by Nikki Ash
No words are spoken for a few minutes, so I assume he’s fallen asleep, when he says, “I want Bella to know I’m her dad, Liz.”
I know it’s only been a few hours, but I’m all in. Watching him tonight with her, I can’t deny him this chance. All I can do is hope and pray he doesn’t break either of our hearts.
“I know, Coop. We’ll tell her tomorrow. I promise.”
I feel him relax against me as we both allow sleep to overtake us.
Twenty-Four
Cooper
I wake up to the smell of vanilla and it makes me smile. I look down and my beautiful girl is next to me, wrapped up in our blankets. I can’t help but laugh at the fact she’s still a damn sheet-hogger. I don’t know how I got this lucky to be given this second chance, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure Liz never regrets it. I start to stretch and remember today is Sunday, which is my day off from training. I’m hoping we can tell Bella about me being her dad and do something as a family. What do families do?
Not knowing the answer to that simple question reminds me that my parents never did any family stuff. My dad was either traveling for fights or at the gym training. My mom was always home with me, but we didn’t really go anywhere as a family. She always seemed upset that my dad was gone. Eventually she’d leave me with a sitter and go out by herself.
And those thoughts start to make me panic. I’m home right now, but soon I’m going to have to be away from home training long hours. I’ll have to start traveling again to promote the upcoming title fight. There’ll be press releases and conferences and then the fight itself. Bella is in school, so Liz will have to stay home. Will she regret giving me this chance? Will she turn to someone else who can give her more attention? I feel my anxiety rising, my chest tightening at the image of another man comforting Liz. I need to calm myself down. Liz is not my mom and I am not my dad. We will get through this.
“Mommy, Cooper, can I come in?”
Lifting my head, I see my little princess poking her head around the corner. I look back at Liz and she’s still sleeping, so I place my fingers over my lips so Bella doesn’t wake her mom up.
Carefully, I get out of bed, making sure not to jostle Liz. Then, taking Bella’s small hand, I give her a smile and whisper, “Why don’t we make your mom breakfast in bed?”
She lights up at the idea and starts skipping down the hallway, pulling me along.
“Yes, please! Can we make chocolate chip pancakes? Oh! And bacon? And can we make cupcakes and cookies, too. Mommy loves all that.”
“Bella, you sure it’s your mom who loves cupcakes and cookies for breakfast?” I ask, chuckling. The fact my daughter is already trying to get one over on me has me grinning like a Cheshire cat. This girl already has me wrapped around her cute little finger and I’m absolutely okay with that.
“Maybe it’s me that likes all that stuff, but I bet my mom would eat it all. She likes junk food too. Her and Auntie Kay always buy it and say junk food makes every woman happy.”
“I’m sure they’re right. Why don’t we start with pancakes and bacon, and we’ll see about maybe going out for lunch and dessert later.”
“Okay.” She stops abruptly and turns around, pointing her crooked pinky out at me. Damn, kids still do this shit? I give her my pinky and we hook them together for a good ol’ pinky promise. I hope Liz is okay with going out later because there’s no way I’m breaking our first pinky promise.
We get to the kitchen and I’m glad I bought groceries once Liz agreed to move in. I grab the griddle and plug it in, then set about grabbing all the ingredients to make pancakes. Bella grabs a chair and drags it to the counter to stand on. Even on a chair she’s still so tiny.
“Can I put all the stuff in and mix it all up, please?” She looks at me while batting her eyelashes.
Fuck! Are all women born with the ability to make a man do whatever they want through their damn eyelashes?
“Of course, you can, Princess.”
I place all the stuff within her reach, and she begins pouring it all into the bowl carefully, then mixes it all together. While she’s doing that, I throw the bacon in the oven. I have to wonder if all kids are this cute and helpful. One thing is for sure, Liz has done a damn good job raising her. At eighteen, I was fighting and fucking. Liz was going to college and taking care of a baby. I wish I could do something to show her how amazing she is, but I can’t think of anything that’s anywhere near equivalent to this amazing woman caring for our daughter for the last four years.
