CHAPTER EIGHT
YOU KNOW, YOU don’t have to buy her every single thing she asks for, right?” Kimber said as Emma ran ahead of them toward the Primate Discovery Center, a plush wolf gripped tightly in one little hand, a banana smoothie in the other, and a I Love the San Francisco Zoo balloon tied to her belt.
Dalton shrugged, feeling like a kid who’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. “Yeah, I know, but when she looks at me with those big, puppy dog eyes, I can’t resist. It’s like she’s using some superpower on me.”
Kimber laughed. “You’re a Navy SEAL. You’re supposed to be tough. Are you trying to tell me you can’t stand up to a little five-year-old girl?”
He grinned. “When it comes to my daughter, apparently not.”
Kimber’s lips curved and it looked like she would have said something else, but then Emma ran back over and grabbed his hand. “Hurry up, Daddy. I want to see the monkeys.”
As Dalton let her hurry him along, he couldn’t help but notice something was missing. “Where’s your smoothie?”
“I finished that already,” she said in a tone that made it seem like he should have known that.
She tugged his hand more firmly. Damn, she was like a pint-sized Energizer Bunny.
Kimber had been right about Emma only sleeping a few hours yesterday. By mid-afternoon, Emma burst into the room and climbed into bed with them. Kimber had also been right about another thing. Emma hadn’t batted an eye at finding her parents in bed together. She’d simply snuggled between them and asked if they could order pizza for dinner.
Dalton smiled to himself at the memory. Kimber had put her foot down and said no to pizza, even though he’d thought it had been a wonderful idea. Instead, they’d all made a home-cooked meal together. While he would have been more than happy with a double meat, double cheese pizza, the grilled chicken, veggies, and mac and cheese they’d made were delicious. Cooking alongside Kimber and Emma had made it even better. He’d never had so much fun in the kitchen.
After dinner, they’d moved to the living room and piled onto the couch to watch a cartoon together. Dalton didn’t have a clue what the TV show was about—some princess with insanely long hair running around having adventures with a lizard, but he found himself laughing every time Emma did, which was pretty much constantly.
Getting to tuck Emma in bed again last night had been another one of the evening’s highlights. And yeah, he’d had to promise her once again that he’d be there when she woke up. He was okay with doing that. Being with his daughter was definitely something he could get used to.
Then again, making love to Kimber like he had after they’d gone to bed was something he could get used to as well.
“You like monkeys a lot, huh?” he asked Emma as he held the door of the primate house open for her and Kimber.
Emma nodded her head enthusiastically, then raced inside, clearly knowing exactly where she was going.
“My parents bring her here all the time and she spends hours in here every trip,” Kimber said. “She once told me she wants to be a monkey when she grows up. I haven’t had the heart to tell her there’s no college program for that.”
Dalton chuckled. “Speaking of parents. I overheard you talking to your mother on the phone before we left. It sounded like the conversation got a little tense.”
Kimber grimaced as they followed their daughter into the dimly lit building. Emma was standing at the window of the first enclosure, waving at the monkeys inside like they were good friends. “I told them about the kidnapping. Emma would have said something to them at some point, and I thought it’d be better if they heard it from me.”
“I’m guessing they didn’t take it well?”
Kimber shook her head. “Understatement there. They freaked. At first, at least. But they calmed down once I assured them Emma was okay. On the bright side, they were thrilled to hear I’d decided to go to you for help instead of the cops. They were even more delighted when I told them that you were still here.”
Dalton did a double take. “Really?” He’d met Kimber’s parents once five years ago, and while they’d gotten along fine, he doubted that was the case now. “I can’t imagine that your parents think too much of me considering you had to raise Emma on your own.”
“It was never like that,” Kimber said. “They’ve known from the beginning that I was the one who walked away. They’ve always supported my decision, but I don’t think they ever understood it. Or agreed with it. They urged me to call you on more than one occasion. But…well…you know the story from there. Regardless, they’ve never blamed you for how things turned out.”
He was surprised to hear all that. Actually, he was friggin’ stunned.
She smiled. “In fact, they invited us over for a barbecue tomorrow.”
Dalton didn’t say anything for a minute. Kimber’s parents might be okay with him, but it was still going to be a little weird hanging out with them. But he’d put up with the family thing for their daughter’s sake.
“I’m game if you are,” he said with a smile.
Up ahead, Emma was sitting on the floor in front of the howler monkey exhibit engaged in a deep, meaningful conversation with the fuzzy creature on the other side of the glass in the open-air enclosure.
“They invited Holden and Wes, too,” Kimber added. “They want to thank them for helping rescue Emma.”
Dalton considered that. He’d been honest with Kimber the day before when he said he had no idea what the hell Holden and Wes were up to. Holden had some seriously bad people in his past—as in gangs and organized crime kind of bad. He wasn’t into that stuff now, but Dalton’s biggest concern was that his teammate had to offer a favor in return for the gear they’d borrowed. Unfortunately, Holden was keeping that to himself.
“I’ll call and tell them,” Dalton said.
