Page 78 of Vengeful Secret

Lara swiftly exits the room, and Ciara frowns up at me.

“Am I in trouble?”

“No,” Gray says, stepping forward. “Not at all,mo órlaith.”

Ciara climbs up on the bed, still frowning.

Gray sits down next to her on the edge of the bed, and I remain standing.

“It’s okay,mo stóirin. Don’t worry. It’s just… remember when you asked me why you didn’t have a daddy?”

She nods, parroting back my words to me. “All families are different.”

“They are,” Gray says in a low tone. “But yours is different than you think.”

“Gray is your dad,” I say, blurting it out, not sure how to say it so she’ll understand, not sure if she’ll have questions.

She looks at Gray. “You’re my daddy?”

“Yes,” he says, his face blank, but I know inside he’s nervous as all hell.

Ciara is quiet for a moment, and then she throws her arms around him, burying her face in his neck.

“Will you give me piggyback rides?”

Gray looks at me with tears in his eyes and hugs her tightly. “All the piggybacks you want,mo órlaith.”

She pulls away from him, smiling. “Maybe you could give me one in the pool.”

He glances at me, and I nod.

“What if we go to the poolbeforedinner?” he whispers, almost conspiratorially.

Ciara cheers so loudly and shrilly that it makes me wince, and I laugh and rummage around in her suitcase for her swimsuit.

I help her get changed while Gray changes into a pair of trunks, and I put on my old, faithful bikini, just a simple black one.

I keep the robe on until we get to the pool, and Ciara runs ahead of Gray.

“Stop,” he orders her, and to my surprise, she stops on a dime, turning to face him.

“Sorry, Daddy,” she says quietly. “Just got excited.”

Gray’s face… My heart aches.

I know he’s fighting tears when he rushes to her and scoops her up.

She giggles, thinking it’s a game, but he sniffles as he holds her tightly.

When he finally puts her down, she’s wriggling, ready to get in the pool, but I stop her and put on her sunscreen and her floaties.

Gray slides into the pool at the deep end as Ciara and I get in on the shallow end.

Ciara’s a pretty strong swimmer with her floaties. I took her to classes when she was three. She swims toward him, and Gray stays under the water, nipping at her like a shark.

Her cries and giggles sound across the pool, and it isn’t long before Lara comes out in a pale blue one-piece.

“Is it okay if I join the party?”

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