CHAPTER THREE
IT’S OFFICIAL,” DALTON said as he followed Kimber into her Palo Alto apartment. “Your place is much bigger than mine. Not to mention cooler.”
Kimber’s lips curved a little as she walked over to the kitchen table and dropped off the big whiteboard and box of colored markers they’d bought from the office supply store on the way home.
“Oh, come on,” she said, turning around to face him. “Your place isn’t that bad.”
Dalton snorted. “Please. My bedroom would just about fit in your coat closet and it’s embarrassing to even compare my kitchen to yours. You have granite counter tops and an island. I have a cabinet with a microwave in it.”
Kimber seemed to consider that. “Okay, maybe you’re right. But if it makes you feel any better, I didn’t pick this place because of how nice it is. I picked it because it’s close to both my parents and JASCO, there’s a playground nearby, and the school system is one of the best in state.”
He dropped his small duffel bag full of clothes on the floor by the microfiber couch and wandered around the room, taking in the painted landscapes on the walls and the photos of Kimber’s parents on the built-in bookcase. But mostly his attention was captured by the myriad pictures of his daughter. There were dozens of images of Emma from the time she was a baby all the way up to now.
Dalton picked up a framed photo of Emma sitting in a high chair, animal-shaped cookies spread out on the tray in front of her. As he gazed at her cute, little face, it suddenly felt like someone had punched him in the gut. It was obvious that Emma was the center of Kimber’s world. And yeah, that hit him hard.
Swallowing hard, he carefully set the photo down. He hated that he hadn’t been a part of his daughter’s life, hated that he hadn’t been there when she’d taken her first step or said her first word, but he couldn’t go back in time.
Five years ago, when he’d come back from deployment and discovered Kimber had left, he’d been devastated. He’d dated other girls before her, but none of them had gotten to him the way she had. He’d fallen hard for her right from the start and he’d been so damn sure she’d felt the same. After the initial shock of her leaving had worn off, he’d come to the simple and obvious conclusion that Kimber had decided being with a Navy SEAL wasn’t for her. It had been painful, but he could understand it. There weren’t many women up for dealing with that kind of stress.
Then today, she’d shown up at his door and he not only learned they had a daughter together, but that she’d walked away from him because she couldn’t imagine things working out between them. Kimber had never even given him a chance to be a husband and a father. He’d been furious when she told him. Still had been the whole time they’d been at JASCO, though he never let it show. But now, after seeing everything Kimber had done for Emma—leaving college in San Diego, moving back in with her parents, then picking this apartment based entirely on the quality of the elementary school and the playgrounds, he finally understood why she’d done what she had.
He took a deep breath, then turned to face her. “You changed your entire life forever for our daughter.”
She nodded. “The day that test strip turned positive, my priorities changed. I can’t say every decision I’ve made since then was perfect because I know they weren’t, but I can promise that every one of them was made with Emma in mind.”
Dalton looked at the most recent picture of their daughter. She was perched at the top of a plastic slide, all smiles and pigtails. Kimber had done everything for their beautiful little girl. Would he expect any less of himself in the same situation?
He wasn’t sure how long he gazed at the picture, but at some point, he realized Kimber had crossed the room and was standing beside him.
“Come on,” she said, taking his hand and motioning at the hallway leading toward the back of the apartment. “I want you to see something.”
He let her lead him that way, his head still spinning. A moment later, they were in Emma’s bedroom. He knew it was his daughter’s because there was a pink pony painted on the wall above the bed and a bench seat in the corner filled to overflowing with plush animals. He wasn’t sure about Kimber’s attraction to stuffed animals, but he was pretty certain she’d never shown any interest in tiny horses.
Dalton was slowly taking everything in around the room when a framed photo on the bedside table grabbed his attention and wouldn’t let go. Aware of Kimber’s eyes on him, he walked over and picked it up. It was a selfie he and Kimber had taken at that impromptu picnic at Bayview Park. The day Emma had been conceived.
That was when it hit him. He spun around to look at Kimber in awe. “Emma knows I’m her father? You told her about me?”
Kimber nodded, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. “She knows. She’s always known.”
The admission rocked him to the core. He’d just assumed Kimber hadn’t mentioned him to Emma.
He opened his mouth to ask if Kimber had ever intended to let him meet their daughter, or whether she’d even thought that far, when a knock on the door interrupted him.
“That must be Holden and Wes,” Kimber said.
No doubt she was right. Dalton set the photo down on the bedside table. This was definitely a conversation he and Kimber would have to pick up later.