“I don’t expect you to fall in line, Caydence. I expect you to accept what is,” I explain to her.
“Which is what?”
“The fact is, you’re mine now. There is no going back from this.”
“Devon-” she begins, but I cut her off.
“This is what I want, and I know deep down, you want it too. You’re scared and rightfully so after what I’ve done, but that changes nothing.”
“What is it you’ve done?” I hear my dad’s voice behind us. I press a quick kiss to her lips before turning to face him, wrapping my arm around her waist.
“Questionable things,” I answer. He nods his head, a slight smile crossing his face.
“We all do questionable things when we care about someone. I was no different with your mother,” he says.
“I wouldn’t remember.”
“No, you wouldn’t. You were so young,” he adds when Caydence speaks.
“What happened to her?”
“Cancer. Snuck up on us all quickly. There was no time to find specialists or to save her.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says softly.
“It was a long time ago, but thank you. Devon never really got to know his mom.”
“That’s sad.” Knowing damn good and well that she never knew hers, or her father, for that matter. From what I can find out, those pieces of shit gave her away when she was only six months old. They were too drugged up to care for her, often leaving herin soiled diapers and alone while they were out doing what they did.
Anger claws at my insides, and I try to swallow it down so I don’t lose myself right now. If I could find them, I would kill them for the life they left her to.
“What about you? Where are your parents?” he asks her. I can feel her tense beside me.
“We’re not talking about that right now,” I inform him. He nods his head as if to understand before changing the subject.
A few more people begin to gather in the room, and the conversation changes topics easily. I feel Caydence relax back into me, and I keep her tucked into my side the rest of the night.
