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That was easy. “Hell yes. You’re perfect.”
Tears started almost immediately, and I didn’t know what to do other than to scoop her in my arms and hold her close. “Are you not happy to be my little girl?” I looked over at Emma who wore another soft smile that confused me, then she mouthed the words,happy tears.
At that my heart cracked right down the middle. To see this little girl so happy to have me as a father almost made me tear up myself, I never thought of myself as anything special, but now I was gonna be the whole world to Ash. She pulled back and held my face in her little hands. “I like you and I want you to be my daddy. Our eyes are the same.”
I smiled again and pressed my forehead to hers. “Yeah, our eyes are the same. And our hair.” I tugged on one of her curls. “I’m glad you’re my kid, Ash. I can’t wait to get to know you and teach you everything I know.” I meant those words with everyfucking fiber of my being. She was fun and bubbly, and I wanted to do everything in my power to erase the years she spent with Alex Edwards.
Her and her mother.
Her smile grew as she wrapped her arms around me and held on tight. “I’m glad you’re my daddy, Slate. Can I call you Daddy?”
I nodded, swallowing around the big ass boulder of a lump in my throat. “You can call me whatever you like, sweetheart.” I hugged her back, tighter than I’d ever hugged anyone since I wasn’t much older than Ash. It felt so fucking good and this sense of protectiveness rose up in me, stronger and deeper, more intense than anything I’d ever felt in my life.
“I’m gonna call you Daddy. Okay, Daddy?”
I laughed and nodded as she climbed from my lap and grabbed another carrot. “Yeah, okay.” My gaze met Emma’s, and I found her eyes filled with tears she never let fall and a happy smile on her face.
“Thank you Mommy for finding my Daddy.”
At those words, the tears slid down her cheeks and she let out a shaky laugh. “You’re welcome, honey. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mommy.” She turned to me. “You too Daddy.”
My heart was full to bursting and I spent the rest of the afternoon happier than I’d been in a long damn time. Suddenly I understood—viscerally—what my brothers had fought so hard for. I knew why they were willing to go to war, to scorch the earth to protect their women and their children.
I just fuckinggotit.
Emma and Ashlyn were my family.
They were mine to protect.
They were mine.
Mine.
I happily answered Ash’s questions about my family on the way back home, giving her a PG version of my life growing up, confident she would never know the truth about her grandparents.
“Thank you,” I told Emma when we arrived back at my place. “You don’t know how much that meant to me, fuck Emma, this feeling in my chest? Thrilling.”
Her smile was sweet, and I stared for a long minute, capturing the moment in my memory forever.
Once I’d put the now-empty picnic basket in the kitchen and we were just getting ready for an afternoon of watching movies on the sofa, there was a loud knock on the door. It continued until I yanked it open with a scowl. “What the fuck do you want?”
Detective Massey stood on my doorstep with a smirk on his face. “Arrest warrant for Emma Victoria Roberts.” He waved the piece of paper in the air happily as if it was goddamn lottery ticket.
“No.” It was the only word Emma managed to get out before and after they slapped the handcuffs on her and took her away.
Chapter 31
Emma
Arrested in front of my daughter. Fingerprinted. Photographed. Booked. Humiliated. That had to be some kind of high-to-low record for one day, right? Just a moment before that hard pounding on the door sounded, I felt good. Damn good. Ash knew she had a father who was a good man, a protector.
That was the only bright spot in all of this mess. The timing. No matter what happened from this point on, Ashlyn had someone else to care for her. She wouldn’t be left with a violent man who was, at best, indifferent towards her. She wouldn’t be alone, no matter how long I was stuck in this damn cell.
Tears burned behind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall, refused to give Detective Massey the satisfaction. He wore a smug smile the whole damn time like this was some personal vendetta. He sat at the desk a few feet from where I sat on a hard metal bench and stared at me like I was some sideshow. “So how did you do it, Mrs. Edwards?”
“My name is Emma Roberts,” I reminded him. “Ms. Emma Roberts.” I hadn’t taken Alex’s last name because he refused to adopt Ashlyn, which in hindsight I was thankful for.
