Loving Kate (Acceptance #3) (22 page)

Your mind works in mysterious ways when you’re trying to figure things out you have no clue about to begin with. But by the time I park at the diner, I’ve already decided to sit and have my coffee and pie here and maybe I can question some of the waitresses discreetly about Misty. Someone is bound to slip if there’s a boyfriend in the picture. Grabbing her bag, I head inside. When I turn to go sit at my usual booth, I see her.

Why is she here on her night off?

She sees me, too, and turns white as a ghost. She holds her hand up for me to wait where I am, but fuck that. She’s not my girlfriend anymore and I don’t have to listen to her. Besides, I want to see who this fucker is that’s texting her non-stop and has her running scared. I’m pretty sure, as pissed off as I am right now, I can knock him out in one punch.

“Mike, wait there,
please
!” Misty cries out but I’m fueled by adrenaline and wouldn’t be able to stop if I wanted to. I drop her bag at her feet as she blocks the booth with her body.

“I thought I would be nice and bring this here so you wouldn’t have to see me in case you needed something. Now that I see you’ve been playing me for a fool, though, I figured I should come and meet your friend. Move, Misty, NOW!”

Her eyes lock onto mine, tears welling up in them along with fury. “No,” she states firmly as she drops down into the seat and I slide into the other side. I’m ready to reach across the table and punch the daylights out of this guy but when I look up, my world crashes down around me in the worst kind of way. Misty’s secret is sitting across from me staring right back at me with
my
eyes.

They’re my eyes.

I see them every single time I look in the mirror. They’re identical to mine. My heart is beating so hard I think it’s going to explode and my ears are buzzing so loudly I can’t hear. I’m paralyzed. When I finally bring myself to stop staring and look at Misty, silent tears are falling down her cheeks.

I have no sympathy for her.

None.

“Hi,” says the cutest little voice I’ve ever heard that also happens to be attached to those eyes. My eyes. I try to swallow over the lump in my throat so I can reply.

“Hi,” I say back because it’s all I can say. She smiles at me and goes back to coloring. That smile is one hundred percent Misty and is just as adorable on this little girl as it is on her mom.

“Mommy cry,” she says when she looks at Misty and Misty tries unsuccessfully to wipe away her tears. “Don’t cry,” she tells her. “Be happy!” she exclaims excitedly and goes back to her coloring. I bet that is something Misty says to her often.

I’m not a good judge of age, but considering Misty and I only had sex once at the graduation party, this little girl is two years old, give or take.

Two years old.

I’ve missed two years.

Two years I’ll never get back.

Two years I would have never known about had I not come here tonight.

I’m furious inside but I don’t show it. I don’t want to scare this precious little girl sitting across from me. My daughter. I have a daughter and she’s beautiful. She’s wearing a pink top with hearts all over it and has curly blond ringlets all over her head, just like her mom. And she colors with her right hand, or make that her left, it looks like she can’t decide. I can’t even bring myself to look at Misty right now.

“What’s your name?” I ask my little girl. The sadness of this question doesn’t escape me. I’m asking my own daughter what her name is.

When she looks up at me, she smiles brightly; she’s not one bit afraid of me. “Hailey Mae,” she says with a giggle and my heart melts.

“Hailey Mae Matthews,” Misty says, and although I’m pissed and don’t need to be clued in she’s mine, I appreciate the fact Misty is telling me she has my last name.

“What’s your name?” she parrots back at me and I’m at a loss for words. I look to Misty for help because I honestly don’t know how to answer.

“His name is Mike.”

Hailey repeats, “Mike,” and I nod but then Misty surprises me.

“Hailey Mae, Mike is your daddy.” The smile that breaks out over her face is priceless.

“My Daddy?” I’m nodding and Misty is crying again.

“Yes, sweetie, he’s your daddy.”

“You came,” she states and then she squeals, “He came, Mommy!” and claps her hands excitedly.

“I’ve been preparing her the past few weeks that she would meet you soon. Daddies are a big thing in preschool right now. They’re all figuring out who has what…a mom and a dad, two moms, two dads, or who has just a mom or just a dad.”

She’s in preschool. She’s only two. She should be home with her mom. Fuck!

“She’s in preschool because you work?” I ask with a very judgmental tone to my voice.

