Page 141 of The Daddy’s Girl

As my dad moves to stand, I rise with him, trying to clutch him as he moves toward the door. I want to beg for his forgiveness. Make him promise he’ll still see me as his little girl.

Instead, he walks out with a devastated sigh.

When the door closes behind him, I crumple against the wood. As my shoulders shake, Matis approaches me from behind, wrapping his arms around me.

“I’m so sorry, Amelia.”

Spinning around, I bury myself in his arms, and he holds me as I cry.

“He’s going to tell my mom,” I say through sniffles. Matis and I are on his couch as he holds me.

“Without a doubt.”

“Did you see the look on his face?” I ask as I lean back and wipe my eyes. “He looked so disappointed in me.”

“Listen to me,” he says, tilting my chin up toward him. “You are not a disappointment. They are your parents, Amelia. They will forgive you for keeping this secret, because the love they have for you is unconditional. You know that. I am the one to blame in his eyes.”

It still stings. My father looked at me as if I was breaking his heart.

“You’re not to blame for anything. You know that,” I whisper, looking up at him as I touch his face. The despondent expression in his eyes worries me. “Matis,” I say, urging him to hear me. “You are not to blame. Tell me you know that.”

“I know that, Amelia,” he replies. It’s the third time today he’s called me by my name, and I don’t like it.

“But?”

His hands softly rub over my knuckles as he holds off on his response. “Everyone will think me wrong for what I’ve done with my own goddaughter.”

“But we know the truth.” I put myself in his sight line, forcing him to look at me.

“We know the truth,” he replies.

I can’t bear the thought that he doubts us. That he doubts himself. After last night and how wonderful that was, it breaks my heart to think that any of this could end.

“I have to go home,” I say sadly. “I need to face them.”

“I understand.”

My mouth screws up in worry. “Won’t you come too?”

His head tilts as he gently strokes my cheek. “I don’t think they are ready to see me, Amelia.”

“Please stop calling me that!” I cry, taking him by surprise.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, mon trésor. This changes nothing. You know that. I am still here for you. I am still yours forever. But I don’t think your parents are ready to see me yet. I need to give them time.”

What about what I need?

I don’t say it, but deep down, I know he’s right. It would be better if I could speak to them alone. Even if the thought makes me sick to my stomach.

This is the price to pay, though, isn’t it? For being in heaven with Matis, living in a secret, this is the toll. Like all the locks on that bridge, the weight is just too much to bear.

“Please just kiss me,” I whisper, trying not to cry again.

He doesn’t hesitate. Gathering me up in his arms, he presses against my lips, following my lead as I lick along the seam of his mouth. He opens and tangles his tongue with mine until everything feels a little better.

Eventually, I do peel myself off his couch. He kisses me again at the front door and then again as we wait for the car to come pick me up.

As our driver, Lucien, drives me away from him, I watch Matis through the window.