Page 35 of Daddy P.I. 3.0

Another, harder shiver.

“Is this because you’re proud of me?”

“It is, and because I love you and can’t get enough of you.”

She squirms against me. “I love you, too, Daddy.”

At a ping from my phone, I lower her to the ground. I slip on my shoes, help Emily into her little boots, and hustle us out to Manny’s waiting limo. We sit in the back so I can use a readinglight without distracting Manny. He lowers the divider and I bump knuckles with him.

“De Leon’s right on time,” Manny says. “He might belocobut the man knows how to keep to a schedule.”

I chuckle. “Everything good?”

“All good, hermano. Jen wants to come over to meet your little one this weekend.”

“Yeah, we’re going to do an open house on Saturday afternoon. I’ll text you the time.”

“Sounds good. You got everything you need?”

Emily giggles. “In duplicate.”

Manny chuckles. “I know how that is. Buckle in. We’ll be there in about an hour.”

I put on Emily’s seat belt, take out the reading materials and a juice box for Emily, and stow our bag in the footwell, before I strap in myself. Manny pulls out into the street and rolls away through the evening traffic.

De Leon’s plane is as unassuming as the man himself. It’s white and gray on the outside, white and blue on the inside. No pictures or logos anywhere, just black numbers on the tail to identify the plane. Knowing what Myles is worth, the plane could be furnished with mama llama leather and burled walnut without making a dent in his wallet. But he always keeps a low profile and his plane is no exception.

The stairs lower and the man himself walks down them. At the bottom of the stairs, he turns and holds his hands out.

Max comes to the plane’s doorway with a car seat. He hands the car seat to Myles and disappears back into the plane’s interior. Myles cradles the car seat in one arm and wiggles hisforefinger at the seat’s occupant. The hangar is noisy from a plane taxiing down the runway just beyond the hangar doors, so I can’t hear what Myles says or how the seat’s occupant responds. But I can see the tiny fist that rises out of the pile of blankets and waves around.

My chest clenches.

I put my arm around Emily and lead her forward. Myles strolls toward us, his head down so his hair curtains his face. It doesn’t look like he’s watching where he’s going but I’ve never seen him misstep. If anything, I’d say Myles is hyper-aware of his environment, the way I was when I first got back from Somalia and after Jason-the-murderous-bastard hit me twice in the head with a fire extinguisher. My hair trigger has calmed down considerably in the months since then.

I’m not sure Myles’ hair trigger will ever relax.

He stops at arm’s length without lifting his head. I lean over the car seat and see my daughter face-to-face for the first time.

I’ve heard that all babies look the same. That you can’t tell anything about what the adult will look like from a baby’s face. But I’d have known Livvy’s mine just by looking at her, without any need for the paternity test. She looks exactly like my sister Lizbeth when she was a baby, except for the eyes. I don’t know if her eyes will darken to my brown or remain their current, cloudy gray but they don’t detract from the resemblance.

“Hey, baby.” I swallow hard to clear the thickness from my voice. “Nice to meet you.”

“Can I pick her up?” Emily asks.

“Of course, baby doll. You don’t need permission.”

Emily smiles at me and reaches into the car seat. She deftly unclips the safety straps and lifts the baby out of the seat. Somehow she bundles the baby’s blankets around Livvy’s body without the blankets ending up on the ground. Emmy smiles andthe baby immediately returns her smile, then sticks her fist into her mouth and gums it.

“Happy baby,” Max says, joining us with two bags slung over his shoulders. Myles sets the car seat at my feet and takes one of the bags from Max.

“Thank you both so much for bringing her home,” I say.

Max claps me on the shoulder. “Always glad for an excuse to visit moldy old England. I’ve got some not-great news, though. Miranda made a scene at the hospital yesterday, demanding to see the baby. The hospital staff were firm with her but she said she’s taking a flight today and will be in New York by nighttime.”

I tip my head from side to side to crack my neck. “She can do whatever she wants. I can’t stop her from coming to New York.”

Emily turns worried eyes up to me. “Daddy?”

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