Page 54 of Her Gentle Daddy

His threats obviously not swaying her attitude, Maddie stomped down the hall toward the stairs, sighing dramatically.

“Fiiiiine, I’ll be up in my room dying of loneliness!”

It was Sean’s turn to laugh as Ian shook his head.

“She is really overdue for a spanking.”

Even as he said it, Ian was smiling. Nodding for Sean to follow him, they made their way into his home office, shutting the door behind them.

“What’s going on, man? You said it was important, and that makes me a little nervous. Am I getting sued?”

Sean chuckled and shook his head, “No, you’re not getting sued. If you were, I would have told you over the phone.”

His friend straightened in his chair at that and studied Sean.

“What’s up?”

“I need to tell you something that is going to affect your wife’s life, and I’m coming to you because you’re her Daddy and husband, and I think she will need your guidance and support with this.”

Ian shifted uneasily but didn’t say anything, so Sean continued.

“I met a Little. Zane introduced her to me, and long story short, she lives with me and is my little girl. She was put into the foster care system when she was young after her mom died of a drug overdose. She moved to Seattle from Reno because she knew she was born here and was told that her father, who she’d never met, had another child here.

“She came to find the sister that she’d never met, and after doing some digging, we found her. Gabby’s sister is Maddie. They share the same father.”

Ian stared at Sean without saying a word, and he knew that he had just completely blown his mind. Not that he blamed him. When he had seen Maddie’s name on the piece of paper that Gabby had given him, he had been floored too. It could be something that would be a beautiful thing, or it could be a disaster, and he had no control over it, which worried him. He wanted to do everything he could to make his baby girl happy and give her everything she could ever want in life, but this would be one of the things that he couldn’t control.

“Are you sure?”

Sean slid the folder of papers over to Ian, who took them and began flipping through all of the information that Kane had provided. After several minutes of scanning through everything, he set the papers down on his desk and sighed, running his hand through his hair.

“Wow. I don’t even know what to say, except this is crazy. I don’t even know what to think right now.”

“That’s why I came to you first. I figured it would be good for it to sink in for you, and that way, when Maddie finds out, you aren’t in shock and can give her the support she needs.”

Moving his gaze to Sean, Ian raised his eyebrow.

“You are not coming and dropping this bomb on me and expecting me to deal with it. She is going to have questions that I can’t answer.”

Nodding his head, Sean shifted in his chair. It would be a very awkward conversation.

“Whatever you need from me, I will help with. Gabby hasn’t had any family in a long time, and she is hopeful that Maddie will want to be a part of her life in some way.”

Standing from his desk, Ian began to pace the room while Sean sat back silently and wondered what his friend was thinking. He knew Ian would do anything for his wife and support whatever decision she made.

Picking up his cell phone, Ian tapped away on the screen and then set the device back down.

“Maddie will be down in a minute.”

“We’re telling her now?” Sean asked.

“Yep.”

Okay, Sean hadn’t expected that they were going to tell her that day but alright. Clearing his throat, he sat up straighter and waited while Ian continued to pace. It only took a moment before Maddie appeared in the doorway with an innocent smile on her face.

“What’s up, Daddy?”

Ian stopped pacing and turned toward his little girl, studying her for so long that her smile faded, and her expression fell to concern.