Page 28 of The Sweetest Chirp

I hadn’t realized how hard my heart was beating until it became too loud to hear him. I shake my head, blinking quickly as I try to process this. Ingrid knows. She’ll tell my parents; I know she will. My voice doesn’t even sound like my own as I ask, “Was she mad?”

“No. She just wants to meet her niece in person.”

My heart clenches as he asks, “Where did you tell Arwen we were?”

I swallow. “I never said, just that we would meet you guys one day.”

I feel his gaze on me. “Did she really walk around with photos of me and cry?”

My eyes burn, and I could kill Ruby. “Yes.”

“And that didn’t make you want to come home?”

I snap my eyes up to his. “Of course it did!” I shout, holding his gaze. “I wanted to go home every single day, but I couldn’t. I wouldn’t give you the option of rejecting her.”

“I’d never,” he says, acting as if I hit him instead of told him the truth.

“You said you would.”

“Audrina.”

“Thatcher,” I say, our gazes locked, neither of us giving in to the other. When he doesn’t say anything else, I add, “So I’m sure my parents are on their way.”

“No. She promised not to say anything.”

“Do you believe that?” I ask incredulously.

“I do,” he says simply. “Because she knows I’ll make it happen.”

“Huh?” I ask, confused.

I meet his eyes, and the determination in them steals my breath. “She knows I’ll bring you two home.”

The way he says it has my stomach turning in on itself and my heart slamming into my ribs. He’s always been a very confident guy, but Thatcher’s confidence as a dad is fucking hot. I somehow get out, “I don’t even know that.”

He looks at me seriously. “Then let me inform you. We’re going home.”

I scoff as I set Arwen’s pancakes down in front of her. “I haven’t decided on that.”

“I have,” he says, threading his fingers together. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

My eyes narrow. “That sounds very threatening.”

“As much as I don’t mean it to be, it probably is.” His Adam’s apple bobs as he holds my gaze. “I was the king of dicks when I said what I did to you, and my intention when I found you again was to make up for it. I never wanted you to run off like that, and it’ll be my biggest regret. But honestly, what I did doesn’t warrant losing out on my kid’s life.”

I try to swallow past the lump in my throat, but I’m unsuccessful. I cough a bit before meeting his gaze once more. “I know, and I am sorry for that. It all just got out of hand, and eventually, it was easier to be just her and me. I didn’t want it to be any harder, which I know makes me a coward. I ran to better myself, but I don’t think I did that.”

“I do,” he says softly. “I thought you were a spoiled little princess, but you made a life for yourself and our daughter.”

I smile at that. “I made sure she knew who you were and about our families.”

“And I am thankful for that,” he says softly. “You have done amazing with her. She is very smart.”

I smile as Arwen looks up from her pancakes to take a drink. “She is perfect in my eyes,” I say and sign so she can see.

She beams as Thatcher says and signs, “Mine too.”

That makes her giggle in such a lyrical way, my heart skips a beat. She’s always loved the idea of her daddy, and I knew that when she had the real deal, she’d fall head over heels for him.

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