15. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Tripp

The sweet, subtle perfume Davina wore tickled my senses, making me wish I could move in closer to her and inhale the delicate aroma. It was partly her mixed in with that perfume that I found so intriguing.

Until the night I found out about my daughter, I would have sworn I was over the beautiful woman who slipped through my fingertips thanks to my inability to act. Not being able to have her was why it was so easy for me to dive back through history and try again with June, despite knowing that we had reached our inevitable end back when we were in high school and certainly when I saw her out canoodling with the husband she supposedly didn't give a shit about.

She had almost fooled me into believing she could handle seeing my adult children that I'd had with Kim all those years ago. Her acceptance of the fact that I was still in the club, running it even, and that they were my family and weren't going anywhere was something else.

After the way she exploded on everyone, including my daughter, when she found out that Davina's daughter was mine as well… I didn't see how anything could be salvageable there. Then again, considering my reaction to Davina versus the one I didn't really have with June, I think my body had already been telling me what my mind wouldn't clue into. The past - at least the one concerning June - should stay exactly there.

"I just want you to be prepared," Davina's voice immediately pulled me out of my thoughts of the other woman. "She's small and it is heartbreaking to see her hooked up to everything."

I nodded and swallowed down my anxiety. If Davina had been handling everything on her own where our daughter was concerned, then I'd step up and do my part too - even if that meant keeping a smile on my face when all I wanted to do was rage and fucking tear the world down for being a place where small children could get sick like this.

"It'll be okay. Whatever I see in there won't scare me away, if that's what you're worried about. If anything, it's going to solidify my place in your lives."

She simply shrugged her shoulders and put her hand on the door, ready to push it open. It was obvious by her response that she didn't believe I'd be there when all was said and done. That just went to show that she didn't know me very well.

"This isn't like it was with your children. We're not together and our daughter is sick." Tears pooled in Davina's eyes as she tried to make me understand. "She might not make it. I hope and pray every day that she does, but the truth is, her body is so tiny, and it has to fight this giant monster, Tripp. She might not…"

"We're going to do everything possible to give her one hell of a fighting chance, Vina. I promise, you will never be alone in this again. If I'd known sooner, you wouldn't have been alone for any of it."

"Are you angry with me?"

"No. I understand why you didn't bother to tell anyone until now. You weren't sure who the father was and the odds that it might have been someone like Breakneck would have kept me quiet, too," I teased. Vina rolled her eyes at me, but the smile that tipped up the corners of her mouth was everything. Something told me that she probably hadn't had any good reason to smile lately.

"We better go in, so I can introduce you to your daughter before she's too tired."

I followed Vina into the hospital room where our little girl was in a crib with monitors attached to her little toes along with an IV. The quiet beeps from the machine were the only sound in the otherwise still room as the sweet face with blue-gray eyes that looked just like mine stared up at me. "She's so small," I muttered before moving closer.

"Hey there, baby girl. I'm your daddy and we're going to do our best to make sure you get healthy enough to get out of here."

The sweet thing smiled up at me as if she knew exactly the promise I was making. I only hoped like hell it was one that could be kept.

"Coral, I love you, my sweetness," Davina murmured to her as she leaned in and dropped a kiss to the gaunt cheeks that should be puffed up with baby fat.

The moment I stood over the crib and leaned in so that I could touch the hollowed-out cheeks of my baby girl, my heart melted. It wasn't like being introduced to my other children for the first time when they were born. Even though they had been tiny little humans, there was nothing but hope and bright futures shining back at me from their little eyes. Coral was fragile in a way my other two children never had been.

Coral reached her hand up and took hold of my pinky finger. I allowed her to guide my hand closer to her middle where she continued to hold on like she knew exactly who I was, despite the fact that it was my first time meeting her.

"Hi baby girl," I whispered. The tired smile she beamed at me in response was everything. "You are so beautiful." The words slipped free of me before I even understood what I was saying. "You and your momma aren't going to have to worry about anything ever again."

I glanced up to see Davina swiping at a tear on her face. "Sorry," she whispered.

I crooked my finger, gesturing her to come to me. When Davina got close enough, I wrapped my arm around her waist and held her tight to my side while our daughter held onto the fingers of my other hand. "Not kidding, Vina. The two of you don't have to worry about anything anymore."

"I-Um, well, I don't really know what to say to that."

Our baby girl closed her eyes and drifted off, so I pulled Vina down to sit with me in the chair by her bedside.

"I want you to tell me everything, starting with the day we spoke when you were leaving. Did you know you were pregnant then?"

She nodded her head and then glanced at our daughter again. "If I'd known she was yours, I would have told you."

I shook my head. "I'm not angry about that, Vina. I understand why you took off. No matter who the father was, the club would have taken care of you, if you had told me. Hell, the fact that you've been going through all of this and never said a word…" I shook my head once more. "I just can't wrap my head around it. Did you have anyone with you when you had her?"

"No. It was just me and some super kind nurses who got me through it."

"Fuck," I hissed. "That makes me feel like a complete failure."

"Why? It's not like you knew and chose not to show up."

"I should have known. I was there when Kim had Kip and Star. What that woman went through to give birth to them," I started to say before turning my eyes back to Vina's. They were swimming in tears that she was trying her best to hold back. "I wish like hell we could go back, so that I could be there for you, for both of you, from the very beginning."

