Page 33 of Chasing his Ex

Finn takes hold of my wrist, sending shivers scattering over my entire body. He looks directly into my eyes, the gray of his eyes searching. Silently asking.

“Tell her,” he whispers.

I shake my head, not understanding. Does he mean his mother or...

“Please tell her I’m her daddy.”

“Finn, it’s too soon.”

“I’ll never let her down again. I want her to know before she sees Mom. I want her to know who her family is.”

I untangle his fingers from the coffee cup in his hand, placing it on the table. And he sobs. I rush to his side, holding his head against my shoulder.

It feels like it always felt, like he's my forever.

But he's not.

“When are you wanting to go see your mom?” I ask, prizing his arms from my neck. He presses a kiss against my cheek. “And I’ll tell Emmy as soon as the time is right.”

Chapter 16

Ava

The knock on the door makes me jump out of my skin; I’m feeling so nervous about this weekend. I open the door, and Emmy rushes through my legs.

“Finn!” she yells. His face drops, and my heart breaks a little for him.

“Emmy!” he yells back, brushing off the disappointment that I haven’t told her who he is as he picks her up and swings her around. He tries to lower her to the ground, obviously a little dizzy, but she wraps her legs and arms around him.

Her little fingers trace around his face until she stops her finger above his cheekbone and looks at his eyes. “I like you because we’ve got the same color eyes. Jacob likes my eyes.”

“Jacob is the boy she is going to marry,” I say, tickling her from behind. Emmy giggles. “But not until she is thirty, and then I still might not let you leave me.”

Finn laughs. “At least that’s a long time to plan the wedding.”

“Put me down. I drew you a picture.”

“Manners, Emmy,” I chastise.

“Pleeease and thank youuu,” Emmy drawls out her words as Finn carefully places her on the floor. She runs off yelling that she has to find her picture.

“She needed a car seat,” I say, pointing at the seat I borrowed from Jacob’s dad; he doesn’t need it again until next week.

“I bought one,” he says and smiles. I return the smile, happy he’s taking her needs very seriously.

“Impressed,” I say.

“I want you to trust me with her. I know how precious she is,” he says.

Stella pops her head around the door; she smiles our way. “Hi, how are you?”

“Good, thanks.”

“And your mom?”

Finn’s eyes lower to the floor; he shrugs. “Brave, but it isn’t looking good. I’m hoping meeting Emmy will give her something to fight for. She’s always wanted grandchildren, even when I was too young to have kids.”

“Yeah, I hope you all have a lovely weekend, creating nice memories,” she says, which makes me smile because Stella isn’t Finn’s biggest advocate.

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