“I missed you, too,” I say softly hugging him close. I don’t know what held Cammie up, but she comes in seconds later, her feet slapping against the oak flooring.
“Daddy!” she cries, causing both me and Eli to jerk apart and look behind us to see if Dane was anywhere around, but he wasn’t. When she gets to Eli, she holds out her arms for him to pick her up. He does without even thinking, holding her close as if to protect her. He keeps looking around and frowns.
“Your daddy’s not here, Cammie, honey.”
“Not my other Dad, but Pez. If we all live together, I want him to be my daddy. You said I gotta call him new name cause we fam-wee. I want him for my daddy!”
Oh shit.I look at Eli, panicking. How will I ever explain this to him. “Um … it’s not what it sounds like. He stares at me and then down at Cammie. “You want me to live with you?”
“Fam-wees wiv together,” she explains patting the side of his face, her little eyes looking at him so earnestly it hurts me.
“What Cammie means is, if we move to Corbin then you could see us every day and we could have dinner and you’d be over for holidays and things,” I lamely respond, attempting damage control.
He frowns. “I like Cammie’s idea more,” he says, staring at me and I can tell he’s upset.
Shit.
“Daddy!” she cries and hugs him closer.
“He’s not your dad, Cammie,” I try once more to wade in.
“If we were to get married, I’d be her stepfather, and I don’t see why she couldn’t call me her dad. I kind of like it.”
“You do?” I squeak. You can’t hear me over Cammie’s cheers of happiness.
“You don’t?” he says again, and I shift under the intensity of his gaze.
“I do, it’s just. We hadn’t discussed things. I know that accepting the responsibility of a child that’s not your own is a big decision,” I explain lamely.
“I’m not a young kid, Daphne. I know that. I still want it. I want you.”
“You want to get married?” I ask, my heart beating so hard that it’s hard to catch my breath.
“Pixie, honey, do you think you can give me and your mom a minute or two alone. After we’re done talking, I’ll come find you. I thought the three of us could spend the day at the waterpark. How’s that sound?”
Yay! Okay, Daddy,” she cheers putting a wet, slopping kiss along his jawline. He kisses the top of her head and then sits her down. She goes running back to the living room
“Um, let me just go and turn her television on and we can talk in the kitchen if you want.”
He doesn’t reply he just nods. He follows me and goes onto the kitchen while I turn on Frozen for Cammie and make sure she still has her milk. Then, I make my way in the kitchen. It’s not a lot of privacy, but it’s hopefully enough to distract little ears. I pull up a bar stool and sit down, patting the one beside me for him to sit. He ignores me and crosses his arms at his chest. “Okay, I guess we’ll just talk like this then,” I mutter, mostly to myself. “You really want to get married to me?” I whisper.
“Absolutely. Don’t you want that?”
“Well, I mean.” I stop talking trying to put my chaotic thoughts in order. “Eli, I’m still married to Dane.”
“You won’t be for very much longer, so you can’t use that as an excuse. Jesus, Daphne, what did you think we were working toward here?
“I just thought we’d take things slowly,” I try to explain, because I can tell he’s hurt.
“I wasted months letting you heal, going so far as to avoid you, because I wanted more than you were ready for. Neither one of us liked that, and you already admitted that to me, Skittles, so you don’t get to take it back now.”
“I’m not denying it. I did miss you. I hated every minute of it.”
“And during that time, I still kept in contact with your daughter—and you let me, Daphne. Don’t you think that’s unusual? Would you have allowed that with any other man? Allow them to continue visiting your daughter?”
“Of course not,” I whisper. I’m actually shocked, just now realizing that I did allow it and only because I knew that I could trust him. I also knew I wanted him in my life …in my daughter’s life.
“That should be proof that neither one of us are in this for something short term.”
