A shudder passed through his body, and he was terrified to think about what could have happened if he hadn’t come over. He’d taken his time, as if to prove to her he didn’t have to chase her right away. What a foolish man he’d been. His stubborn pride could have cost him the life of the woman he loved, and his precious daughter who’d now been attacked twice before she was even four years old. That was so incredibly sick, it made him want to find the man again and beat him into a bloody pulp.
He’d begged the chief of police for two minutes alone with the attacker, and though his friend had told him he’d love to give Kian that time, he couldn’t do it. Then Kian would become the guilty party, and he wasn’t going to do that to him. For Kian to get his hands around that man’s neck, he’d be willing to pay the price.
As he looked across the room at his beautiful daughter, he realized instantly that wasn’t true. He would die for her, he’d even go to prison for her, but he wouldn’t do something foolish that would prevent him from spending more time with his baby girl.
Roxie hadn’t needed stiches. The cuts were superficial, thankfully, and Lily hadn’t been touched this time. Well, she hadn’t been hurt, he clarified. When Roxie had calmed down enough to tell him what she’d found when she’d opened Lily’s bedroom door, he completely understood her terror and shock. He was so grateful that she’d been able to maintain a cool head. He wasn’t sure he’d have reacted the same way. He was just glad he wasn’t the one to open that door.
“Lily Bear, how are you feeling?” Roxie asked. Her voice was a little hoarse from her screams, but it was now calm. She was almost back to normal.
“Good,” she said as she clung to Roxie’s side. The need to hold his daughter was overwhelming. It was taking all the power he had to stay in the chair. His arm was patched, and he’d been given a drug to calm him, though he hadn’t wanted that. The doc in charge had said it was better than him smashing things up. Maybe his friend was right.
“Can I tell you something special?” Roxie asked Lily.
She looked up at Roxie with her trusting dark eyes and nodded.
“You see Kian over there?” Roxie asked. Kian smiled as Lily looked at him and waved.
“Yeah,” she said. Damn, he loved her so much.
“He’s your daddy, baby girl, and that means he loves you to the moon and back,” Roxie said, choking up on the last words.
Kian’s heart lodged in his throat as she finally told his daughter who he was. He couldn’t imagine the heartbreak he’d feel if she didn’t accept him as such.
Lily turned her head as she gazed at him, maybe seeing if he was worthy of being her daddy. He found himself holding his breath as he waited for her verdict. Then she smiled the most innocent and beautiful smile he’d ever seen.
“Daddy,” she said. She held up her arms, and he didn’t hesitate to rush to her, lifting her up and kissing her cheek. “Daddy,” she repeated before laying her sweet cheek against his chest.
Kian couldn’t control the tear that slipped from his eye. He blamed the damn drug the doctor had forced on him, because there was no way it was an actual, emotional tear. He hadn’t cried since he was five years old. He’d swear to that in a court of law.
He sniffed as he closed his eyes and pulled himself together. “Yes, I’m your daddy, baby girl,” he said, his voice gruff.
She leaned back and looked at him, then raised her sweet little hand and rested it on his cheek, and his damn broken eyes stung again as he gazed into the innocent depths of his little girl’s eyes.
“And Mommy,” she said before she pointed at Roxie.
“Yeah, and Mommy,” he confirmed as he looked at Roxie, who wasn’t even trying to hide her own tears. She wouldn’t even need the excuse of medication.
Kian sat down next to Roxie, his daughter safely held in his good arm, his cut arm wrapped around Roxie. “We’re a family,” he said.
Roxie stiffened the slightest bit next to him, and he found his heart breaking a little. She might not be ready for this. He knew he couldn’t rush it, knew he had to be patient. But after a night like the one he’d just had, patient wasn’t something he wanted to be. He wanted to protect and care for them both, and he wanted to do it starting right this minute.
“Yes, we’re always going to be a family,” Roxie said. But there was a bit of distance in her voice. Kian wanted to push the issue, but he knew he couldn’t do that right now. He knew he had to let her figure it all out. She shouldn’t make a decision when she’d just had such a traumatic night, anyway.
“Why don’t you both come home with me tonight?” Kian suggested.
“Thank you, but I think I need to go to my house tonight,” she told him. There was fear in her voice, like she was afraid of him getting mad at her over the request.
“I understand,” he said. But he forced her to look at him as he said the next words. She needed to hear him. “I love you, Roxie, and I’m a somewhat patient man. But tonight scared me more than I’ve ever been scared before. I need you to make a decision.”
She gazed at him with confusion in her eyes, and then finally she nodded. He leaned in and kissed her lips gently before backing up.
“Do you want to take Lily with you?” she asked with so much pain he knew the request was killing her.
“I always want Lily with me,” he said and felt her body flinch. “But tonight, she needs her mama.”
He felt the relief flood through her, and he knew he’d made the right call. He wanted both his girls home with him, and he had a feeling it was going to happen very soon. With that knowledge, he could give Roxie the space she needed to come to the decision on her own.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Roxie wiped her eyes as she walked to the break room and poured what had to be her tenth cup of coffee in only four hours’ time. She was more than grateful the hospital was slow today. She truly feared she’d make a wrong call, and a patient would be the one to pay the price.
She hadn’t seen Kian in three days. Now, that might not seem a long time to the average person, but after all of their ups and downs, it might as well be an eternity. She’d been at work all three days, and Kian had been in the hospital, but he’d been on another floor, and she couldn’t find a reason to go there.
She knew he’d stopped at the day care many times to visit with Lily, who was always more than happy to see him and had to tell Roxie all about their special time together. So, it was only Roxie he appeared to be avoiding. That was good, she tried to convince herself. He’d told her he was giving her time to figure it out.
But she was a wreck, an utter and complete wreck. She wasn’t sure what she wanted or needed. But she did know for sure after that night a week ago when he’d pushed her to the breaking point, she hadn’t been the same again. Then the attack had happened, and she’d been in even more turmoil. She couldn’t sleep, she picked up her phone constantly to see if he’d called or texted, and she walked slowly through the hospital hoping to run into him. She wanted to see him, but her damn pride wouldn’t allow her to call him and admit to that.
Though emotionally, she wasn’t at all ready to face this man again, she also knew that he was a wonderful father, and she would have to get used to him being in her life. She just wasn’t sure if he was going to be an intimate part or not.