Page 97 of Daddy’s Fortitude

“Even though I still don’t think I need the blood test. It sounds like it was just my blood sugar dipping. And as long as I eat regularly, I’ll be fine. You really did fuss about nothing, didn’t you?”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “I did not fuss about nothing. You fainted dead away.”

“Yeah, the doctor said it was just because I didn’t eat enough, Silly Billy.” She slapped her hand against his chest. “Now, shall we go get ice cream because I was so brave when I got my blood test taken?”

Silly Billy? What the hell?

“You were brave?” he asked in a strangled voice.

“Obviously, I was brave. You were there. You saw me just hold out my arm without even flinching. I didn’t even make a noise, no tears, no nothing.”

“You wriggled so much that I had to pin you down. And your screams were so loud, I’m pretty sure that if anyone had walked past the clinic, they would have heard you. And I’ve got a wet shirt from where you cried.”

She gaped at him in surprise as he pointed to the wet patch on his chest.

“That wasn’t from me. You shouldn’t make up lies.”

“I . . . I . . .”

He honestly didn’t even know where to go with this.

And while he liked the fact that she seemed a lot lighter and happier right now, he still thought that she needed to know the truth.

“How else would I have gotten this wet patch on my shirt if not from your tears?”

“Now, Ammo, sweating is nothing to be ashamed of. You should just own it, like I own my fear of needles. Look how brave I was once I admitted to it. I mean, it’s like I’m completely cured of that phobia. Now, next time I go to the doctor’s, I’ll be able to do it all by myself, won’t I? You should be very proud of me. Why aren’t you proud of me?”

“I . . . I . . .”

She stared up at him expectantly.

“I’m going gray looking after you,” he told her.

Her bottom lip dropped with a pout. “That’s not very nice now, is it? You don’t have to stay if I’m so hard to look after.”

Great. Now he felt like a dick.

She was hard to look after. There was no denying it. He was kept constantly on his toes. He didn’t know what was going to happen next. He didn’t know who was going to accuse her of something, call her a bitch, slam into her. He didn’t know when she was going to take off on a whim. She wouldn’t tell him half the things that were going on in her life, like all the debt that she was in, or how she’d gotten the money to help pay some of it back. He didn’t want to tell her that it barely put a dent in the money that he’d had to use to pay down the debts.

He planned on never telling her that much.

But this was his choice. And right now, he knew this was where he was meant to be.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

She gaped up at him. “Did you just say that you’re sorry?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry. You were very brave in there. Incredible, really, given your fear of doctors and needles.”

Aimee smiled up at him. “I know. I was, wasn’t I?”

He could feel his lips twitching up into a smile as he gazed down at her. Seriously adorable. He didn’t know how she was this cute. He ran his fingers through her dark hair, careful to avoid where Kevin might be. It looked disastrous, piled high up on her head, and sometimes he wondered how she was able to carry everything around, including Kevin, without her neck getting sore.

But she seemed to manage it just fine.

“You were. I’m definitely proud of you, and you have certainly earned that ice cream.”

Her smile widened. “Yay!” She clapped her hands, then stared down at them in surprise.