Vina heaved out a heavy sigh and nodded her head. "I'm sure if you could have one wish granted, our daughter wouldn't even be here."

"That's not fair."

"No, but it is true, and I would be so happy for you if you could have your wife back."

"Okay, how about we put away the wishes for any alternate past because it's not going down a road I think is healthy. I want you to fill me in on everything that I've missed, including why some prick doctor out there was giving me a look that almost landed my fist in his face."

Vina's shoulder's slumped as she turned her eyes toward the door. "I'm assuming you saw the worst doctor in the world. Dr. Markham was the one that had social services come take our daughter from me after I brought her into the hospital about bruises that kept popping up on her when I put her down to sleep."

"He did what?"

I spent the next few minutes listening to her describe in detail everything the nurse, doctor, and that bitch from social services had put her and our daughter through. I made a silent vow to make them all pay. No one fucked with my family and got away with it.

"I know that look," Vina announced.

"What look?"

"The one you guys get on your face when you're about to fuck up someone's world." I cocked a brow at her as if to say, "And?" Her sighed response along with the droop in her shoulders, as if she felt defeated by my actions, stopped me in my tracks.

"What?"

"I need you to put a pin in it."

"In what?"

"In whatever revenge scheme you're cooking up against those three. I understand because there is no cell in my body that doesn't want to bury them all myself, but you can't do anything right now."

"Why the fuck not?"

"Who do you think would be the prime suspect if something were to happen to them?" She asked as her thumb pointed back to herself. "This girl. Not you. Not the club. Me. I cannot lose my daughter again. It's bad enough they've told me to be prepared for the possibility of losing my daughter forever anyway. I would never forgive you if her last moments on this earth had to be spent amongst strangers wondering why her momma forgot about her."

"Fuck." The word blew free of me on a whisper. "You have my word that I will not make things harder on the two of you. We'll focus on getting our girl healthy again. Then, we'll bring her home, and after enough time has passed, they'll get what's coming to them. I swear they won't get away with what they've done."

"My lawyer is already working on making them pay."

"Losing some money isn't enough of a punishment."

Vina shook her head. "He's going after all their credentials too."

"Good. Once that is over, I'll go after whatever is left." She nodded her agreement that time and we both sat in silence a while and watched our daughter sleep.

"I was scared," I admitted as we sat there surrounded by the hushed noises in the hallways.

"When you found out about Coral?"

"That too, but I'm talking about when I left you alone in my bed." She gasped and turned to look at me before quickly diverting her eyes back to our daughter.

"Maybe we shouldn't talk about that," Vina suggested.

"No, I think it's long past time we talked about it. Had I done that instead of letting other shit get in my head, you never would have gone through everything alone. So, we're going to do this before any more time is wasted."

I held onto Davina as I explained the year-long crush I harbored on her, the months I spent getting to know my high school ex-girlfriend again. The pivotal moment between June and me back then that sent me into a bit of a tailspin and questioning my own judgement. Then, I worked my way to the night we spent together.

"I'd been wanting you for so long, fantasizing about being with you."

"Tripp," she huffed in a desperate plea to get me to shut up about our time together.

"No, you need to hear this as much as I need to say it. I wanted you. Fuck, that never went away."

"You've been dating someone else, that lady."

I nodded my head and continued to explain my history with June over the past two years and how we had never been intimate. I also explained why I walked away from Vina after our night together.

"I get that you didn't want to have star come home and be blindsided. Plus, I was never enough considering I was a club girl."

"No, that didn't have anything to do with it." She gave me a sidelong glance that all but called me out on my bullshit. "Okay, it had a little to do with it, but only because of my son. I didn't know if the two of you had ever hooked up before. You were around before he started dating Scout, so there was no way to be sure without asking."

"I had not been with him before you. He, um, after… I couldn't really tell him no."

"I understand that."

"It was just the one time. I hated it because Scout was my friend and it felt like I was betraying both you and her."

"You could have refused him."

She nodded her head. "I could have, but I needed a little more time before I had enough money to leave."

"You were planning to leave even before you found out you were pregnant?"

"Yes," she answered hesitantly. "Our conversation, the one we had that night, you made a good point. I needed to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I think I was the oldest club girl at the time, so it made sense that my time with the club would be coming to an end sooner than later."

"What the hell are you talking about? Jesus, woman, your age doesn't mean shit. You're fucking drop dead gorgeous, you have a bangin' body, and it's all packaging for the sweetness you have inside that draws every motherfucker with a swinging dick your way."

"Oh!"

"Oh!" I repeated mockingly. "It seems like we both let shit get in our heads that had no need to be there. Fuck, I feel like an idiot."

"You shouldn't. You were putting your children first and that is admirable. They're so lucky to have you as their father."

I squeezed Vina's waist and pulled her down so that her upper body wasn't sitting up and stiff and instead leaned against mine. "No more miscommunications and irrational fears, Vina. I'm here for you, for our daughter, and once she gets better that still won't change."

"Okay, Tripp."

"Promise, sweetheart."

"Thank you," she whispered. It didn't take long for her breaths to even out. My woman was worn the fuck down by the shit hand she'd been dealt and the fact that she had been left to navigate everything practically on her own. That shit was about to change because I couldn't walk away again without claiming her.