“No,” she says and she is super pissed now. “She’s in preschool because it’s good for her. Because kids in preschool, on the average, do better in school and graduate from four-year universities at a higher rate than kids who don’t go to preschool,” she says, crossing her arms and glaring at me. “But yes, it also helps me out because of my schedule. However, I was making it work just fine before she started. We can’t all be rich and put together like Kate,” she replies snarkily.

I take a deep breath and count to ten slowly. Is everything going to circle back to Kate?

“How old are you, Hailey?”

She holds up two fingers and says, “I’m two.”

I was right but that was a given. “When’s your birthday?” I don’t know if she can actually answer this question but I don’t want to ask Misty right now.

Hailey looks at me and smiles and points to her shirt. I don’t get the correlation until she happily answers, “Valentimes Day.”

Misty softly corrects her, “You mean Valent
ine
’s Day, Hailey.”

“Yep,” she answers just as cute as can be.

Misty’s phone goes off and she’s crying again. She looks back and forth between Hailey, me, and her phone. “It’s my grandma. They had to move her to ICU. My babysitter cancelled and I can’t take Hailey to the hospital.”

She’s asking me to take her. There’s no question I’ll take her, but I might not ever want to give her back.

“I’ll take her to Kate and Daniel’s. They live close to the hospital. Hailey can meet her cousin Lucas and we can get to know each other. You can come by there and pick her up after.”

I’ve already got my phone out and I’m texting Kate, asking for her address because I just know how to get there, not the actual address. When she texts back, I forward the message to Misty, then I text Kate back.

Can I come by for a while? It’s important. I need you, now more than ever. Daniel, too.

Almost instantly, she replies.

We’re here and waiting.

“Are you sure, Mike? I can try and find someone else, see if maybe one of the girls can get off early…” I hope the look in my eyes conveys I’m taking my little girl with me. “Okay, you’re sure, I get it. You don’t have to obliterate me with your glare. Believe it or not, this isn’t how I wanted things to go. When you’re ready, we’ll talk.”

“No more secrets now?” I ask her.

“She was my only one,” she tells me as she places a kiss on Hailey’s head.

“Why Hailey?” I ask curiously since I didn’t even get a chance to help name my daughter.

Misty smiles. “Hailey Mae, if you mix up the letters of your name and the letters of my name, you can pull out the letters of her name. I named her after us, so we would always be part of her.”

Wow.

“That’s kind of awesome,” I say truthfully.

“I know, now let’s go put the car seat in your truck.”

Car seat. I need a car seat and I’m fucking elated by that fact. I’m finally a dad. “Can I carry her out?” I’ve been sitting across from her for about a half an hour but I haven’t even touched her. “Hailey Mae, can your daddy carry you to the car?”

She immediately jumps up from her booster seat and reaches for me. I’m in love; she has me wrapped around her finger already. When I pick her up, she kisses me, “Muah, Daddy,” and starts cracking up.

“It’s a new thing. She likes to make the kissing sound with the kiss.”

It’s adorable and I hope she never stops. Except when she dates because that would be weird. No, fuck that. She’s never dating so that is a moot point.

When we get to the car, I give Hailey to Misty so I can switch the car seat. I’m so glad Daniel made me learn how to do this after the hospital trip with Vanessa. He said I needed to know how just in case and it sure the fuck paid off in spades.

“Hailey, Daddy is going to take you to meet your Auntie Kate, Uncle Daniel, and baby Cousin Lucas, okay? I have to go see granny in the hospital but I’ll come and pick you up later, probably after you’re sleeping.”

“Okay, Mommy,” she says happily and I can already tell Hailey is just as easy going as her mom. “Mommy, where’s Bob?” Misty reaches back in the car and pulls out a diaper bag and a stuffed Pooh Bear.

“Bob!” she squeals and grabs Pooh.

“She calls Pooh, Bob?”

Misty laughs. “Yeah, and I don’t even know why, I just go with it. She’s potty training, so she should tell you when she has to go but if she forgets, she’s in pull-ups and has more and wipes in the bag. She had dinner but likes a snack before bed. Nothing with too much sugar, please, or she’ll be bouncing off the walls. She’ll ask for milk when she’s tired. Her sippy cup is in the bag as well. She’s not allergic to anything that I know of and doesn’t have any medical conditions.” She’s nervous and I don’t blame her. I know I won’t hurt Hailey and she knows it, too, but she’s treating me like a stranger to her because, essentially, that’s what I am.

