The Good Race

Chapter 17

DANNY LOOKED OUT the window to see who the hell was pounding on their door at ten o'clock at night and wondered what was so God-damned desperate. The hospital called when they had a problem and Ryan had gone back to New York to wind things down.

"It's Eric," he said surprised, then pulled the door open.

Danny's jaw dropped as Eric strode into the house. He had a large duffle bag over one shoulder and a toddler sleeping on the other. Jackie walked in and arched an eyebrow. She didn't know too much about Eric—only that he was Danny's partner in New York and they knew each other in the Army.

"I got more shit in the car," Eric announced, dropping the duffle bag on the floor.

"Whose kid is that?" Danny demanded.

"Mine," Eric answered.

"I saw you three months ago, dude. You didn't have a kid."

"Long story short. When you lived in Boston, I dated a chic named Tracy. We had fun for a bit, but she was kind of crazy, so I called it off. This was about four years ago. Last week, she showed up on my doorstep and shoved this kid at me and says she's mine. Tracy is a lying ass bitch, which is why I broke up with her, but it was hard to deny that the kid looks likes me so I got a DNA test. Turns out, she's actually mine. Then Tracy goes underground."

"Are you going to find her?" Danny asked.

"No."

"So, you're going to be a dad?"

"Dude, take another look at the toddler on my shoulder. I am a dad," Eric replied. "And stop talking so loud or you'll wake her up. She gets real pissed when you wake her up."

"Just like her old man," Danny muttered.

"She looks sweet," Jackie smiled, approaching the child and running a gentle finger down the girl's cheek. "What's her name?"

"When Tracy dumped her with me, she left me court papers terminating her parental rights, so I'm currently in the process of legally changing her name to Emma and giving her my last name. The name she came with was ridiculous, and she actually seems to like Emma," Eric shrugged.

"Or maybe she actually likes you," Jackie looked up at Eric and smiled. "Can I take her?"

"Umm, I guess," Eric said. He was amazed at how smoothly Jackie transferred his sleeping daughter from his shoulder to hers. He had only met Jackie the one time in Danny's hospital room and that was a brief encounter. But right then, watching her gentle demeanor with his daughter and the way her smile at Danny could light up a city block, he suddenly envied his friend. Jackie's love for Danny seemed to shine out of every pore in her body.

Danny watched her walk around the room, rubbing the sleeping girl's back with a contented smile on her face. In that moment, he knew that he was going to give a whole barrel of those little kids to her if she'd let him. He'd never given thought to kids before. In any of his dreams and fantasies he had—when they were together or apart—it was always the two of them. Children were never really a thought in his mind. But as he watched her now, he could see she was put on this earth to be someone's mom. And since he'd be dead and buried before he let any other man provide that service to her, he supposed that made him her kids' dad. As he considered the thought, he wasn't as weirded out by it as he assumed he'd be.

"Would you like me to set up a room for you both?" Jackie asked Eric. "You could have the room down here. That way if you need anything at night for her, you won't have to come downstairs. It has its own bathroom and is close to the kitchen."