Chapter 7
CHAPTER
SEVEN
Zoey
As we head up the walkway to our cabin, I cup my hand over my mouth to keep the giggles at bay. Harrison is karate chopping the air, then stopping between every air kick and arm chop to take an offensive stance.
If nothing else, my man is good for comedic relief.
“Did you get him?” I ask, unable to hold the laughter back as I question him. “Or is your enemy still standing?”
He stops and lets me catch up to him before tossing his arm across my shoulder and tucking me into his side. “Baby. The more I consider what you want for our girl, the more I can visualize us tag teaming our opponents and walking away with a trophy.”
“Isn’t tag team a wrestling thing?” I ask, remembering that happening with that sport, but not any others.
“Don’t kill the dream, Zoey,” Harrison admonishes me, side-eying me.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I tease, using a pun on his words against him. “Besides, you know I’ll be in the stands cheering you both on.”
“You better be,” he teases, drawing me closer to him.
Our feet nearly trip on each other’s, which has us both feeling like we did back when we first fell for each other when we were in our teens.
Back in those days, things were simple—teenage love usually is.
I like to think we would’ve stayed together if my parents hadn’t intruded in my life and tried to groom me into living their lifestyle.
“Why so gloomy all of a sudden?” he asks, squeezing my shoulder.
Deciding to be honest with him, I tell him about my thoughts.
“I’ve thought about that several times. I think we would’ve made it, but like you said, then we wouldn’t have our princess.
We could sit here and debate all the would’ve’s and should’ve’s, and I hate to say this because it sounds wrong on so many levels, even in my head, but isn’t she worth every struggle and abuse you dealt with?
Fuck, I hate that there’s any sort of silver-lining when it comes to her conception.
It makes me sound like a dick,” he mutters.
“She is, I just wish she was yours,” I confess, sighing. “And she is the silver-lining. She’s worth every heartache and time spent at the therapists working through my rape and fear of the outside world.”
“She’s mine,” he argues, ignoring the rest of my rant and tuning in on the one thing that has his defenses raised.
“Don’t ever doubt that. Elodie may not have my blood running through her veins, but blood ties don’t make a man a father, Zoey.
Sperm doesn’t make a man a daddy. A dad is the man who’d slay all of her dragons, literally, and believe me, I will take every one of those Onyx assholes down.
For her and for you. A dad is there morning, noon, and night.
He kisses her booboos, puts a bandaid on her scraped knees, tells her goodnight stories, and deals with all of her ups and downs.
That’s me, not that fuckface. He may have provided the batter, but I’m the one who will love her until I take my last breath.
Same with you and any kids we have in the future.
My love for her isn’t divided, baby, it’s infinite. ”
“I love you, Harrison,” I declare, sniffling.
“And you’re right, you’re her daddy, for now and for always.
You’re who she loves. You’re who she comes to when she’s needing a good cuddle.
When she has a bad dream, she calls for you to come with me to slay all her monster-filled nightmares.
We’re lucky to have you, and I’m sorry I even said what I did because I never think of you as anything but her daddy.
Because that’s what you are. Not only by choice since we gave her that option when you came back into my life, but due to the fact that you’ve earned her unbreakable trust. You’ve proven to her time and time again that she can depend on you.
She’s your biggest advocate and you’re her knight who rode in on a chrome horse. ”
“Lots of horsepower resides here,” he teases, flexing his arms. “Thank you for saying that to me, I was beginning to worry that I still had a lot to prove to you.”
“No, sometimes my demons rear their ugly heads, but that’s on me, not you.
You’ve done everything right. I promise.
I think sometimes, I still have that fear that she’s seen as an obligation.
But like I said, those are my insecurities.
I just don’t want her to ever think she’s not as important as those future children we’ll have. ”
“I never want her to feel that way,” he confesses. “What can I do to ensure she doesn’t?”
“Nothing because you’ve done everything right, Harrison. She knows, I just have to get my head to stop putting stupid thoughts out there.”
As he inserts the code into the keypad, the door clicks open and he lifts me up and carries me inside.
When he sets me back on my feet, he leans his forehead against mine and says, “The adoption has gone through, she carries my name, but there has to be something more I can do that cements the fact that she’s mine. ”
“Just keep doing what you’ve been doing, biker man. Quality time and that heart of yours will prevent her from ever feeling like she doesn’t belong,” I promise him.
“Good, because she does. She’s my first baby no matter how many more kids you decide to give me.
She’ll always hold a special place in my heart.
I can’t come up with the right words to say how much she means to me.
Nothing I say will describe the feelings she evokes in me.
The entire room lights up when she enters, and I can’t wait to bask in it whenever she’s near.
Being a daddy wasn’t something I thought I’d be good at, I’m too jaded and saw things in black and white before she colored my vision.
Fuck, Zoey, you and Elodie, you two are my everything.
When I’m not with the two of you, I can’t stop thinking about what you’re doing.
I can’t wait until my day ends where I can come home and be with you both. ”
“And just like that, you fixed my insecurities and worries. You’re a diamond in the rough. You’re a good old man and daddy, Harrison. I need you, I need to feel you inside of me, loving me.”
“And like always, I can’t deny you what you want, baby girl.” He slams the door shut with the heel of his boot and carries me down the hallway, in search of the master bedroom. The entire time, I’m nibbling on his neck, speaking words full of devotion.
Now, the prospect of bringing this new life into the world is effervescent.
It’s not as frightening as it was before he professed his steadfast feelings, and I’m not drowning in concern because I don’t have to worry about Elodie getting lost in the thick of things and excitement of a new baby becoming part of our family—she’ll always be front and center for us both.