Graduation and Gifts (Untouchable Book 8) by Heather Long (best books to read for beginners TXT) 📕

something. "More me than her, I mean, you've got her coloring. But those are my mom's eyes and that little—crinkle right there at the corner of your right eye? That's us too. Jackson family trait. We all do it."

A family trait, it was the stupidest thing to grin about, but I was still pleased. And we were all still standing.

"Yeah, see," Hank said glancing around at the guys like he was apologizing to them too. "I'm making it weird. Kelly told me I do that because I talk, talking is my thing and I get chatty and then—well, everything kind of comes out jumbled. Great when you're lecturing, can keep the room engaged, not so great when you're meeting your adult daughter for the first time and she has no idea who you are."

His self-deprecating smile and hand gestures made me laugh. That, and he actually looked genuinely worried.

"He is so Frankie's dad," Coop murmured and I elbowed him, but he laughed and pressed a kiss to my temple. "If it's all right to call you, Hank, sir, why don't we all sit and I'll grab some coffee. We could order in food if you're hungry. We pretty much decimated the leftovers already."

"Hank is fine, boys," he said. "Boyfriends," he muttered, then shook his head. "That'll take a little getting used to. Chloe's all of seven and she's not allowed to date until she's thirty." Another flash of a smile, then he focused on me again as we all sorted ourselves out, Archie sat next to me on the sofa while Ian settled on a chair and Jake came to sit on my other side. That left the love seat open and a second chair, but Hank chose the love seat, it was closer to me.

It gave me a minute to kind of assess him as he rubbed his hands on his jeans. He was dressed comfortably, like someone who'd just arrived on a flight. He didn't have on dress shoes, but rather a pair of running shoes that looked well worn. His shirt was Star Wars and he wore a jacket over it. I leaned forward.

"Chloe is your daughter?"

I'd kind of latched onto that. Wittaker had told me he had a family.

"See, there I go... yes." He pulled out his phone and flipped it around to show me a photo. There was Hank with a dark-haired woman, both smiling into the camera with two boys standing between them and a girl peeking out from behind him. They all had dark hair like the woman, but the older boy looked a lot more like Hank. "This is Kelly, she's my wife—she's also looking forward to meeting you. I thought about bringing everyone, but Kelly insisted that it should just be us at first, then when you're ready you can come meet your siblings."

My stomach bottomed out and Hank flashed me a quick smile.

"If you want. No pressure. I mean, yes, this is pressure me showing up, but really no—I... I wanted to meet you." He admitted and lowered the phone. "I'm very sorry I didn't know about you. She never told me. Not until she asked for a DNA sample because you were sick."

Wait...

"I know you're not," he continued as Archie slid his hand over my knee and gripped mine when I held on. "Mr. Wittaker explained. Of course…” He cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about that either way. And I'm very glad you're not sick."

Just when I thought Maddy couldn't get worse, she surprised me. "No," I told him. "I'm not. And I'm sorry she made you think I was."

"Yeah well, that was then and this is now and when your attorney called, I was… I was surprised but I told him I'd already done a sample and I didn't mind doing it again. Apparently, once I agreed to it, the lab released the results. I told him, I wanted to speak to you and that I would welcome any contact."

"He told me," I admitted. "I wasn't... Okay confession time, I wasn't sure about meeting you." I met his gaze as directly as I could. He'd been really honest with me. "I had no idea...and Maddy and I aren’t… Well we're not close. She didn't tell me anything about you either." Maybe we'd skip the part where she named Archie's dad as mine. He'd been used enough in this particular scenario. "And maybe I was a little afraid."

Jake stood and went to help Coop who was carrying out mugs of coffee.

"That's fair," Hank told me as he twisted to take the mug from Coop. "Thanks."

"I didn't put any sugar or cream in it," Coop told him. "But we've got some."

"Black is fine." Hank nodded then took a big gulp as if he were knocking back a whiskey, and my heart kind of clenched for him.

"You were scared too," I said quietly and he gave me a half-shrug as Jake brought me a cup and then handed another to Archie. It wasn't long before Ian had one and then the guys were all there with us.

"We could give you some time," Ian offered. "If you want."

"I'm fine with you boys being here, you know until I knocked, it didn't even occur to me she might be here by herself and that would have been more uncomfortable. We've just met, but I want to earn the trust and that takes time." Then he set the coffee down and returned to the phone. "Anyway, yes, these are your brothers, Alec, he's ten, very serious kid. Don't know where he gets that from. Always has to try and be the best at everything he does. Studies twice as hard before he plays. It's a little intimidating."

I laughed at the face he made. There was so much genuine affection and pride in his voice and it left me hungry for that same kind reaction.

"This is Craig, he and Alec couldn't be more opposite if they tried." Hank frowned. "Actually, I really do think they