I caught Kat staring off into the distance. She assured me that she was only thinking about her own father, but I wondered if she was telling me truth. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t think Kat had a habit of lying to me. The circumstance with Bobby rubbed me the wrong way, so if she was worried about that she’d keep it to herself. I gave her a kiss before turning all of my attention to our beautiful little girl.
She kept repeating the same words again, reminding me that she was waiting. “Put it on. Put it on.”
I scooped her up. “Let’s go get pretty and show everyone that Daddy knows how to shop.”
Her little red bikini with ruffles was the cutest thing on her. I let her wear my glasses for her big reveal. I could tell immediately that Kat was pleased with my selection. “Yook at me. I pwetty,” B announced.
My mom acted extremely excited, getting a reaction out of our sweet girl. She giggled and came running back to me, letting me scoop her back up. I brought her over to Kat. “What do you think? Is she not the cutest kid ever?”
“She is. You did good.”
I started spinning my little beauty queen around in circles. “B, let’s go out and learn how to swim.”
When I pulled out her float and began blowing it up, B seemed memorized by its growth. I held onto the nozzle and reached it over for her to try. “You blow on it.” She tried, getting more slobber than air. The slobber didn’t bother me. That DNA was mine. I placed the float attachment back in my mouth without wiping it. Even though it didn’t make me cringe, I saw Kat out of the corner of my eye scrunching up her face. Apparently she didn’t have a stomach of steel. At any rate, I wasn’t ashamed. I’d share anything with my little girl, and I wanted her to know it.
I pulled off my glasses and her flip-flops before I hopped into the pool. Then I held out my arms for her. She jumped right to me, letting out a scream when her body hit the cool water. She trusted me, and it was something I’d cherish for the rest of my days.
In less than a week’s time I had everything I wanted. It was so overwhelming at times that I had to keep reminding myself that it was real.
Enjoying my time in the pool with Brooklyn while my brother watched, only made it all more entertaining. Though I felt bad about him being sterile, a part of me wanted to rub it in his face at the family I now had, after he’d stopped at nothing to prevent it. Plus, I think a part of me was still worried he could have been the father. Doctors have been known to make mistakes. Pinpointing the exact time of conception had to be difficult. Now I knew for sure, without a single doubt, she was mine. No matter what B would always be my flesh and blood. Perhaps Branch saw it that way too. If he were to have a child the same chromosomes would have been shared.
My daughter laughing captured my train of thought. “Again, Daddy. Again.” I was spinning her around in the float, getting a kick out of how she acted when I stopped and watched her little head trying to catch up.
“How about you jump in? Do you want to do that?”
She nodded. I immediately lifted her out of the ring and stood her on the edge of the pool wall. “Okay, don’t jump until I say go, B. You got it?”
She shimmied her little body from side to side. “Otay.”
I held out my arms, appreciating the fact that she trusted me so completely. “One-two-three-go!” Like a bird taking flight for the first time, I watched my little girl jumping into my arms. I caught her easily, pulling her against my body. “You did so good. Daddy’s so proud of your bravery.”
She obviously had no clue what I was talking about, albeit I was too proud to explain it to her. I think she knew I was ecstatic.
After the first time, little bug jumped into my arms nearly thirty more times. We worked on her kicking until her short legs became too tired to keep going. While standing in the shallow end of my parent’s in ground pool, her still in my arms, she fell asleep. I kept her there, close to my heart, while talking to my brother and Melissa about their life.
They didn’t have anything that interested me. Branch worked in an office building. He had to wear suits every day. The thought made me cringe. Sure, my fatigues were uncomfortable in the summer, but at least I didn’t look like a penguin.
I was pretty sad when Kat insisted I take B inside for a nap. I could have held her all day even though I realized she was pretty pruned up from being in the water so long.
Since I was tired out myself, I decided to just lay down with my daughter. Kat helped get her in a dry diaper while I changed my own clothes. Then she gave me a kiss before I climbed in bed next to B. She stirred, looking around and then curling up against my chest. Kat gave me a sarcastic head shake. “She has you wrapped around her little finger.”