I spoon the pancake mix onto the hot griddle as I listen to Bella rattle on about preschool and the mean boys who have cooties.
“…And then I told Tristan if he touches me one more time and gives me the cooties, I’ll punch him in the face.” Hmm… I don’t like this Tristan. I’ll have to ask Liz about this kid. I can’t have some little shit giving my princess any cooties.
“Good for you, Princess. Don’t take anyone’s crap.”
“Ahem. I don’t think it’s a good idea to encourage our daughter to punch anybody.”
Bella and I both turn around to find Liz standing against the island giving us what I imagine is the mom look.
“Mom, you’re supposed to be in bed. I can’t bring you food in bed if you aren’t in bed.” Bella’s standing there looking all cute and mad with her hands on her hips just like her mom does, when she switches gears.
“Wait, Mommy. I’m Cooper’s daughter too?”
Liz’s eyes open as wide as saucers when she realizes what she just implied, and I grin. Now’s the perfect time to tell Bella she is in fact my daughter.
I take the pancakes off the griddle and pull the bacon out of the oven, setting it all on the center of the table. I pour everyone some orange juice and we all sit at the table, Bella and I both looking at Liz.
“Bella, how would you feel if Cooper was your daddy?”
I tense up, waiting for her answer, as Bella nonchalantly grabs a pancake from the platter and says, “I would feel happy. Duh!”
And… my entire body relaxes.
“Well, yes. Cooper is your daddy,” Liz says.
I’m wondering if she’s going to go into all the specifics. I mean, how do you explain to a four-year-old a thirty-hour stand? Yep, I’m still sticking to that. Liz was so much more than a one-night stand.
Apparently, that’s all the explanation she needs, though. “Cooper, can I call you Daddy?”
And there goes half my heart… gone. It’s now been handed over to the four-year-old sitting across from me, and I pray she never gives it back.
I have to take a second to control my breathing. I’m suddenly choked up and there’s a lump in my throat. I’m afraid if I speak, I’ll start to cry. Bella’s looking at me shyly and I know I need to answer her before she thinks I don’t want that. Screw it. If I cry, I cry. If that makes me a pussy then so be it.
Sure, enough as the words come out so do the tears. I get up and walk around the table to kneel next to Bella, turning her little legs to face me.
“Oh, Princess. I would love it more than anything in the world if you would call me Daddy.”
Bella reaches her hand out and swipes at my face to get rid of the tears.
“Then why are you crying?” she asks in a sad voice.
“These are happy tears. I know it doesn’t make much sense, but I promise you, I am so happy right now.”
I pull her into a tight hug, never wanting to let her go. She’s mine. This precious little girl is mine.
“Daddy, you’re squeezing me so tightly my head is going to pop off!”
I let go of her and we all laugh. I go back to my seat, looking around, as we all grab our food and begin to eat. This is my family and I’m the luckiest damn guy in the world.
Twenty-Five
Liz
After breakfast Cooper announces today is Sunday-Funday Family Day. What that entails I have no clue. When Bella and I ask him, he tells us to go get dressed and be r
eady to head out in fifteen minutes. Ha! That’s funny. He clearly hasn’t spent enough time with women to know we don’t get ready in fifteen minutes. That’s okay, though. He’ll learn.
An hour later we’re piling into his Range Rover to head out. I go to grab Bella’s booster seat from my car, but he tells me he already has one. Is there anything this man hasn’t thought of?
The entire drive Bella keeps guessing where we’re going. Cooper keeps laughing and saying he’s not telling her. About twenty minutes later we pull up to a grocery store, where he insists we wait in the vehicle for him. When he gets back, he’s carrying several bags and a wicker picnic basket. He loads the shopping bags and the basket into the trunk and then we’re back on the road.
A few minutes later we pull up to the Town Square. Bella is trying to figure out where we are, but she can’t see beyond the parking lot.
“We’ve never been here. What’s there to do?” I ask as we get out.
