her forehead.

“Monster.”

“Oh, Lil. There are no monsters in here, I promise. Just your big ugly dad.”

Giggles burst from her mouth, and I laugh as I try to make the scariest face at her I can, but instead I just make her laugh more. After a couple minutes of goofing around, I get her some water and then tuck her back into bed. Sitting next to her, I brush her hair from her forehead and place her bunny next to her again.

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“Why don’t I have a mommy?”

The blood drains from my face, and it takes everything in me to not lose it. She has never asked for Dana since I got full custody, and I have no idea where this is coming from. Maybe because she loves Emerson and knows she isn’t her mom.

“Why do you ask, Lily?”

“’Cause I want a mommy. I wanna play princess and Barbies.”

“I play Barbies with you, baby girl.”

“But you’re a boy. I need a girl to do it with me.”

“Emmy is a girl,” I tell her, reaching out to hold her hand, but she pulls away.

“She’s not my mommy.”

“I’m sorry, Lily. But not every family has a mommy. Every family is different. Our family is me and you. Just us. And that’s pretty cool, huh?”

“Was I bad?”

Fuck. Jesus fuck. This isn’t happening.

“Oh, Lily, no. Of course not, baby. Not at all. Listen, you have a mommy, okay? But she wasn’t ready to be your mommy. She was young and made mistakes, and we decided that what was best for you was for you to only have a daddy. You’re too young to understand but one day you will, okay? You aren’t bad, you’re the best little girl ever. I promise.”

“I love you, Daddy.”

“Oh, sweet girl, I love you more than every star in the sky. Now go back to sleep.”

Dropping a kiss to her forehead, I fight the burning in my throat. All these years I thought I would be enough for my daughter, but now I’m not so sure. Did I do something wrong by allowing Dana to just leave her life? Should I have made her stay?

Shutting her light off, I pull the door closed behind me and head across the hall to my bedroom. Completely forgetting that Emmy is still in my bed, I let myself go for a second as the tears I kept at bay fall down my cheeks. I’m swiping them away roughly when I cross into my room, stopping in my tracks.

Emmy is sitting on the edge of my bed in one of my shirts, face wet with tears.

“Oh, Levi,” she whispers. Biting my bottom lip, I rush over to her and pull her into my arms. One of her hands is tight against the back of my neck and I squeeze her to me. Her chest is shaking with her cries and I pull away.

“What’s the matter, baby?”

“How could somebody just walk away from that little girl? How could someone do that?”

“I don’t know,” I choke out, angry at the emotions, but even angrier with Dana for putting me in this situation.

“I heard what she said, Levi, but she’s just a baby. She needs you so much. You are her entire world.”

“Am I? She’s right though. I can’t do all the girl things with her. I can’t pick out dresses, and I can’t teach her about makeup. I can’t do her hair. I’m failing my daughter, Emmy. I’m fucking failing her, all because I chose the wrong person to screw.”

“Levi, look at me.”

Emerson’s soft hands grip my jaw, and she forces me to look into her eyes. With a small smile, she places a gentle kiss to my cheek and pulls back.

“You can show her how hard her daddy worked for her. How much he loved her. How he made sure that everything he did in his life was for her. Be her hero, Levi. Show her what an amazing and wonderful man you are. Teach her to love life, to laugh loudly.”

“Emmy...”

“You are everything your daughter needs. You are more than enough. Don’t you ever doubt yourself again. I’m so proud of you, Levi. So proud.”

“God, Emmy. Where have you been all this time?”

“Waiting for you to find me.”

“I love you, baby.”

“Love you too, handsome.”

Pulling me back to bed, Emmy climbs in next to me, laying her head on my chest. Running my fingers through her soft hair, we fall back to sleep.