And that’s about to fucking change.

“Misty, I’ve got it, don’t worry about us. I promise you we’ll be at Kate and Daniel’s whenever you come. Tonight or in the morning. If I need anything, I’ll text you, but honestly, we’ll be fine. I know you’re not a fan, but Kate’s good with kids and so is Jess.”

“Mike, I like Kate, really I do. It’s just that I know how much you loved her and how put together she is and how rich, and smart…I just feel like I’ll never measure up. That you’ll always feel like you settled for me when you couldn’t have her.”

I’m going to try and not be an ass because she’s being so vulnerable to me right now. “Misty, you broke up with me earlier and I know you did it because you were running scared. But this secret, it’s something you should have told me immediately. Not two years and four months later. I told you I wouldn’t run, and I won’t, but I need space to process all this.”

She kisses Hailey and puts her in her car seat. “That’s fair, and for what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry, for everything. I’ll see you later, alligator!” she calls out to Hailey as she walks back to the car.

“Bye-bye, Mommy! I going with Daddy!” she squeals in delight. I’m so grateful in this moment that Misty told her about me and she obviously told her good things or this little girl would be much more scared of me.

On the drive over, Hailey just looked out the window and every so often said, “Daddy, look!” or “Look, Daddy!”

I’m starting to get nervous to take her to Kate’s because I don’t know how she’s going to feel seeing Hailey after Lila Hope, but I hope she’ll be okay. I think she will but I’m so nervous my hands are sweating again. Once I get Hailey out of the car, I give her Bob to hold and grab the diaper bag. I know she’s old enough to walk but I want to carry her. I don’t want to put her down, ever. Hailey knocks on the door and it’s so soft I bet Kate thinks it’s me trying not to wake Lucas.

When she opens the door and looks at us. Her eyes go from me to Hailey and back to me. She’s crying and smiling at the same time she says, “Misty’s secret.”

Hailey replies, “Auntie Kate!” and holds out her arms for Kate. I don’t think Kate could have met my daughter in more of a perfect way. Daniel is standing behind her with a very wide awake Lucas and says, “Welcome to the club.”

Kate hugs Hailey close and moves out of the way so I can come in. I pretty much collapse on the couch and try to absorb all that’s happened in the last hour.

“What’s your name?” Kate asks Hailey who replies with a giggle, “Hailey Mae Matthews,” and my heart fills with joy.

“It’s a baby?” Hailey says, pointing to Lucas so Daniel brings him over.

“His name is Lucas,” Daniel tells her.

In a flash she replies, “Cousin Lucas!” She’s so proud of herself she claps. So, of course, we all clap with her, which she loves, so she points to Daniel and says, “Uncle Daniel!” and we all clap some more as she laughs and laughs these big deep belly laughs. I’m so in love.

“I have to potty,” Hailey says loudly.

“I’ve got it, Mike,” Kate says with a smile. I’m so glad she’s not freaking out. Daniel takes a seat next to me and puts Lucas in his bouncer.

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad are you freaking out right now?” He’s concerned and rightly so.

“I don’t know but I know my level of freak out extends beyond that range. Holy shit, Daniel, did you see her? I thought Misty was there with another guy and I sat down and saw these mirrors looking back at me but these eyes are much cuter on her.”

He laughs. “Welcome to fatherhood. And yeah, I saw. There’s no DNA test needed there. This kid is one hundred percent her father’s daughter.”

I’m beaming. There’s underlying anger for sure, but I’m not going to let that affect my first night with my little girl.

“All done!” Hailey exclaims as she jumps into my lap. “Daddy Frozen?” she says and points to the TV. She wants to watch
Frozen
.

“You want to watch Elsa?” Kate asks and Hailey nods. Kate and I exchange glances and both say, “Jess” at the same time.

“It’s your call. Do you want her to come over?”

I don’t even have to think about it. Jess should be here, too. All our friends should be. It’s like Daniel’s reading my mind.

“April and Jake are hanging out with Connor tonight at the house.”

I laugh. “Text them all and tell them to come by but don’t tell them why.” If Hailey were shy I’d worry about having people over, but she’s pretty outgoing and I want my friends to meet her. They’re her family, too. My mom’s going to flip.