Page 36 of Baby Me

“Maybe if he could stop fucking other women behind her back.” Star sassed at her brother. It looked as though Kip was about to argue that Breakneck was not doing that shit, but Star cut him off. “The women at the club talk too much. Don’t try to tell me that I’m wrong. He better get his shit together before that sweet girl hauls ass for good.”

Star turned her attention back to me after setting Kip straight. “We’re all here now. The truth is out there and the main focus for all of us is to make sure we do everything we can to give Coral her best fighting chance.”

I nodded at that and swiped away the tears that fell in response. Even though I had come to grips with my daughter’s diagnosis, it was still a gut-punch response to think about her having to fight for her life at such a young age.

“Davina,” Star called out pulling me back to the conversation.

“Yeah? Sorry, it’s just…” I freed my hand from theirs to rub over my stomach. “Most of the time, I’m kind of numb to what’s going on, but then I get this kick to the belly response when someone else brings me back to reality. I hate this. I hate that my baby is fighting so hard to stay with us and there is literally nothing I can do to help her.”

“You’re here for her. That’s something.”

“That’s nothing. It’s what I would be doing anyway. God!” I moaned. “If I could give her my life, my blood, my soul, whatever could keep her alive, healthy, and happy, I would.”

Kip slid his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his side where I promptly wet the sleeve of his shirt with tears I didn’t even realize were falling.

“You’re a good mother, Davina. You’re here with her, giving her everything you can. Plus, you went looking for her father, even though it had to be a scary thing for you to do. Neither of you are alone anymore. You have family beside you now. We’re family.” Star insisted. “That’s the gist of what I wanted to tell you, or I guess make you understand.” She smirked at me then. “Besides, it appears our dad is smitten with you just as much as he is with our little sister.”

I shook my head, as if to deny the chemistry that I shared with their dad. We hadn’t really discussed things between us yet. He promised to be there for my daughter and me and told me he’d basically been infatuated with me before but afraid to start something real. There was the kiss too, but I wasn’t sure what to make of that.

“I don’t think…”

“Do you know that I’ve never seen my dad kiss another woman if he knew I was around?” She asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that he kissed you on the mouth in front of us, and the last woman he consciously did that with was our mother.”

“That can’t be right,” I argued. “You were gone a long time, too.”

“Oh, but it is true.” Star turned to her brother then. “Have you seen it happen? You would know better than me, since you’ve been around the whole time I was gone.”

“Nope. I’ve never seen him look at another woman the way he did our mother either, until today.”

“Please, stop. I think you’re reading things into the situation that aren’t there. He’s concerned because our daughter is sick, and we just recently had a conversation about everything Coral and I have been through.”

“About that,” Kip stated in a no-nonsense way that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “I overheard a nurse talking out there about how you had your daughter taken away for abuse and how it delayed her getting the care she needed.”

“I swear to you, I never abused my baby girl. It was all a misunderstanding because the cancer caused bruises that no one could explain. Since I’m a poor, single mother they decided that I must have…”

“Stop!” Star hissed at me. “We know.” She stated emphatically. “We know you would never hurt our sister. I think what Kip was getting at is that we want you to explain to us why that happened, but more importantly who the hell accused you.”

I tipped my head to the side in curiosity when I realized that their passionate responses aligned with the way their own father had acted when I told him my story. “I already told Tripp that nothing can happen right now. He’s agreed to that.”

“Why the hell would Dad agree to not seeking retribution on whoever was responsible for delaying medical care for his sick daughter?”

“He agreed because the first person they will point a finger at, if something were to happen to any of them, would be me.”

We all sat quietly as they absorbed that information. “Fair point,” Star finally conceded. “If I know my dad, though, he’ll treat it as a dish best served cold.”

Kip nodded his head. “Give it a little time and then go after the assholes. That’s a good plan. We’ll focus on getting Coral better first. She needs to be our priority right now, anyway.”

I offered them both a small smile. “Thank you for understanding and for being here.”

“It’s what family does.”

“Do you think I could bring Knox in to see Coral? She’s his aunt, after all.”

I couldn’t contain the giggle that escaped me. “That’s so weird. My daughter’s nephew is older than her.”

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