Page 77 of Daddy's to Keep

“Also done.”

Another pause. I could feel her working up the courage to say something.

“Tuesday,” she said, trying the word out carefully. “My birthday dinner.”

I smiled against her hair despite myself. “Act surprised.”

She giggled and turned her face up toward mine. I kissed her once, thoroughly, and felt her smile against my mouth.

“Yes, Daddy,” she said.

“I love you, my Keri,” I whispered, pulling her toward me and kissing her forehead in the way that she loved. “Every stubborn, proud, impossible inch of you.”

She was quiet for a moment. Then, in a small voice she only used with me, she said, “I love you too. All of you. Even the paddle.”

I smiled a real smile.

Outside, the city carried on. In here, she was warm in my arms and entirely mine, and I thought that I had been a patient man my whole life without ever quite knowing what I was waiting for.

Now I knew.

It had always been her.

The End