“You’ll see.” He grabs the basket, which must be filled with the stuff from the bags, slams the trunk closed, and we all head toward the buildings. As we walk down the sidewalk, in the distance, it looks like there are a bunch of playhouses. Bella starts walking faster, wanting to see what’s going on. When we get closer, sure enough there’s a huge park filled with sidewalks and playhouses everywhere. To one side, there’s a huge Oak tree, and connected to it is a tree house with a rock wall and a fort. Just past that there, is a cool fountain that’s shooting water up in the air. On the other side, is the most adorable princess tower playhouse with slides coming out of the sides.
“Oh, my God! Mommy. Daddy. Can I go play?” Bella squeals in delight. She’s looking every which way, not even sure where to begin. I see a couple benches nearby and Cooper must notice them too because he heads straight for them. I think he’s going to sit and watch her play, but he shocks me once again when he sets the basket down on the bench and says to Bella, “C’mon, Princess! Let’s go play.”
She’s so excited he’s joining her, she jumps up and down, grabs his hand, and then pulls him along. Mom who?
We follow Bella through the playground. She runs from playhouse to playhouse and Cooper keeps up with her every step of the way. It’s hilarious to watch this six-foot-three man try to go where the barely three-foot little girl goes. I have to give him credit, though. Cooper can barely fit in some of the tunnels and slides, but it doesn’t stop him from trying. Where Bella goes, Cooper goes.
I pull out my phone and snap a bunch of pictures of them running around, climbing up the rock wall, and going down the slides. I’m sure he’ll love to see these later.
After a while of playing, Bella spots the water fountains from earlier and asks if she can go play in them even though she didn’t bring a suit.
“Um, Bella, we don’t have a change of clothes. You can’t get back in the car wet.”
Of course she pouts and looks right at Cooper. Little girl is smart. Cooper gives her pout one glance and of course comes up with a solution.
“Sure, Princess. You go play and when you’re done, we’ll buy you a towel and a new outfit at a store.”
After squealing her thanks, she takes off like a bat out of hell, racing toward the fountains while we sit on the bench and watch her.
“Coop, you can’t just give in to everything she wants. I can’t afford to just buy her a new outfit whenever she wants. I’m going to take the job you’re offering, but I need to save for a place.”
Cooper’s jaw begins to tick and then his face softens. “I’m glad you’re taking the job because I know you want to work, but Bella and you aren’t going anywhere. I make more than enough money to support both of you, and I have four years of her life to make up for that I missed out on, on top of four years of making up to do with all the time you and I missed. You don’t want to work, you don’t have to. You want to stay home and take care of Bella, I’m more than fine with that. Whatever money you make is yours. I don’t care what you do as long as you both are under the same roof as me.”
I want to get angry with him because I don’t appreciate him going all alpha-male on me, but I can see it in his eyes. Guilt. He thinks he owes us because he wasn’t there.
While still watching Bella, I tell Cooper, “This whole situation, you not getting to see Bella, wasn’t either of our faults. It was a crappy situation, but we’re here now and you don’t need to make up for anything. I don’t want you to take care of us. I want us to be equal.”
He looks over at me and takes my hand in his. “Baby girl, I own several training facilities left to me by my dad. I have endorsements and contracts, and I make decent money fighting. I make more than enough to take care of you, and that’s my job. Your job is to take care of our princess. My dad’s life insurance policy was several hundred thousand dollars and I didn’t even touch it. I put it in a trust account for Bella. She can use it to go to college, get a car, buy a house, whatever she needs or wants to make sure all her dreams in life are within her reach. If we have more kids one day, we’ll make sure they one as well. Please, just let me do this. Let me take care of my girls.” I glance over at him and see the need in his eyes. It’s obvious this is important to him.
“Okay, but don’t spoil her, Coop. She needs to learn that getting handed everything isn’t reality. You, of all people, know it takes hard work to accomplish your dreams.”
“Okay, I’ll try my best,” he says, and for some reason, I think he’s full of it, but I let it go for now.
