“Oops.”
He could stop now—maybe should stop now—on this high note. But it wasn’t the full truth, and if he’d learned anything tonight, it was that the truth mattered. “There is one more thing that you probably didn’t hear.”
“I know Mom is in jail.”
Ah. That took one item off the list. Still a doozy to go. “There’s something else.”
She hugged her knees. “What?”
He twisted his lips to the side, thinking through the best way to censor this news for a thirteen-year-old—one who didn’t need an even worse image of her mother than she already had. “There’s some confusion over who your father is.”
She stiffened. “What do you mean?”
“Meaning it was either me or another man.” He paused. “A man who died several years ago.”
Amelia grew quiet, tugged at a loose thread on the ripped knee of her pants. “Okay.”
That definitely hadn’t been Linc’s reaction, but hey. He wasn’t thirteen. He waited.
“But we don’t know for sure?” She frowned, tugged harder. The rip spread.
He nodded. “We don’t know for sure.”
“Can we find out?”
“If you want to, yes. There’s this thing called a paternity test that can match DNA, prove it one way or the other.” Man, that prospect hurt. But it needed to be Amelia’s choice. Linc knew in his heart who she was—his daughter.
Amelia needed to know it for herself.
She let go of the thread, looked over at him. Studied him. Then…“Nah.”
He nearly swallowed his tongue. “Nah?”
“Nah. I don’t need the test.” She shrugged a little. “I want you to be my dad either way.”
He was suddenly grateful for the rain, hiding the tears falling free. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I guess if you’re willing to come search for me in a thunderstorm, you must care more than I thought.”
She wasn’t the only one found in the storm tonight. Tears held his throat in a vise. He croaked out the only words he wanted to hear. “You promise?”
She looked up at the lamppost over their heads and grinned. Reached up and slapped her hand against it. “Promise.”
Oh, this kid. He struggled to his feet, maybe using the pole for support more than he should have as relief and adrenaline coursed through his veins. He reached around, grasped the other side of the post. “Looks like I want you to be my daughter either way too.”
“Guess we’re stuck with each other, then.”
“Yep.” Best news ever. “There might be some legal stuff to deal with down the road, but we’ll handle it as it comes.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “I’m in.”
Linc hesitated. “You know…we haven’t ever hugged before. Is this?—”
“Seems like a hugging moment to me.”
His heart lifted. “Was hoping you’d say that.”
Amelia’s skinny arms launched around him.
