“Sit down!” I growled at Griffin, hand on my hips and my mind set on him keeping his sick ass home. I warned him that eventually Celia would bring home a bug he’d catch and it finally happened. Fortunately, I had years of parenting under my belt so had a stronger “kid germ” immune system. After an epic stare down rivalling every other over the last six weeks, Griffin sat back in the recliner, folding his massive arms over his chest. To be such a big guy, he pouted like a child. Men.

“You shouldn’t have to take my kid to dance for me. I told you, I’m fine.” I rolled my eyes and tossed the blanket over him. Griffin could play big badass to someone who believed him, but the guy was sick so was not taking Celia to dance. We had gone to the last four classes together, but his cold was staying in quarantine. I heard the thunder of little feet come up the stairs and kissed him on the head.

“We’ll be back in an hour. Rest. If Lily calls me to tell me you didn’t sleep, I am kidnapping C and taking her home with me.” The girls squealed at my threat. They loved our weekend sleepovers, but weekdays were kids in their own beds with parents sending dirty texts. Griffin had me breaking my no sexting rule pretty quick, but I stuck to the no naked texts. My hunky other half did not abide by that rule, but I was not complaining. I never thought I would appreciate pictures like I did his.

“Call if you need me.” Griffin settled back in the seat, closing his eyes. Not even a guy his size could fight the power of cold medicine paired with a fever. The pitiful look on his face made me kiss him again and he smirked with his eyes closed. I took the girls’ hands, leading them out front to my Jeep, I loaded them up, and we headed to dance.

In a month, things had only gotten better. I hadn’t heard from Rich, his attorney, or his parents. Work was busy, Harriet was getting married in two days, and the girls still weren’t tired of each other. Griffin took on an apprentice at work to train and Celia was making friends everywhere. In another few weeks, they were done with surprise home visits by social workers. We were planning a party for Celia to celebrate. Griffin had panicked when the social worker showed up with Ax and me there, but it went well. Annie was thrilled to see Celia playing with another kid so said we should let them get together as often as possible. Griffin and I agreed readily. We left out the part about us dating, but surely the woman wasn’t that stupid.

“Cori? Can we take Daddy ice cream?” I choked on my Diet Coke, putting the car into park a little too abruptly. The word Daddy threw me for a complete loop. Of all days for Griffin to be sick. It was still our tradition to get yogurt after dance, but Celia called Griffin by his name, never Daddy, or Dad. Griffin or Griffie was it.

“Sure, kiddo. I’m sure it will make him feel better.” I unbuckled the girls, brushing off their leotards, and led them to the door. “Just do me a favor. Please call him Daddy when we get back to your house, okay?” I dropped to my knee, putting a hand on either of Celia’s shoulders. “I think it would make him feel a million times better to hear that.”

“Axel said if you have a daddy you should take care of him, because some kids don’t have one.” Celia smiled at me and I nodded. “LeeLee said he would like it if I called him Daddy.”

“Well, he is your daddy. He loves you and takes care of you, so I think Daddy is a good name to call him.” Once we all agreed, I held the doors and let the girls into the studio, dropping them with Charli. Celia didn’t look timid at all as the girls walked into the room to join the other little ladies. It was a different kid from a few weeks back. Griffin was easily the best father I had ever seen.

Heads turned when I walked in and I threw my hands up. “At ease, ladies, he’s sick.” Nothing had budged on that front. The other moms ogled my man shamelessly every time he was in the room, so I had to fight back my psycho possessive tendencies. I wanted to maim any woman who looked at him, but kept my craziness in check. Faces fell when they found out Griffin wasn’t coming, but then Karen patted the seat next to her and smiled.

“Come sit, Corrine. I think I owe you an apology.” I tentatively scanned the faces before sitting with them, waiting for the blows to start. Karen offering me an apology was about as likely as hell freezing, but her over-painted face looked sincere. I lowered myself slowly into the seat, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “I had no idea your sister was Arianna until Sophie’s party.”

“Uh, yeah, Ari is my older sister. How was the party? Did she deliver our gift?” I didn’t care how the party was, but I could play nice, even when in complete shock. Karen started talking about the party, chatting like we were friends, patting my arm occasionally. The other women in the room, damn what are their names, were the same, chatting like we were friendly. Some other couple showed up to the party already wasted and made asses of themselves. I had to have looked like a deer in headlights.

“So, tell us all about Richard. We know what happened in the past, but how is he now? My mother knows the Sharpes, they said Richard is home and going to meetings. Has he seen Axel?” There it was. Karen didn’t want to be chummy, Karen wanted the gossip and I was the center of it. It was like a gravitational pull for shitty things to come flying at me at the speed of light. I let my mouth hang open for a moment before I had the composure to answer.