We sit and watch Bella for a while until Cooper gets up and walks over to a woman and gives her a big hug. She turns to face me and I see it’s his mom. What a nice surprise.
He calls Bella over to make introductions. “Mom, this is my daughter, Bella Faith. Bella, this is my mom, your grandma.”
“Oh, Liam! She is absolutely beautiful! And she looks so much like you.”
Bella looks confused and asks, “Are you my grandma like my mom’s mom? I call her Grammy, and who’s Liam?”
Ms. Cooper laughs. “Liam is your daddy’s real name. All his friends call him by his last name, which is Cooper. And yes, I’m your daddy’s mom, so that makes me your grandma as well. You can call me Grandma if you like.”
“Okay! Cool! Now I have two grandmas! Do I get another grandpa, too? I call mommy’s daddy Papa. I can call daddy’s daddy… uhhh… Grandpa.”
Everybody goes quiet, clearly at a loss on how to handle this, so I step in and explain the situation to Bella the best I can. Fortunately, we haven’t had any deaths in our family, so I haven’t had to explain death to her.
“Angel, remember the fire that happened in our apartment?”
“Yes, all my toys and clothes and bed went away.”
I hear Cooper suck in a loud breath at the same time his mom puts her hand to her heart. They can’t possibly think I would tell my daughter the whole story of that day. I rush out the words before they freak out on me.
“That’s right. Well, your grandpa was the one who saved you that day.”
“Wow, that was really nice of him. Can I say thank you? I was really scared and the smoke was choking my throat really badly.”
“He knows you’re thankful, but he had to go to heaven. Heaven is where people go when they die.”
Bella’s bottom lip juts out. “Like Carl in the movie Up? When he takes the balloons, and goes into the sky?”
Leave it to my daughter to compare her grandfather’s death to a Disney Movie, but she’s nailed it right on the head. “Yes, Angel, like Carl. Grandpa went to heaven so we can’t see him or thank him, but he knows we’re thankful he saved you.”
“Okay, I’m hungry. Can we eat?”
Cooper and his mother release an audible sigh, most likely thankful the conversation is over.
Cooper jumps in and says yes, but first we have to get Bella a dry outfit. In and out of a small children’s clothing store and Bella’s dry and starving.
We find a spot in the grass and Cooper pulls out a l
arge blanket, shaking it open and laying it across the ground. We all find a place to sit and he dishes out the food. Subs, cookies, some fruit, and bottles of water for everybody.
“Ms. Cooper, I’m so glad you were able to join us today,” I tell her, trying to make conversation.
“Oh dear, please call me Lauren. We’re family.”
“Okay.” I feel so blessed that Bella and I have another family member close by. I always miss my parents and brother since they live so far away.
After we have lunch, Bella is rearing to go once again. We spend the rest of the afternoon checking out a cool hedge maze, and then head to a sweet little bakery that looks like one of the playhouses. Cooper let’s Bella pick out a treat and then we walk around some of the shops until Bella is so exhausted she has Cooper carry her while she sleeps with her head resting on his shoulder.
I can’t help but snap another photo. It’s just too darn precious not to. His mom sees me snap the picture and gives me a wink in agreement.
We walk back to the car and say bye to his mom, promising to have her over for dinner soon. Cooper puts Bella in her booster seat and she doesn’t even attempt to stir. Precious little thing is knocked out from all that playing.
We drive home in a comfortable silence and as we’re getting out, Cooper comes around to my side of the vehicle and blocks me in before I can get out.
“Thank you.”
I have no idea what I even did. “For what?”
“For today. It was one of the most amazing days of my life.”
“Um, Coop. I didn’t do or pay for anything. I was just along for the ride.”
“No, Liz. You aren’t just along for the ride. You gave me a second chance, even though I didn’t deserve it. You gave me that miracle sleeping in the back seat. You helped create priceless memories today. You gave me a family. Thank you.”
Damn this man. I frame his face with my hands and give him a soft kiss on his mouth. “I love you,” I say without meaning to.