Daddy's Girl: A Daddy Issues Novel by Rebel Wild (books to read for 13 year olds .TXT) 📕

kind of shit when Dad was sick. When I arrived, she was sitting next to her helping her fill out forms.

Right now, Sydney sits quietly next to me in the waiting room, looking at a photo of her father, lost in her sea of worries.

“Anything?” I ask Mom when she approaches us. Sydney and I both stand, eager to hear.

“He’s halfway through the surgery,” she tells us. “He’s doing very well. They said his vital signs are stable and holding and his will is very strong.”

“Thank you, Beverly,” Sydney says, hugging her.

“You are very welcome,” Mom says, hugging her back. “I’ll leave you two alone. Do call if you need anything.”

“We will, Mom,” I tell her, kissing her cheek goodbye.

Sydney and I sit once again in silence.

“You don’t have to stay,” she says. “It’s going to be a while and I’m sure you have better things to do. You’ve missed almost a full day of work already and…”

I lift her hand and press it to my lips to calm the worry I see in her eyes.

“There’s no place I’d rather be. You must be hungry. I can have something delivered.”

She shakes her head.

“I just can’t eat right now,” she tells me, and I nod in understanding.

We sit in silence again, but now I continue to hold her hand to comfort her.

The surgeon finally emerges, and Sydney’s out of her seat as soon as she sees him. I can feel the anxiety radiating from her as I stand beside her.

“How is he?” she asks.

“He made it through just fine,” Dr. Chang says, smiling at us for good measure. I’m sure the concern is evident on both our faces. “He’ll be in recovery for a few more hours, then he’ll go back to his room.”

“Can we see him?” Sydney asks.

“Yes, of course. He’s allowed two visitors at a time right now, but very briefly. He’s still out of it from the anesthesia.”

“Thank you, Dr. Chang,” Sydney tells her as she gets the nurse to escort us back.

I stand in the doorway of his room as Sydney visits with her father. I don’t want to intrude, but at the same time, I want to see for myself that he’s okay. I listen as she talks to him, the man that’s mainly responsible for raising the amazing woman that she is today. The woman that intrigues every inch of my mind and body like no one ever has before her.

“I know you’re going to be so mad at me when you wake up,” she tells him. “But just know that I did this because I love you. I’m doing all of this because I love you and I can’t lose you.”

I watch as she gently kisses his forehead and smooths his sandy-red hair off his face. Guilt hits me when I see her reason for being with me lying there, helpless, and in living color. Her desperation to save him led her to a cold-hearted bastard like me, and after all I’ve done, she still believes I have a heart. I have a heart all right and it’s just like my father’s. The nurse’s voice interrupts my thoughts, telling us our time with him is up.

Sydney says her goodbyes and promises to be here the minute they tell her it’s okay to visit again. I extend my hand to her and she places one of her small soft ones in mine while she wipes at her tears with the handkerchief I gave her earlier.

“It had to be done,” I tell her as I drive us back home. “He’ll see that. He’ll understand.”

“I don’t think he will. Would you understand someone going against your wishes?”

“Eventually, I would. Once I learned the circumstances. Sydney, you had no choice. The alternative would’ve been him dying.”

“I think he would have preferred that.”

“He’ll be okay with a little therapy. Once he’s free and realizes he can go back to doing everything he did before he got hurt, he’ll be back to himself in no time.”

“He didn’t just get hurt. Some bastard in there abused him and then tried to kill him. Can anyone come back from that?”

“People have and your dad can. He has no idea what you’ve sacrificed for him—”

“And he never will. Promise me you won’t tell him. I couldn’t handle him knowing about all this stuff we’re doing. He wouldn’t be able to deal with it on top of everything else.”

“I promise you,” I say, glancing over at her. She looks exhausted. “Everything will look better in the morning once you’ve had some sleep.”

“I guess,” she says, sniffling her nose before wiping her eyes with my handkerchief. “I’m going to have a nice size collection of these,” she says, holding up my handkerchief to gesture her meaning. “I should give this one back though.”

“Keep it. I’m sure your rabbit can make good use of it,” I say, pulling into the driveway and parking the car in front of the door.

She gifts me a laugh about her rabbit. The first night I came into her bed, I’d dislodged the matted old stuffed animal from under her pillow and was shocked to see he was sporting one of my handkerchiefs around his neck. Sydney’s face flamed with embarrassment as she pushed him off the bed onto the floor and we continued with our fucking without a word about it. We’ve yet to speak about it until this moment and obviously, she’s still embarrassed by it.

“That is a beautiful sound,” I tell her and she looks at me in question. “Your laugh, you should do it more often. Perhaps I should give you more reasons to do it.”

Her mouth opens slightly to accommodate her gasp. Her eyes are begging me to kiss her. Long since given up the pretense that I have any power to resist her, I lean in and give her what she wants. Her fingers are in my hair, making this more than just a little kiss. I undo our seat belts,