“I truly don’t know.” I smiled at the disappointment on her face. “I saw Rich for a second a few weeks back, but that was all. The restraining order still stands.” I forced a smile through the shitstorm of embarrassment threatening my face. The more I talked, the worse it got. None of it was my fault, but I felt solely responsible for the mess my daughter would go the rest of her life having to endure. Axel would forever be the little girl whose dad went to prison for drugs and there was nothing I could do about it.

“Wait, so you are staying with Griff?” His nickname rolling off her tongue made me want to throat punch her. Cat fight would seem like an understatement. I took a deep breath, willing my psychopathic jealousy to ebb.

“Yeah, I’m staying with Griffin. If Shane put you through the humiliation of going to prison for anything other than embezzlement would you go back to him?” The bite in my words made her eyes widen. Shane was a good guy, but had been accused of some shady shit in the past. Karen and Sophie had vanished to go on vacation for a month while it blew over. There was no way I was backing down from a Karen confrontation again and there was no Griffin to save me. “Anyway, I like to leave the past where it belongs. Axel and I are doing well. Maybe someday, she will choose to see her father. If that day comes, it will be her decision, but I won’t make it for her.” The other ladies nodded quietly, going back to watching our daughters dance, keeping quiet.

Class dragged on for all eternity, making me antsy while the other mothers exchanged glances. I kept my chin up, though, I was not letting anything involving Richard bring me down again. His decisions had done enough damage to my self-esteem, and him being in the same city, right down from my job, was not going to derail me. I slid my phone out to send a text to Harri. Two days until her wedding meant she was busy as hell, but I needed a distraction and my man was napping, or he better be.

Cori: Plans tonight? What do you need from me?

Harri: Am I doing the right thing?

Cori: Harriet, do you love him? I can’t believe I need to ask you this.

Harri: I’m doing the right thing. Faye took care of the caterer. Briggs has taken my to-do list. Like he hid it and I can’t find it. He swears it’s all done. Apparently, this has been planned for months. He made me pick a date by blindly pointing at the calendar.

Cori: I’m coming over anyway. Amelia is babysitting and I want to help.

Harri: 7pm, The Brew. I love you, Cori

Cori: Love you too girl.

Dance class let out and I bid a polite goodbye to the other mothers as they told us to have Griffin get better. I internally rolled my eyes. Maybe this would teach me to go for less sexy men. Yeah, right. If it were up to me I would spend the rest of my life worshiping every inch of Griffin Steele. The girls and I grabbed our yogurt to go, starting back to the Jeep. I told Griffin an hour so if he woke up with us not there, his cold wouldn’t matter. The caveman would hunt us down with a bottle of Nyquil in one hand and tissues in the other.

I had just checked buckles on car seats when I heard a throat clear behind me. The hairs on my neck and arms stood at attention. My stomach heaved. Swallowing the bile in my throat, I breathed in slowly, gripping the paper bag of yogurt. My chest closed up, invisible hands tightening around my throat, as I slowly backed toward Richard. I would know that sound anywhere. It was the same fake cough he used when I got too rowdy around his colleagues or said something vulgar in public.

“Are you going to face me?” I shuddered involuntarily and thanked a whole slew of deities that the girls were immersed in some horse conversation. I backed up, shut the door, and turn to face him. “I’m not going to hurt you, Cori. Stop acting like I’m the one who attacked you. I would never lay a hand on you. Haven’t I been punished enough? I lost everything.”

“It was all your choice. You chose to gamble it all and you lost, Richard.” Looking up at him, standing three feet from the man should have been scary.

He brought hell into my life, but Rich had a point, he didn’t attack me, and I wasn’t afraid. “I almost lost too.”

Richard raked his hand through his blond hair, dropping his shoulders. “Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you think it has eaten at me for years? You could have died because of me. My letters to my wife kept coming back, my phone calls were spent on calling a disconnected number. I had to see my daughter through old pictures.” I wanted to feel for him, but that night flashed in my mind. Rich laid out in the bed, a needle hanging from his arm, bags of powder on the dresser. Blood covered me, and my baby, our baby, was sleeping in the next room. I fought so hard to stay awake through it all, to not pass out so if he went for Ax I could fight. I failed and was lucky the guy hadn’t gone after my baby.

“I need to take this yogurt home before it melts. Don’t show up like this again. Contact me through my attorney next time.” I tried to walk away, but his hand caught my wrist.

“Cori, please.” I jerked out of Richard’s grip without looking back and climbed in the Jeep. The yogurt landed next to me and the phone rang. Griffin. I let it go to voicemail and started the Jeep. The girls were still chatting when I pulled out, watching Richard vanish in the mirror as I pulled out on Broadway. My mind went to war, trying to piece together the right thing to do. Rich was Ax’s dad, he had wanted her so bad, promised to take care of her forever while I was pregnant. But promises were meant to be broken, and Richard broke them in spades. The bruises had healed, leaving scars on every fiber of my being. Does he deserve a chance with Ax? I shook my head, pulling into Griffin’s driveway. I could never trust Rich to not relapse, and playing with Axel’s safety was never happening, not again.