I pull him to his feet and he crashes into me. I brace my legs to keep from falling backward at his weight. It’s a good thing I have years of practice dealing with drunks because otherwise we’d be a pile of limbs on the floor.
“I know Adele’s yours.”
“No. No. No.” He shakes his head. “Adele is my baby. I’m her daddy.”
I nod. “I know.”
He shakes my shoulders. “You’re not listening. Adele is my baby. I’m her biolog…biologi…biological father.”
Warmth spreads through me. “You got the results of the paternity test?”
“Yeah.” He smiles and the two dimples on his left cheek make an appearance. The love he has for his daughter makes him gorgeous. Even drunk, with his face flushed and his hair matted to his head.
“Let’s go see my baby girl.”
He starts for the nursery but I stop him.
“Adele isn’t here.”
“Isn’t here?” he shouts. “Was she kidnapped? Did my asshole brothers steal her?”
“She’s at your mom’s, remember?”
“I have an idea,” he announces.
Please don’t say have sex, because there’s no way I can resist him at this moment. Not when his face is lit up with happiness that Adele is his biological daughter. A man who’s happy about a baby being his? It’s catnip to me.
“Let’s go get her.”
“You want to go to your mother’s to get your daughter?”
“My daughter.” He sighs. “Yeah.”
“You’re drunk.”
“I’ve only had a wee bit to drink.”
I laugh at his imitation of a Scottish accent. “A wee bit?”
“It’s what they say in Edinburgh when they’ve been drinking all night.”
“You’ve been to Edinburgh?”
Zane’s traveled a lot. He’s always jetting off somewhere for a new adventure. Canoeing on the Rio Grande, ziplining in Costa Rica, chasing gorillas in Uganda. Zane has seen and done it all.
I’m not jealous of the traveling. Growing up with a mother who couldn’t live longer than a year in one place cured me of any desire to travel. But the locations he visited? How I long to visit Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Amsterdam – if only I didn’t have to travel to get to those cities.
“A few times.” He shrugs and I nearly drop him since he can’t make any movement without stumbling.
“I want to hear all about it.”
“I’ll tell you and Adele all about it.” He scans the room. “Where is Adele?”
The forgetful drunk has entered the room. “She’s at your mom’s.”
“Let’s go get her.”
“You’re drunk.”
