Page 56 of Fighting For Light
We walk the ten feet to Dad’s trailer. I take deep, measured breaths. Surprisingly, this is not the scariest thing I’ve had to handle today.
The bright sun feels like it’s baking my skin before I walk under the awning.
“Are you good? We don’t have to stay at the penthouse if you would rather be here. It’s up to you.”
“No, I like the bathtub. I think we should keep it.” He chuckles and reaches around me, knocking on the door before opening it. I climb the stairs, and Dad is sitting on the couch watching TV.
“What are you two doing here?”
I smile and sit next to him while Kai pulls up a seat from the table. “Hey, Dad, I’ve missed you.” I lean over to hug him, and I feel him kiss the top of my head.
“What are you up to, Cordi?” he asks, looking between Kai and me. Kai leans forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.
“Dad, I need to tell you a couple of things.”
He sits up and grabs my hand. “Are you okay? Do you need help?” he asks.
I shake my head and squeeze his hand. “Dad, first, I want you to understand that I didn’t tell you this because I didn’t know how, and I was scared out of my mind, and then Kai… well, he stepped up for me.” His expression deepens, and he glares at Kai. “Kai and I are getting married, but it’s not because I’m pregnant with his kid.”
“I’m sorry, what?” he says.
“This baby is not Kai’s.”
“Then whose the hell is it?” he yells. I wring my hands and glance at Kai. He nods encouragingly, and I take a deep breath.
“It’s Rafe’s,” I rasp.
“What?” he roars. I look at Kai again, and he starts to stand. I hold out my hand, keeping him there, and he stiffly leans back into the chair.
“Dad, he wants nothing to do with the baby. I’m going to get sole custody so he can’t ever come back into our lives.”
Dad starts pacing the small space, rubbing his chin. “So let me get this straight. You slept with that piece of crap Rafe Taylor, gotpregnant, told him, and he said he didn’t want anything to do with you. So, instead of telling me this, Kai offers tomarry you, and you keep it a secret?”
I wince at his tone. “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
He sighs and drops down next to me. “Cordi, why do you feel like you couldn’t tell me? I love you, and I love my grandkid. We could have figured it out. Wait, does your mom know about any of this?” I shake my head. “Are you going to tell her?” he asks.
“Eventually…” I say hesitantly.
“Cordelia Quinn, you may not like your mother, but she deserves to know her daughter is having a baby and getting married.”
“I know, Dad, just not right now, okay?”
“Fine,” he grumbles.
I nervously twist my hands, knowing this is really going to set him off. My stomach churns, and I push the words out around the rocks in my throat. “There’s one more thing.”
“I can’t even begin to guess what is about to come out of your mouth.” He glances at Kai, then back to me.
“We’re getting married tomorrow,” I say quickly.
“Cordelia,…why are you getting married if he’s not the father? I understand you guys have a thing, but is this real, or is he giving you a good reason not to be a single mom?” I wince again.
“Alright, Reece, ease up. We are well aware this makes no sense to most. To us, it does. I want to marry your daughter because I love her, and I saw the fear in her eyes when you looked at her, and she knew she made a mistake. We came to this point in a roundabout way, but there is no doubt in my mind it would have happened eventually despite my best efforts to fight how I’ve felt about her for years. Baby or no baby. I saw my chance to help her, and I took it.”
“I should kick you off this damn team for doing this,” Dad snaps.
Kai holds up his hands in surrender. “You could, and I wouldn’t blame you. But I’m still going to marry her, Reece. We wanted you to know about the change, and we would like you there.”
