Chapter 41: With those pupy dogs eyes

"Aunt Sally said she'd wait for me, so I'll just catch a ride with her. Thanks, though! Bye, Chloe!"

Chloe waved a half-hearted goodbye. "How are you, Chloe bug?"

She shrugged. "Are you sad?" She nodded.

"Can you tell me why?"

"Laudis doesn't want to be my daddy."

I couldn't help the surge of frustration toward Laudis. But he was going to have to fix his relationship with Chloe on his own.

"Do you want to talk to Laudis?"

If she wasn't ready for it, I wouldn't make her. Even though it would hurt me to see Laudis hurting more as well. But Chloe nodded.

"I want to tell him it's okay if he doesn't want to be my daddy. He can still be my Laudis."

A tear dripped onto the table in front of her and I pulled my beautiful baby girl into my arms. "I'm so sorry, Chloe bug. Laudis wants to talk to you, too."

She pulled back to look me in the face. "He's here?" "He's here, baby girl."

She jumped off of me, suddenly all excitement. "Where? Where is my Laudis?"

"Go on up to your room, Chloe bug. I think he has a surprise for you." She shrieked and ran for the stairs.

I followed to make sure she didn't hurt herself, yelling, "Be careful, Chloe! No running on the stairs!"

I stayed at the bottom though. If only my heart would heal as fast as hers seemed to.

Ryan´s POV

As soon as Ryan King went to get Chloe, I sprang into action. I had crushed her with my selfishness. I let my insecurities lead the way and it did nothing but hurt everyone I loved. I needed to make it right and quick. Ryan King would take time. A lot of time. I had inadvertently opened wounds from his first mate’s death and those were going to be between us for a long time. But Chloe, Chloe I could mend faster. I hoped.

I was just about finished setting up when she came bounding into the room, attacking me with the biggest bear hug imaginable.

“Chloe, I’m so sorry.” The words were beyond inadequate, but they were a start.

“You’re back.” She nestled in my neck.

“I had to come back” I pulled back, rubbing our noses together before pointing to the tea party I had been feverishly setting up only moments earlier. “We have a tea party today.”

“You remembered.” And just like that, she broke my heart all over again. I vowed then and there to not only fix things with Chloe, but make it so that she never doubted me again, not my love, not my commitment, not my desire to help her grow into the amazing woman I knew she was going to become.

“Of course I remembered.” I squeezed her hand before turning back to the tea party set up on the floor, making sure everything was set up just so. “I love you, and when you love someone you remember the important things.” And don’t leave them like a dumb-ass, selfish prick. I stared at the tea set, hoping she missed the tears trying to break free. She needed me strong. My weakness had already hurt her enough.

“But you left.” That was my Chloe. Straightforward and to the point.

“I did.” I patted the seat beside me. She chose my lap instead. Sweet, forgiving girl. “And I’m sorry.”

“If you don’t want to be my daddy, it’s ok.” She patted my cheek, her puppy dog eyes saying far more than her words. “You can still be my Laudis.”

“Can I be both?” My voice cracked. I wanted so much to be both, but I deserved to be neither.

“Yes!” She hugged me around the neck, practically knocking me over. “I love you, Chloe.”

“I love you, Laudis. Promise not to leave.” She spoke the last part almost too quiet for me to hear as if she were afraid I would say no. I was officially the biggest asshole on this planet. I put that fear there. Me.

“I do. I promise.” I hugged her tight. I would follow through on my promise. She deserved it. “Ready for our tea party?” I needed to break away from the heavy before I began sobbing. “Who should we invite today? Mrs. Bear?”

“No.” She climbed off my lap and grabbed an unidentifiable stuffed animal off the bed. I conjectured that at one point it had been a bear of some kind, but it had been mended many times and now more resembled a monster than anything else. She handed it to me. “I think we should invite Wubby Girl and Daddy.”

“I think that’s a brilliant idea.” I placed Wubby Girl on the spot beside me. “Want to get Daddy while I finish setting up?”

“No need.” Ryan King rounded the corner. Of course he had been there, listening. Any good father would be. If it weren’t for all the snot clogging me up, thanks to my sobbing, I would’ve scented him. “I was just stopping by to see how things were going.”

“Just in time, Daddy.” Chloe was practically bouncing. “The tea party is almost ready. You sit here by Daddy.”

And that was awkward.

“We can’t both be the same name, Chloe bug,” Ryan King corrected. Shit, had I overstepped? I couldn’t deny her when she asked with those puppy dog eyes, not that I wanted to. I wanted to be one of her dads more than anything. “It’ll be too confusing.”

“Your dad’s right,” I said. My heart deflated the tiniest of bits. I was still in her life, still had my role as her nanny, the rest could be worked out at

another time. Even if she were sixteen and I was still her Laudis, that wouldn’t change how I loved or cared for her. It was only a name. “Why don’t you just call me Laudis?”