Page 34 of Forsaking All Others

A bunch of coffins and a shitload of guns.

Maybe Parrish was onto something with all that talk about miracles.

Looks like I’m gonna need one to get this thing to the finish line.

* * *

“Uncle Leftie is goingto stay with you guys until I get a handle on what’s going on,” I tell Tara.

As mad as Leftie was with me, he agreed to hunker down with the kids at Holly’s house. Shepard didn’t seem to give a damn, but Tara was acting shady as fuck. The girl is either singing off key with the radio or chewing my ear off. However, she barely said a word on the ride from the clubhouse to the house. It was like pulling teeth to get her to tell me why Holly took Theo to the hospital in the first place. After she revealed the poor kid had thrown up for a better part of the night and spiked a fever, it was back to radio silence.

“A response would be nice, Tara,” I grind out.

She finishes climbing the few steps that lead to the porch and watches as Leftie and Shep enter the house, then she turns to me.

“I heard them arguing last night,” she says, hitching her book bag over her shoulder. “Colt left her because he thinks you both are still in love with one another.” She pauses for a minute, her eyes searching mine. “Is that true? Do you still love mom?”

This is not a conversation a man ever wants to be having with his sixteen-year-old daughter, especially when he knows the answer will only confuse her.

“I think you do,” she whispers.

Okay, so maybe she’s more in tune with things than I thought.

“Tara—”

“Theo’s my brother, dad. Just like Shep.”

Fucking hell.

I was not expecting that.

Girl is smart.

Perceptive as fuck too.

Closing the distance between us, I climb the stairs and take her chin in my hands. Her eyes lock with mine and I say, “I know that, sweetheart.”

She nods.

“If Colt doesn’t come back—”

“Colt is coming back, baby, but if he doesn’t, I’ve got Theo just like I got you and Shep.”

“And mom?”

I smile and bend my head to touch my forehead to hers.

Like I said, not a conversation I want to be having with my little girl, but it appears Tara is wise to what’s been going on between her mom and me and while I may not be the best dad out there, I’ve always been straight with my kids.

“Never stopped having your mom’s back, Tara, and I never will.”

“You totally love her,” she whispers.

Winking at her, I drop my hands from her face and square my shoulders back.

Always straight especially when it comes to their mother.

“Totally,” I rasp.

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