Page 26 of Their Forever Daddy

“We can talk about it at home.”

“No.”

The refusal was delivered so calmly, for a moment he thought he’d misheard. “Excuse me, little girl?”

“No,” she repeated, just as calmly as before, though there was a hint of uncertainty in her eyes now, as if she’d just realized what she’d said and was second-guessing herself. As well she should. “I’m not going home, Grant. Not yet. I need to make things right.”

Pinching the bridge of his nose to alleviate the headache brewing there, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. “Baby, I’m really going to need some more information. Because from what I just saw in there, you’re not the one who needs to make anything right.”

Silence stretched between them before she finally spoke, her voice softer and more submissive sounding than he’d ever heard before. “If I tell you everything, will you promise to let me stay until I’m ready to leave? Please, Daddy?”

It wasn’t a big ask. Neither of them needed to be in California right now, at least not for a few more weeks. But judging by the tone of her voice, it was important to her.

How could he say no?

Not even bothering to sigh, he lowered his hand and nodded. “All right. Tell me what’s going on, and we can stay. With a caveat,” he added when smiled so brightly he nearly had to squint to avoid being blinded. “I reserve the right to pull you out if it seems like… whatever this is that you’re doing here is causing you emotional or mental harm. Understood?”

“Yes, Daddy! Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

She launched herself at him, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close as he pressed his face into her neck, drawing in the scent of her. It was off, just a bit, but it was still her and it was enough to steady him.

Pulling away slightly, he pinned her with a stern look. “All right, little girl. Tell Daddy why you’re here, and then we can talk about what to do next.”

Jesse nodded. “The ‘too long; didn’t read’ version is that Edie and I dated for a summer. It was…” she trailed off, her expression turning a bit dreamy in a way that had his stomach twisting with jealousy. “At the risk of sounding ridiculous, it was perfect. Like something out of a romance novel, you know? If romance novels had spankings and kinky sexual awakenings.”

“I’m fairly certain plenty of them do, at least these days,” he said dryly, earning him a quick, delighted laugh.

“You’re probably right. Edie… she wasn’t my Mommy, but looking back I think it was probably only because we didn’t have the right words for what we were to each other. She took care of me. Nurtured my Little side before I even had a name for it. Everything between us, even that, just came so naturally, it was like we were meant to be together.”

“So, what happened?”

“I left.” Clouds filled her eyes, smothering the love—and it was so clearly, painfully love that he’d seen shining there—and turning the gold of her irises a muddy brown. “We…” She trailed off, and he could see her struggling for the words. “We had a, I wouldn’t call it a fight, not really. But something happened, and I realized she was never going to leave this town and I just couldn’t stay here. Not to be dramatic, but I think it would have killed me eventually if I had. So I packed everything up one night and left without telling her. That was ten years ago, and we haven’t spoken since.”

Suddenly, he felt a bit more compassion for Edie McDowell. He’d loved and lost plenty of women in his lifetime, but Jesse was different. She was the kind of woman you never got over losing. And just waking up to find her gone? He’d gone mad with worry when Jesse had vanished on him, and he’d known she was coming back at some point. To not know if he’d ever see her again…

He could understand why Edie might have been a little less than welcoming.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” Beneath his anger at her for her disappearing act, hurt and betrayal lurked, waiting for the right moment to strike at their bond. “All the conversations we’ve had about our exes, you never once mentioned her. Or anyone back home,” he added, frowning a bit as he realized she’d never really told him anything about her hometown. How had he never noticed?

A guilty flush crept up her neck as she shrugged. “I was embarrassed. It didn’t take me long to realize what a shitty thing I’d done, but I was too proud to admit I’d fucked up. It was easier to pretend it just hadn’t happened. But after you asked me to marry you, I just… couldn’t get her out of my head. And the more I couldn’t get her out of my head, the more I felt like I needed to come home and at least try to make things right.”

He glanced back up at the house. “And how is that going?”

“Somehow both better and worse than I’d expected,” she said with a sigh. “She didn’t throw me out on my ass when I showed up here the other day, but…”

God, he hated seeing that sad look in her eyes. “But what, baby?”

“I didn’t think she’d tell anybody about us. There was an—an incident with her family the summer we were together, which was part of why I was trying so hard to get her to come out west with me. Where we could be together without worrying what this fucking town thought of us. But she’s obviously told some of her friends, and I guess I was sort of blindsided by how much they hate me. I’ve never really been the villain in anybody’s story before.”

Poor Little girl. “I’m sorry, baby.”

“It’s my own fault. Maybe if I’d kept in touch more, I’d still have friends here.”

Remembering the wild goose chase Edie and the rest of the town had led him on during the day, he couldn’t help but smile. “I think you have more allies than you realize. Including her,” he said, nodding toward the house. “Took me all damn day to track you down because everyone either pretended not to know who you were or swore up and down you hadn’t been in Lost River in more than ten years. And I’d bet Edie was the one giving those marching orders.”

“Really?” Everything in her seemed to light up. “That’s so sweet.”

“Sweet. Right.” Though he couldn’t be too mad about it. Now that he’d actually found her, he could appreciate the fact his babygirl had an entire town looking out for her. Including the maddening little pixie she’d once loved.

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