Page 28 of All Along The Watchtower

He was fishing, and I knew it. Pop had always been good at that—dropping little hints and waiting to see what kind of reaction he’d get. Usually, I gave him more to work with, but not about this. Not about Ford.

“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change anything. I did my duty by the kid, and now I can get on with my life.” The words were too sharp, but I couldn’t soften them now.

“Maybe it’s finally time for you two to talk about whatever happened.”

“Hell has not frozen over, so no, it’s not. Drop it, Pop.” I stabbed at a hunk of broccoli with more force than necessary.

He lifted his hands in surrender. “Okay.” But I could tell from the way his mouth twisted that he wasn’t done with the subject forever.

I poked at the last bite of beef on my plate, not meeting his eyes. The words stuck in my throat for a moment before I could get them out. “Do you still have the photo albums from when we were younger?”

“Of course.” His voice gentled, the way it always did when he sensed how close to the surface my emotions were running.

“Could you bring them by? I promised Peyton I’d ask about them.”

Pop gave me a long, silent look before finally nodding. “Yeah, I can do that.”

CHAPTER 14

FORD

Ford:

:picture of DNA results:

Rios:

Congratulations! It’s a girl!

Sawyer:

:GIF of Deadpool cracking his knuckles: Preparing to be favorite uncle.

Unknown number:

Kid won the lottery.

Ford:

Thanks, assholes.

Of course the moment the paternity test results had arrived, I’d texted my brothers. The scientific confirmation of what my gut already knew still felt like a brick between the eyes. I was a dad. For real. But there was no time to mentally process that I truly had a kid. A fully formed person, with likes and dislikes andquirks I hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of learning. One I was now the sole parent of. Or would be as soon as all the legalities were sorted. Mom and Mimi had celebrated with pink champagne, sparkling pink lemonade, and a behemoth German chocolate birthday cake—apparently Peyton’s favorite.

And I upended my entire world to start making a stable one for my daughter.

The moment I had proof of paternity in hand, I contacted Peyton’s caseworker in Oregon and started the process of claiming her. The Amber Alert had been canceled. I’d been granted emergency custody while the rest of the legal machine did its thing to finalize the arrangement. I’d already started dependency paperwork to get her benefits and taken her to get her military ID. My job situation was still up in the air. I was on emergency leave for the next few weeks, and my command was exploring the potential for a remote position. I wasn’t sure how fast they’d come back with an answer about that, but for the moment, I was dealing with the problems directly in front of me.

Right this moment, that included a very reluctant teenager.

“We’ve gotta talk about school, kid.”

Peyton immediately pulled into herself, shoulders rising toward her ears, knees tucking into her chest where she sat on the window seat in the kitchen. It was just us for the moment. Mom was in court, and Mimi had a meeting with one of the shops that carried her art.

I settled in across the table with a second cup of coffee. “I know you don’t wanna, but that’s one of those non-negotiables of the world. If we don’t get you enrolled ASAP, the powers that be are gonna come after me, and I kinda don’t think that would look great for them letting you stay with me.”

Her head snapped toward me, some of the color leeching out of her cheeks. “You think they’ll take me away?”

Shit. I was traumatizing her without even trying. Father of the year, right here. “I mean, there’s no reason for them to now. But that’s one of my jobs as a parent. To make sure you go to school.”

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