Sorry for the delay.
Again, this is not beta'd or pre-read. If you're still confused let me know. Some things will be answered later, though.
SM OWNS IT ALL.
It takes a few days, but Alice and I sit down with Sophia and we tell her about her Edward.
It's the most terrifying and shortest conversation of my life.
She doesn't really understand yet. She does know that her Daddy was always away and couldn't come see her.
Now she knows that he's gonna be here soon.
"Is he a nice Daddy or a meanie?" she whispers in my ear. When she's nervous, she speaks softly and I just want to protect her from the world.
"Oh, he's definitely one of the nice Daddys. I promise."
I'm amazed that I'm not nervous. I'm proud actually—she's my greatest accomplishment.
When Edward arrives at our house, I show him in and we go straight to Sophia's room. He looks nervous so I reach down to squeeze his hand and tell him that everything's cool.
I ignore the familiar jolt of electricity that passes between us. It doesn't surprise me. It will always be there.
I tell my heart to slow its roll, Edward's not off the hook yet. He better be ready to do more explaining.
Sophie looks up when we come in and she goes straight to Edward. Her little arms wrap around his legs and she says very softly, "Hi Daddy."
Oh fuck me; I said I wasn't going to cry!
Edward kneels down to her level and caresses her cheek. "Hi Sophia." He whispers.