“Not anymore,” I interrupt him. “I’m not scared of telling you how I feel about her. I’m nervous as hell to meet my daughter.” Before I can go on, Ridge, Mark, and Tyler walk in, and I can tell that their wives have all filled them in as well. “Like I said, I’m not scared to admit what she means to me, what she’s always meant to me. I’m nervous as hell to be meeting my daughter.”
“You sure she’s yours?” Tyler asks.
I don’t answer him. Instead, I pull out my phone and scroll to the picture of Kendrix. I hand him my phone. I’m not offended at his question. This is all coming out of left field for them, and that’s on me. I never should have kept her a secret. I should have screamed from the rooftops that she was mine. Then, maybe, just maybe, she never would have been in the accident. I would have been with her that night. She could have told me about the baby, and I would have kept her with me.
Always.
I never would have missed her growing round with our child. I would have been there the moment my baby took her first breath. I would have been there for every moment. Instead, I ran scared. Went to Bottom’s Up with the guys, had a few beers, wallowed in the fact that she meant something to me. I should have been a man. Instead, I acted like a coward. So, while Delaney’s mother is to blame, so I am. That’s something that I’ll have to live with for the rest of my life.
“She’s a cute kid. Looks just like you. But those eyes, those are all her momma,” Mark says, handing me my phone.
“She’s the perfect mix of both of us.”
They nod. Just like that, I have their acceptance and support. “We’re having a test done. I don’t need it. But Laney, she doesn’t remember us. I mean, she dreams about me.” I go on to explain the dreams, and they don’t look surprised, so I’m guessing Delaney told the girls all about it, which in turn, they filled their husbands in.
“Good to have it in writing,” Seth says.
“Yeah.”
“How you holding up?” Mara asks.
“I’m a nervous fucking wreck, but I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited about anything in my entire life.”
Her eyes soften. She stands from her desk and comes around to wrap me in a hug. “We’re all here for you. We told Delaney the same thing,” she says, pulling back. Seth snakes his arm around her waist and pulls her into him. “She has our numbers. We offered to watch Kendrix in case things get heated, but she doesn’t think that it’s necessary. Apparently, her mom isn’t much of a yeller. Delaney says she’s more of the ‘I’m going to ignore you and the situation’ type.”
“Yeah, I don’t know about all that, but I appreciate you reaching out to her. I can’t imagine what she’s feeling, what’s going through her head. I’m trying to not push her, but fuck, everything about her is familiar to me. It’s ingrained in my memory. Every second, every minute I ever spent with her.”
“They’re your family, Kenton. That means that they’re our family.” Mara says it like it’s the simplest of things.
She’s right. It is that simple. We can’t change the past. I need to stop dwelling on that and focus on what’s important. Meeting my daughter. Making sure she knows how much I love her. I do. I’ve never met her, but I feel it in my heart. The minute I saw her on screen, I knew she was mine. And her momma, well, if I have my way, she’s going to be mine too. She’s always been mine. I just never told her. That’s all about to change.* * *Delaney left over two hours ago to go to the airport. I’m trying not to worry, but it’s hard not to. I’ve been shit help today, but the guys haven’t said a word. My friends, my brothers from other mothers, have my back. The airport is about forty minutes away, so we’re looking at an hour and twenty for drive time. Forty minutes is a stretch. They have to get their bags, and the plane could have been late, traffic…. I list off all the reasons they’re not here yet.
“Wow. Momma, this house is so big. It’s like Barbie’s house,” a sweet voice breaks into my thoughts.
I freeze.
“It’s a big house, for sure.”
“Like Barbie’s,” the sweet voice says again.
A smile spreads across my face, and I feel a hand clamp down on my shoulder. I turn to look and see Ridge. “You good?”
I nod. I can’t speak.
“Are we going to live here?”
“No,” a voice I recognize as Tillie Nottingham answers.
I ball my fists at my sides. “Mother,” Delaney scolds her. “I’m not sure, sweetie,” Delaney answers our daughter. “We’ll just have to see how things turn out. You think you’d like living here?”