He and Kimber quietly sat down on a bench behind Emma, neither one of them wanting to interrupt her as she chatted with the monkeys. Dalton draped his arm along the back of the bench, and Kimber slid closer, snuggling up to him. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Damn, he could get used to this.
Dalton quickly discovered that howler monkeys were appropriately named when the entire group swinging around in the enclosure’s trees and climbing gear hooted and hollered. Every few minutes, they’d fall silent and one of the monkeys came to sit on the other side of the glass near Emma. She animatedly chatted with them, calling each by name.
“Is she making those names up?” he asked Kimber.
“Nope. The handlers taught her how to identify each and every one of them. According to the zookeepers, she never gets any of their names wrong.”
“Wow. That’s amazing,” he breathed. “I bet she’s going to be a zoologist when she grows up. Or maybe a veterinarian. Should we be trying to get her into a special school for gifted kids?”
Kimber laughed. “Dalton, she’s five-years-old and likes monkeys. Let’s see how she handles learning her multiplication tables before we chart out her entire future, okay?”
Dalton looked at Emma to see her making funny faces at a mother and baby. Perhaps Kimber was right. “Um…okay. Maybe I was getting a little ahead of himself.”
She lifted a brow. “You think?”
“Sorry.” He shrugged. “This parenting thing is new to me. I’m sort of feeling my way through it right now, hoping I can figure it out.”
“I get it,” Kimber said. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I’ve been doing this for five years and I’m still not sure what I’m doing. You spend every minute wondering if you’re doing the right thing, terrified you’re going to screw it all up. But the important thing to remember is that Emma doesn’t care if you’re doing it right, as long as you’re there.”
Dalton couldn’t help thinking about the fact that he’d already missed so much of Emma’s early childhood. But Emma didn’t seem to care. She was happy he was around now.
Even so, what if it was too late for him to make up for that lost time? Then again, he wasn’t sure if that was even going to be an option. Despite everything that had happened last night, he still wasn’t sure where—if anywhere—this thing with Kimber was going. He wanted to be part of Emma’s life…and Kimber’s. He just wasn’t sure if she wanted the same thing. He could hardly blame her. What was he going to do, fly up and visit now and then in between deployments and random combat missions?
“How are your parents?” Kimber asked.
“They’re doing good,” he said. “Running their little store and selling fresh produce.”
“That’s good to hear,” she said. “Are they still trying to convince you to move back home?”
Dalton chuckled. There was a time when Bo and Denise Jennings thought he might go back to the tiny town in South Carolina where he’d grown up, settle down with a Southern belle, and take over the family business. After seven years in the Navy, they’d finally figured out that wasn’t going to happen.
“Nah, they gave up on that when I reenlisted a few years ago. That’s when it really hit them that I’m not moving back home to run the store.”
Over by the glass enclosure, Emma skipped back and forth in front of several monkeys, showing off her plush wolf to them.
“What are they going to say when you tell them about Emma?” Kimber asked.
“They’ll be thrilled. They’ve always wanted grandchildren, so they’ll spoil her rotten. If I know Mom and Dad, they’ll dig into their savings and be on the next plane out here.”
They were still talking about his parents when Emma finished her plushie show-and-tell and climbed on Dalton’s lap. “I think Pansy really likes my werewolf. Can we buy her one too?”
Dalton assumed Pansy was one of the monkeys, so he wasn’t so sure buying a stuffed animal for her was a good idea. Not that he was going to tell Emma that. “Maybe,” he said noncommittally, taking the fluffy gray wolf from his daughter and looking it over. “Werewolf, huh? How do you know he’s a werewolf and not a regular wolf? And how do you know about werewolves anyway?”
Emma looked at the plush toy, then back at Dalton like he was dense. “I just know. And she’s a girl, not a boy. Can’t you tell?”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kimber working hard to maintain a straight face. She obviously wasn’t going to be of any help here. So, he nodded. “Right. I see it now. I just had to get a closer look at her. So, is she a zoologist werewolf?”
His daughter frowned at him, making it hard to figure who was the adult and who was the kid in this situation. “I don’t know that word. But she isn’t whatever that is. Khaki is a police werewolf. All werewolves work for the police. Everyone knows that.”
Dalton threw a quick glance in Kimber’s direction, but help still wasn’t forthcoming. “I do now.”
He was all prepared to learn more about Khaki the werewolf cop, but Emma tucked the stuffed animal under her arm and spoke before he could. “I’m done hanging out with the monkeys. Can we go see the sea lions now?”
Dalton looked at Kimber. “They have sea lions here?”
She nodded. “Yeah, but it’s a very small habitat. Emma means she wants to go down to Fisherman’s Wharf to see the wild sea lions playing on the docks at Pier 39.”
“Ah.” He gave their daughter a smile. “If that’s what you want to do, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Emma’s face lit up like a lamp, which made him feel pretty damn good. Then he caught Kimber frowning at him and realized he probably shouldn’t be so quick to give into everything their little girl wanted to do. But Emma was already off his lap and running for the doors.
“I’ll put my foot down later,” he promised Kimber as they hurried to catch up with her. “No toys, candy, or anything.”
Kimber snorted. “Yeah, right.”