Page 678 of The Tempted

“It was hard not to fall in love with everything about her, including the way she ate her popcorn, mixing in Reese’s Pieces into the bucket whenever I took her to the movies.” I smile thinking back to the first date she conned out of me. I was supposed to escort her and Mike Valente to the movies but the two of them set me up. Mike took off to chase a piece of ass and Adrianna reeled me in—hook, line and sinker.

I was a goner.

“We were young, real young, and foolishly we thought we’d be together forever, that nothing could ever stand between us,” I continue, staring down at Victoria. I feel the lump form in my throat thinking about the first time Adrianna told me she was pregnant with the child we lost. Closing my eyes, I recall the words I spoke as I broke Adrianna’s heart, telling her the baby didn’t survive. A part of both of us died that day, and even now, after the healing, there’s still an empty spot in our hearts for the baby we never met.

“Things happen, baby girl, and as hard as you try, sometimes you can’t stop them from taking over. They pull you away from the things you want most and make them so far out of reach you give up, but I know you are going to learn, and you will learn from your mommy that you keep fighting for what you believe in. Let no one stop you from going after what makes you happy.”

If I had one wish for my daughter, it would be that she grows up to be a strong woman like her mother. Someone who won’t back down from a challenge. Someone loyal to both herself and those she loves. A woman who knows her worth, knows what she wants, and is the only one in control of her heart.

“I promise you I’ll never be the dad that takes away your smile because I’m too scared to watch you walk away. That doesn’t mean I’m not going to screen your dates and follow you around with a baseball bat, but when the time comes, and you find someone who loves you more than they love the air they breathe, I won’t be the dad that takes that from you.”

I won’t do to her what Victor did to us.

I’ve forgiven him.

We both have.

Our daughter is named after him for crying out loud.

Instead of harboring resentment we took what happened to us as a lesson in parenting. For me, I know now I have eighteen years or so to prepare myself for the day my daughter tells me she’s in love. I look at Victoria and as much as I don’t want to understand why Victor did the things he did, I understand his fear. Looking down at the baby I created, knowing these days and nights are the shortest part of her life, they’ll go by in a flash and she’ll grow up before I know it. That’s fucking scary. She’ll bring home a guy and with my luck, he’ll be like me, and I’ll feel like I’m losing a limb as she walks out the door holding his hand.

I glance down and watch her wrap her hand around my pinky.

I won’t stand in her way though.

I’ll think back to these moments, hang onto them with all I am, and remember that she was once the little girl who wrapped her hand around my pinky but also the girl who wrapped her whole self around my heart.

We give our kids roots and then we give them wings and watch them soar.

That’s the kind of dad I want to be.

“Well aren’t you going to tell her the best part of the story?” my wife asks, pulling me away from my thoughts. I lift my head and watch her lean against the frame of the door, tightly tying the satin belt of her robe around her waist.

The beauty of life is some things are just meant to be, nothing and no one can stop them from happening.

Me and Reese’s.

Meant to be.

She pads into the room, making her way over to me and our baby. Wrapping her arms around my shoulders she leans over and smiles down at our daughter.

“They proved everyone wrong and lived happily ever after,” she whispers, pressing her lips to my cheek.

“Yeah, they did,” I agree, as she drops her arms from around me and steps in front of me. “I thought you were sleeping.”

“The monitor was on,” she explains with a smile placed firmly on her plump lips. “You’re such a great dad,” she whispers, eyes shining bright. “I thought I couldn’t possibly love you any more than I did when I was fifteen but then we had kids and…well…my heart is so full,” she rasps.

Patting my knee with my free hand I adjust our daughter with the other and reach for Adrianna, pulling her onto my lap.

“Love you so fucking much, Reese’s,” I murmur against her ear.

“This is the good life, babe, the one we never thought we’d see, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, this is the good life,” I confirm, and even as I say the words they don’t seem to adequately describe what we were living.

“She looks wide awake,” she says, running the back of her hand over Victoria’s cheek.

“She’s a wild one,” I agree, glancing over at our smiling baby.

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