Chapter 16
M alachi – a few minutes earlier
My phone burned a hole in the mat, just out of reach. I wanted to check it. I needed to track the cab I’d ordered for Emmeline as it should’ve arrived by now, but the girl in front of me was having a rough time.
Maisie had taken on board the training suggestions I’d given, but this evening, she was all over the place. After one complete miss in trying to connect a hit to my face, she burst into tears.
I’d been holding her for a solid minute, trying to calm her down.
“Hush now. Come on, Maisie-mop. Take a breath.” I stroked her hair, just like I’d done when she was tiny.
Maisie sobbed and swiped angrily at her eyes. “I’m not a baby.”
“You’re still my baby. You always will be.”
“I won’t, though. Not if you get married to Emmeline. You’ll be with her and you’ll have more kids and there won’t be any space for me and Petra. Just like with Mum and the baby.”
Ah, there it was. The fear.
When any fighter suffered a bad performance or couldn’t get their head in the game, we prescribed talking therapy. The idea was to work through what was stressing them out and get the issue out in the open. Concerns about a cheating spouse, worries about tax bills, all kinds of shite could interrupt the connection from mind to body.
I hugged Maisie closer. “Fifteen years ago, a woman came to me and showed me a sonogram picture and told me I was going to be a dad. From that very second, I got struck down by love for the tiny little Maisie-mop I could see on the picture, and that love hasn’t dimmed any.”
She huddled into me, still shuddering but also listening as well.
“I told you that I plan to marry Emmeline. No one else knows that, not even her. Do you know why I gave you that information? Because as my firstborn, I need your input and for you to be alongside me on every adventure I take. Your sister, too, but she’d be along for the ride regardless of the destination.”
Maisie snorted. “Petra is already deciding what kind of bridesmaid’s dress she wants. Not that I told her,” she hastily added.
“I know. There’s another reason I told you. You are so like me, it’s like looking in a mirror sometimes. We make decisions fast. We need to be in control. I needed you to know that Emmeline isn’t a casual girlfriend. She’s going to be part of our family, and I knew that the first second I saw her. In no way does that mean she displaces you.”
I tapped up her chin so I could see her eyes. “How often have I cancelled plans for you to come stay at mine?”
“Never,” she admitted.
“Right? Not once. Not when I was sick or injured. Not when I was furious at that fight getting called off a year ago which threw out all my plans. Not even now, when I’m at the start of a brand-new relationship which is when most people hole up and hide away for months. I needed you to know my girlfriend and for her to love the two most important people in my life.”
Maisie pushed away from me and stood, her expression shifting to ashamed. “Shit.”
“Nah, don’t do that. Your feelings are real.”
“I just… It was so hard with the baby at home. Mum was a wreck. She yelled a lot and cried all the time.”
I grabbed her into our familiar side hug and scrubbed my knuckles over her damp hair as if she hadn’t been curled up in my lap like a baby thirty seconds ago. “It won’t be like that. Change isn’t always bad. Emmeline is badass. She’s a freaking surgeon, so she’s worth looking up to.”
Maisie turned a toe in the mat. “Yeah. It’s weird but cool that she cuts people up for a living while you bash them up. You two could be a real evil duo if you wanted.”
My smile grew. “If she agrees to be mine, she’ll be your stepmother, and that’s just one more person who’s going to love you and be there for you. Just like your stepdad. And you should cut your ma some slack. Babies are hard. I should know. Let me tell you about the time you peed and vomited on me simultaneously while I was changing your nappy at two in the morning.”
She shoved me. “Dad! I’d rather try the kinetic chain again.”
I slid another glance at the big clock on the wall then at my phone. “Yeah, but?—”
Maisie popped up and threw her fist in a textbook move. She aligned her muscles and joints, positioned her body just as I’d shown her, and connected sweetly.
With my temple.
Too perfectly. The next thing I knew was my face hitting the mat and everything turning hazy.
Right as a scream came from outside.