Page 29 of Baby Me

“You can’t be serious. I left Barry for you.”

“Maybe you should have stayed with him. You’re not the same woman I used to know. The woman I once knew would never have spoken to my children that way or demanded to be elevated above them.”

“They ruined my life!” She screamed at me.

“No, I did that. I screwed up and ruined what we had. That was on me, not them. You will not put that blame anywhere other than where it belongs.” I thumped my chest twice to indicate where the blame lie. “Right here. Now, leave before we end things on an even worse note. You made your choice, go on.”

“Tripp,” June whimpered out my name. Then she stepped back as if I’d slapped her. Maybe I had with the fierce look I’d thrown her way.

“My daughter is sick. She’s going to need me right now. You’re not going to agree with that choice, so there’s no point in having this argument.”

June turned and stomped out of the house. Breakneck followed behind her, because as my enforcer, it was his job to see to any threats to our family. In that moment, June was a fucking threat.

“I never intended for the two of you to know,” I said to my kids.

“How did you think that would work? You’ve been dating her again for how long?” I asked.

“Two years, except the time when I saw her out with her husband.”

“Her husband?” He nodded. “Holy shit, what the hell? You know what? Never mind. I don’t even want to know what you were thinking. You need to get in touch with Davina about everything. She got a copy of all three DNA test results, so she knows that Kip is a relative, which leaves you as the father. Let her know that I would like to meet my sister sometime soon.” I nodded at Star.

“It sounds like you’re kicking me out.” I made a joke of it, but in all honesty, that’s what it felt like.

“I am,” Star agreed, much to my surprise. “You need to leave because I’m so infuriated with you right now, the things I want to say will do permanent damage.”

I hung my head, knowing I deserved it. There was no getting around the fact that I’d screwed up by ever entertaining the thought that I could have a healthy relationship with June. My kids would have never allowed that, and if I was honest with myself, that was exactly the reason I’d kept it quiet until it blew up in my face.

“I’ll be angry with him later. Right now, he needs someone to be there for him.” Kip called back to his sister as he followed me out of her house.

Chapter 13

Tripp

The sweet, subtle perfume Davina wore tickled my senses, making me wish I could move in closer to her and inhale the delicate aroma. It was partly her mixed in with that perfume that I found so intriguing.

Until the night I found out about my daughter, I would have sworn I was over the beautiful woman who slipped through my fingertips thanks to my inability to act. Not being able to have her was why it was so easy for me to dive back through history and try again with June, despite knowing that we had reached our inevitable end back when we were in high school and certainly when I saw her out canoodling with the husband she supposedly didn’t give a shit about.

She had almost fooled me into believing she could handle seeing my adult children that I’d had with Kim all those years ago. Her acceptance of the fact that I was still in the club, running it even, and that they were my family and weren’t going anywhere was something else.

After the way she exploded on everyone, including my daughter, when she found out that Davina’s daughter was mine as well… I didn’t see how anything could be salvageable there. Then again, considering my reaction to Davina versus the one I didn’t really have with June, I think my body had already been telling me what my mind wouldn’t clue into. The past - at least the one concerning June - should stay exactly there.

“I just want you to be prepared,” Davina’s voice immediately pulled me out of my thoughts of the other woman. “She’s small and it is heartbreaking to see her hooked up to everything.”

I nodded and swallowed down my anxiety. If Davina had been handling everything on her own where our daughter was concerned, then I’d step up and do my part too - even if that meant keeping a smile on my face when all I wanted to do was rage and fucking tear the world down for being a place where small children could get sick like this.

“It’ll be okay. Whatever I see in there won’t scare me away, if that’s what you’re worried about. If anything, it’s going to solidify my place in your lives.”

She simply shrugged her shoulders and put her hand on the door, ready to push it open. It was obvious by her response that she didn’t believe I’d be there when all was said and done. That just went to show that she didn’t know me very well.

“This isn’t like it was with your children. We’re not together and our daughter is sick.” Tears pooled in Davina’s eyes as she tried to make me understand. “She might not make it. I hope and pray every day that she does, but the truth is, her body is so tiny, and it has to fight this giant monster, Tripp. She might not…”

“We’re going to do everything possible to give her one hell of a fighting chance, Vina. I promise, you will never be alone in this again. If I’d known sooner, you wouldn’t have been alone for any of it.”

“Are you angry with me?”

“No. I understand why you didn’t bother to tell anyone until now. You weren’t sure who the father was and the odds that it might have been someone like Breakneck would have kept me quiet, too,” I teased. Vina rolled her eyes at me, but the smile that tipped up the corners of her mouth was everything. Something told me that she probably hadn’t had any good reason to smile lately.

“We better go in, so I can introduce you to your daughter before she’s too tired.”