Page 164 of Relentles
“You can’t take my baby, Joe! I love her.”
“You don’t fucking act like it.”
“She’s all I have.” She indicated the house. “You bought this place for her.”
Finally, some fucking truth.
“It’s massive. What would I do…” She closed her eyes, then stared at him with a beseeching look, touching his heart and stealing his anger. “I love her.”
If he didn’t kill her, he needed to get her some type of help.
“Dinah, babe, I can’t leave my girl with you in your frame of mind. You aren’t thinking clearly.”
She scraped her finger over the smooth strands of her blonde hair, then pulled at her ponytail. “I’m just so overwhelmed with school and being a mom.”
“Why don’t you quit your job, babe?” He attempted levity and smiled. “You can’t resign from being a mom.”
Meggie lifted her head, and Joe loosened his grip on her, but he didn’t set her on her feet.
“I love her so much, Joe. I do! But I didn’t want to be a mom until I turned thirty.”
She was thirty-one now.
“I wanted to be settled in my career. Married. A homeowner.”
Joe looked around the oversized living room pointedly.
Dinah flushed. “The house isMeggie’sby right.”
“It’s in your name, sweetheart. As long as I’m alive, I won’t ever turn my back on you, Dinah. Even if we aren’t together.”
More tears filling her eyes gave him hope.
“I love you, too!” she said sadly.
“And I love you, babe. I want us together.” That’s why he’d boughtfivefucking engagement rings. The woman turned him into a fucking stupid jackass. He sighed. “All I’m saying is if we ever breakup for good, as my daughter’s mother, you have my lifelong protection. I would give my life on your behalf.”
“I don’t want to be single forever,” she said sharply, then amended to, “unmarried,” when he glared at her.
“I’m have so many obligations to my students—”
“Your first obligation is to our daughter.”
She ignored him. “Then when I get home, I have to cook, help her with her homework.”
“Homework? She’s in first fucking grade!”
“As if her grade matters. She has homework!Youaren’t here, so someone must do it.”
“But—”
“I also keep house, do laundry, clean the kitchen,entertain her,” she said bitterly. “Console her if she doesn’t hear from you because I’m only her mother. You’re the light of her life.”
Meggie tugged on his hair. It wasn’t in a manbun tonight, leaving her free to play with as much as she wanted. “Princess, your old man loves you,” he said gruffly.
She nodded. “I love you, Daddy.”
He smiled. “On the days I don’t call—” Rare though they were— “don’t mope. Daddy’s busy at work, but I’m always thinking of you. Just enjoy time with your mom and don’t give her a rough time.”
