Page 102 of At The End Of The Day

“And you know how Mommy’s gone, right?”

Her mood suddenly sank, her shoulders slumping. No longer lively, she was poking at the ice cream while nodding. “Uh huh,” she muttered somberly.

“Well, Mommy was the bestest mommy, right?”

“Yeah,” she whispered.

“And the bestest can’t ever be replaced, right?”

She nodded, licking the side of her hand. “Uh huh.”

“So, I’m not gonna give you another mommy, ever, okay?”

She gazed at me through her thin lashes, her dark irises glossy. “Just you and me forever?”

A surge of emotions shot through my system and my sight lowered to the marble. “Uh, no.” Coughing, I stood upright but leaned into my palms, my cheek leaning toward a lifted shoulder. “What do you know about love, acorn?”

She huffed and pouted, squinting with thought. “I dunno.”

“Okay. Think of me and how you feel.”

“Yeah?”

“That goodness,” I said, spreading my fingers and making circling motions in front of my chest. “That’s love. When you think of Edwina and Eddie, that’s love, too.” I licked my lips and gulped, my breaths shallowing. “When you think of Vinny, do you feel that, too?”

Batting her lashes, she was scrutinizing, trying to figure out where I was going. Already, at only five, my little girl was calculating. She’d be a great Serpent one day. She’d be amazing at whatever she decided, even if she wanted to go legit and break away from the gang life.

“Yeah.”

My stomach turned over with a burst of hope, but then her features scrunched into the meanest of scowls, her eyelids so thin, I couldn’t see her irises.

“But not Jimmy.”

“Jimmy? Jimmy Moore, from school?”

“Uh huh. I don’t love him, Daddy. I don’t like him, at all.”

I snickered, digging the heel of a palm into an eye. “But you love Vinny, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And…ahem.” I rested on my forearms again, but didn’t lay down this time, staring directly into her eyes. “What…w-what if…” A shallow breath pulled through my lips. “I…loved Vinny?”

She bristled and lifted her brows, batting those lashes once more. “I don’t get it.”

“You know. Like how I loved Mommy.”

Bit by bit, her features scrunched again. “You mean…like the kissing and holding hands and junk?”

“Uh, I mean, well…y-yeah. And dancing and hugging and… spending the night in the same room and…” I took a deep breath and heaved it out with, “And having two daddies instead of a daddy and mommy.”

Her head tipped to the side, still squinting. “That’s weird.”

I cringed, shame heating my skin. Avoiding her peer, my fingertip anxiously traced the thin gray lines. “What’s weird, acorn?”

“Vinny’s gonna be my daddy, too?”

“Uh, yeah. Yeah. I mean, if it’s okay with you.”