My Baby's Daddy

Chapter 3

“What’s so funny?” I could feel his warm breath on my ear.

“Your glasses; I didn’t realize until now how silly you look.” I was still laughing.

“Well at least I am in disguise, so no one will recognize me.”

“Let’s get drunk.” We both laughed and made it in to the banquet hall.

I wasn’t sure how many drinks we both had but the next thing I knew we were upstairs in the hotel room naked on his bed. We were both drunk, but I could still feel his touch.

Chace cleared his throat bringing me back to reality. I felt so overwhelmed being this close to him after that intense memory of our last night together. Chace helped me off the bathroom floor and we walked in to the living room. I watched as he walked over to the door and h stopped, turning to me.

“You can come by whenever you want tomorrow; I don’t have class until Tuesday.”

“OK, I will be here around three o’ clock.”

“That’s fine, we’ll be here.” He opened the front door and stepped outside. I didn’t want him to leave though; I missed him. “Chace?” My mouth spoke before my brain thought. He turned to look at me.

“Yeah?”

“Um—see you tomorrow.” He smiled and walked away.

I shut the front door and locked it; looking out the peephole to make sure he wasn’t coming back I let out a deep sigh and went to bed.

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Ella sat in the living room playing with her Barbie’s when Chace pulled in to the drive way, I wasn’t sure if I should meet him at the door or not; I didn’t want to look desperate. I got up and walked to the front door and opened it as he walked up to knock.

“Hey, Ray.” That was my nickname from him.

“Hey, Come on in.” I stepped back and to the side so he could come in. He followed me in to the kitchen. “You want something to drink?”

“Yeah, please.” I grabbed two pops from the fridge and sat down with him at the kitchen table.

I took a deep breath trying to calm down but nothing seemed to help. I knew pop was only gonna make me a little more edgy but I need to be prepared for the million questions Ella was going to ask later. Oh, man. What was I going to say to her? How would she react? Yes, she was only four years old but she was very mature for her age. I took another deep breath and opened my soda.

“Calm down, Ray. It isn’t the end of the world.” He put his hand on mine.

“I don’t know how to calm down. I don’t know how she is going to react. She has never asked questions about where daddy is or who he is or anything.”

“It will be alright. She four; how bad can it be?”

“She is a very sensitive child Chace; she has a heart full of love and I don’t want her mad at me heartbroken that you could have been here the whole time and weren’t because of me.”

“Like I sa—.” Chace was cut off my Ella storming in to the kitchen with Barbie’s in hand.

“Mommy I’m thirsty.” She walked over to the chair next to Chace, pulled it out and climbed in to it. I looked over at Chace and the look on his face was amazing. You know that look that every new father gets when they see their daughter for the first time in the delivery room? This was that look. Chace said hi to her and she smiled at him and said it back.

“What do you want to drink?” I stood up to get her drink.

“Soda.” She smiled widely hoping to get her way because we had a guest.

“You know what you can have and that is not one of them; milk, water or juice?” She giggled wildly.

“Oh yeah. I forgot.” She tossed her head back still laughing. I grabbed her favorite cup and put juice in it knowing that would be her choice. “Juice please.” I smiled and handed it to her.

“Ella, I want you to meet Chace. This is your daddy.” I know I should have worked my way into it with her, but its not like they have parenting classes called ‘Your Baby Daddy 101’. I stared at Ella waiting for a reaction, but she just drank her juice then sat her cup down.

“You’re my daddy?” Obviously she was talking to Chace. Chace smiled at her and nodded.

“That’s right. I am your father. It’s nice to meet you.” Chace stuck his hand out to shake hers and she copied him and shook his hand as well.

“Do you wanna see my Barbie’s?” she spoke excitedly and jumped off the chair.

“Sure, I would love to.” She smiled ear to ear and grabbed his hand and dragged him to the living room. I grabbed our drinks and followed.

When I reached the living room they were already sitting on the floor and she had Chace holding her dolls and she was telling him the names and how they were related. It was a good picture to look at so I walked over to my media center and grabbed my camera and took a few pictures. This was nice. Her meeting him went nicer than I thought, although there were still going to be questions about him and where he’s been. It would obviously all work out, especially since she took to him so quickly. I put the camera away and sat down just as my phone rang. I stood up and walked to the kitchen.

“Hey you.” A deep voice came over the phone and I smiled.

“Hi, babe. Are you done with work?”

“Yes, I am. Can I still come over tonight?” I leaned out to look in to the living room at Chace and Ella. “Hello. Are you still there?” I went further in to the kitchen.

“Yes, Brad. I am here and I really don’t know what time if at all you can come over tonight. Ella’s dad is here and I don’t want to rush the time they have.”

“I can still come over. It’s not like I am going to make him leave.”

“Not tonight. I don’t feel like having anything tonight. I will call you tomorrow.” I hung up the phone before he could protest. I felt bad for the way we hung up but I just didn’t feel like him coming over. I was already dealing with a lot today and I was just going to need a bath to soak and think after Ella went to bed. I sat my phone down and walked back in to the living room.

“Mommy, can he stay the night? We are gonna play Barbie’s and I want him to stay the night” Ugh. I didn’t want him to spend the night. Couldn’t I stomp my foot and throw a tantrum like I knew she would if I say no. I looked over at Chace as he turned to look at me.

“It wasn’t my idea Rainey.” Chace looked as uncomfortable as I felt. “Ella that’s probably not a good idea I’m sure Mommy has other things to do.”

“Yeah, you could sit with me while she does them.” She started to whine. “PLEASE MOMMY” She stomped her foot. It was the least I could do after what I did.

“If your daddy wants to then I am fine with it, but it is completely up to him and you still have a bed time to maintain regardless who is here.” I was such a pushover.