Persevere

Chapter 20

Lani and I spent about two weeks with them, she talked to her father every night because I would never keep her from him or him from her. No matter what problems Luke and I might have, he's the best father ever. I would never be that bitter mom who keeps her child from her father because we're not getting along. The distance between us wouldn't last long though, Keilani had enough.

"Momma, where's daddy?" she asked as we sat by the pool.

"Daddy is on a trip with Sam." I replied, brushing her curly hair away from her face.

"Why he go with Sam?" she pouted.

"Because I brought you here with me to see everyone."

"My want daddy."

"I want daddy." I corrected.

"I want daddy." she repeated, her little bottom lip trembling.

"Okay, we won't be able to see him for at least another two days." I told her.

"But my . . ."

"Princesa, princess, the plane ride to where daddy is - is long. It'll take us a while to get there. I can try for us to leave tomorrow but we won't get there until the next day."

"Okay, but we go see daddy?" she smiled.

"Yeah, we'll go see daddy." I sighed.

She ran off to tell her cousins that she's gonna go see her daddy and I just felt stress over the thing that's making her so happy. I texted Luke once I purchased the tickets and I swear he's just as happy as she is. They really do love each other, their love makes me happy. That'll be enough for me if that's the case, as long as they love each other, the rest doesn't matter.

"When do you leave?" Dom asked.

"Tomorrow at 1:30 in the afternoon."

"What time do you arrive there?"

"About 11:40 am the next day, time difference is about 22 hours and the flight alone is about 20."

"Wow."

"I know, talk about jet lag." I chuckled but there really wasn't any humor behind it.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, Lani misses her father and we do need to talk. Enough running for me."

"We'll always be here for you Penny."

"I know, love you big head."

"Love you too, Penelope Irene." he said and I turned to glare at him.

"If you ever say that again I will . . ."

"Yeah, I know." he chuckled.

I packed Keilani's things that night and saying bye to everyone the next morning was super hard but we all promised to meet up again soon . . . right. Dom took us to the airport and smothered Lani in kisses before reminding me that wherever he lives, there's room for the three of us. My daughter normally flies good but this flight is so long and she's so anxious that the first half was just bad. About ¾ of the way in she fell asleep and that's just perfect, when she wakes up she'll be good as new and I'll be the cranky one.

My hopes that Jonah or Matteo would pick us up were dashed as soon as I saw Luke. I mean, honestly I knew that he'd be the one but I still hoped that it would be someone else. Lani took off in a sprint as soon as she saw him and all but launched into his arms from a five feet distance. I smiled at him but both of us knew that it wasn't as sincere as it used to be. Lani kissed his cheeks over and over again and he did the same to her.