Only Her

Luka gazed at Ava for a several seconds. Then he placed his hands under her arms and raised her to the tail of his truck. Gently, he placed her on her the hard plastic of the gate. He hoisted himself up beside her and removed his sunglasses sitting them behind her so he could see her clearly without the obstacle of the shades, then Ava could see him too.

“You wanted to talk?” He prompted her when she didn’t say anything.

She nodded eagerly. “I know who you are.”

He was surprised by that. He put his hands together and clasped them between his legs to keep from touching her. Hugging her. She was his. Luka wanted to grab Ava and hold onto her. “Who am I?” He finally asked.

“You’re my Daddy?”

The words coming from between her sweet lips were more than he could take. He cleared his throat trying like hell to keep the emotion he was feeling in check. “How do you know that?” His tone was husky.

Ava smiled at him and Luka realized that she had the same dimple in her right cheek that he had. Her eyes were a deep blue with flecks of green around the pupil. They were his eyes. Her long black lashes curled on the ends just like his did. She was the female version of him, he realized. Luka wiped his hand across his brow and asked her to continue.

“Because Momma has a box under her bed,” she began. “In that box were pictures of you with her. You were a lot younger then though. She told me it wasn’t nice to root through other people’s belongings.”

“She’s right about that,” Luka had to agree but without Ava snooping she might not have recognized him.

“Then I heard her crying when I left the room. She thought I had gone to my own room.” Ava was swinging her legs back and forth. She couldn’t sit sti

ll, he realized.

He almost smiled at her; thinking about Skylar who used to do the same exact thing. Always unable to sit for very long unless she had something to occupy her brain or her hands.

“When was this Ava?”

“I was seven,” she told him.

“How old are you now?” He could guess at her age.

“I’m ten,” she said indignantly like he should know since he was her father.

“So how did finding that box of pictures, tell you who I was?”

“She had other things in there too. I went back and took a picture out to keep for myself. I asked Uncle Brett if that was my Daddy in the picture.”

He nodded his head. So Brett knew and the Bastard hadn’t told him. “How long have you known Brett?” He asked. He was struggling with every word. Caught somewhere between anger and tears that were threatening to strangle him.

She frowned at him. “Since I was born, duh.”

“Yeah, dumb question.” Brett and Skylar had always been close so of course he would have known about his daughter since she was born but he hadn’t told his own brother. “What else is in Momma’s box?”

She lowered her eyes. “A bracelet.”

He thought back to the Christmas before he left. He had brought an imitation tennis bracelet as a for present for Skylar. It was all he could afford at that time but she had loved it. He told her someday it would be the real thing. Not that she cared it wasn’t real.

“She doesn’t wear it?” He asked.

Ava shook her head. “The things in that box makes Momma sad.”

“Why Ava?”

“You tell me.”

He chuckled at her. “I’m not sure that we should talk too much about mine and your Momma’s past without her okay.”

“She had a ring in the box too.”

“My class ring?” He asked knowing most likely it had to be that ring.