Page 61 of Their Perfect Daddy

Skye eases down to sit on the edge of the bed. He’s not in a white coat or anything making him look like a doctor, yet I can still see the weight of his professional opinion sitting heavy between us.

“Thank you for taking care of me, Daddy. With the surgery, I mean.”

He shakes his head. “You don’t need to thank me, baby.”

I tilt my head. “Baby?”

“You will always be my brat, but I can’t bring myself to see you that way right now. I’ve spent hours worried about you and how your future will look. Even trying to put together post-op care felt like a chore because I only want to hold you to keep you safe in this world.”

“Daddy, I am safe.”

“You are now, but not before. That asshole took advantage of you on the field. He’s lucky I don’t have the energy to go after him or else he’d be in a world of trouble.”

Blinking up at him, I try to make sense of all that he’s saying. The words are fine individually. Together though, it all sounds a bit… murderous.

Angry Daddy is kinda hot. Not gonna lie.

Reaching out, I take his hand in mine. “Promise you I’m better now. I had this really hot doctor do my surgery. And there’s this super cute nurse who’s going to make sure I’m ok when I go home. I’ve got the sexiest support team around.”

His laugh is short, yet it becomes the greatest victory. He’d been so melancholy. Despite his normally quiet manner, this isn’t the Daddy I know.

Skye wears a serious look once his laughter fades away. “We have to talk about the future, baby,” he says softly.

Tears well in my eyes as I prepare myself for what he's going to tell me.

Is it devastating to know that I might never get to play again? Absolutely.

But I also understand that this type of injury isn't something you magically recover from. I won't get up and walk out of this room when it's time to leave. They'll have to wheel me out. I'll have to recover in bed. And when the time comes, I'll have to push twice as hard as I ever have, if not more, to be who I was before. There's a chance that I'll never be to that level again.

I shake away the thoughts as Daddy takes my hand between his. “The future may seem bleak for a while. You're going to want to lash out at others, and you'll feel as if you aren't in control of your own life. But that's not the case. You are in control of everything when it comes to your healing. You're not in control of how long it takes. You will have to learn patience. At the end of the day, I'll do everything I can to make sure that you have the support you need.”

I squeeze his hand to let him know I understand because my voice is completely gone. I know if I open my mouth to attempt to say anything, it's going to come out with a sob.

I don't want to add that to the burden he’s already carrying.

Daddy must understand because in the next instant, he's leaning over me and pressing my face against his chest. "Let it out," he tells me.

I cry as the unknown looms over me, a dark cloud of grief. He holds me through my tears, never once acting as if I’m too much.

We stay close until my eyes dry up. It's not until I hear a throat clearing at the door that we look up and realize we aren’t alone anymore. Danny stands there, arms loaded down with sweets as he gives us a curious look.

“What happened? I was only gone for a few minutes. I just didn't know what to pick.”

A rough chuckle that I recognize as belonging to Grizzly comes from behind Danny. “There's no need to lie to either of them,” he tells Danny. “You knew exactly what you wanted to get and chose to have even more. I watched you press those buttons and giggle to yourself about it. I don't even think you realize you were talking to yourself.”

Danny's eyes go wide as he looks over his shoulder to Grizzly and then back at us. Instead of denying the claims, he walks over and unloads his arms onto the foot of the bed. Then he's scurrying up to Skye and forcing his way between his legs.

The move puts him close enough to where I can reach him too. Letting go of Skye's grip, I take Danny's hand in mine.

“Thank you for getting me a sweet treat. You could have come back yourself and that would have been enough.”

The laughter that comes from him makes me feel as good as I did moments ago when I had Skye doing the same. All my life I've been the one to crack a joke, the one to be the center of attention. I would do anything in my power to have others look my way.

I’m sure a therapist would say it has something to do with being raised by a single parent who worked an insane number of hours to keep things afloat. My need for attention only seems to get worse with age too.

Still, it's different with these two. My actions are less about having their eyes on me and more about making them happy.

All I want is to make them happy.

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