Page 99 of Worth the Risk

Kylie

Leo staring in awe at Riley breaks my heart for both of them. He knows she is his. You can’t look at a miniature version of him and not know it.

Something strange is going on here. He said he didn’t see the email and proved the response was not from his company email. If all this is true, all this hate I’ve harbored for him for years may be unwarranted as far as Riley is concerned. If he truly didn’t know, then this is a hell of a shock for him to learn that she exists and to come face to face with her all within twenty-four hours.

“Daddy?” Riley’s sweet voice filters through the room.

Leo kneels in front of her. He’s speechless and can only nod at her.

“Are you home from work now?”

Looking toward me, a confused expression crosses his face, and I gesture for him to go along with it.I have to explain some things to him so he doesn’t say anything that will confuse her.

“Y-yes. I’m home from work. I came to see you, Riley.”

She’s smiling from ear to ear, recognizing him from his picture on her nightstand. She wishes him goodnight every night.

“Can you take me to ride the horses in the park?” she asks.

“The horses?”

“Yep. The horses at the park. They spin round and round,” she explains as she turns in circles with her arms out.

Leo must realize what she is talking about because he says, “Sure. Let’s check with your mom and see when a good time would be.”

“We’ll do that another day. You were just there this morning.”

“But I want to ride them again, please,” she pleads as she links her hands together and places them under her chin.

Oh, she’s good.

“Another day, Riley. We have to get ready to go. Grandma will be here soon, and we’re going out to dinner.”

“Can I have pizza?” she asks.

“Yes. We can get pizza. Go back to our room, and I’ll be in to get you ready soon.”

“Okay.” She heads down the hallway and spins back around to talk to Leo. “Will you see me again, Daddy?”

Leo struggles to find his voice before saying, “Of course. We’ll ride the horses this week.”

That brings a big smile to her face. “Bye, Daddy.” She waves and runs down the hallway.

“Bye, Riley,” he whispers.

Leo slowly gets back up to his feet, and we stand in silence for a few moments before he looks at me. I see the questions and devastation in his face. This is not the face of a man who knew about his daughter. This is a man who is lost. All this time, he really didn’t know. Part of me wants to be heartless by rejoicing in his pain for the way he hurt me, but I won’t because that’s not who I am. I can’t enjoy his heartache at finding out about Riley after all this time.

“She’s four?” he asks.

“Yes. She was born on April Fool’s Day.”

“How does she know I’m her father?”

I explain that I told her he was at work, how she has photograph of us on her nightstand, and I couldn’t tell her he wasn’t coming back because it would break her heart, so I said he was at work instead.

“I would have been there had I known she existed,” he says. He’s much more subdued than when he first came here. “She’s beautiful, Kylie.”

Yes, she is beautiful. But then again, so is Leo. We may not be together any longer, but he’s still the most handsome man I’ve ever met.

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