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Goddamn, she was killing him with that little pout. “She isn’t sick exactly, but she gets bad headaches because of her accident. You know about that, right?”
Stella gave him a solemn nod. “Em hurt her head.”
“Yes,” he breathed. “Yes, she did. She has problems because of it. One of the big ones is with her memory. Emma doesn’t remember anything from before her accident.”
“She has ’nesia.”
“Yes!” Garrett wanted to pick her up and squeeze her, but Stella wasn’t ready for that yet.
That’s okay, he told himself sternly. They had time now.
“Yes,” he repeated more calmly, surprised to find that he was sweating. “Emma has amnesia. Which means she doesn’t remember things that were important, including one big secret. It was the most special secret in the entire world and the accident made her forget it.”
Stella’s eyes grew huge. “Really?”
Her little lip turned down. “But no one will ever know it 'cause she hurt her head.”
Garrett forced himself to breathe in and out. He leaned in. “Well, the good news is I was able to figure out the special secret.”
Stella leaned forward too, mimicking him. “What is it?”
“Well, it’s about you, baby girl.”
Stella’s sudden disdain was worthy of a teenager. “I’m not ababy.”
“Oh, of course not. Silly me,” he apologized, lightheadedness making him giddy.
“It’s just that I don’t know any other kids, so you seem small to me. But I stand corrected. You’re a big girl. Five whole years…” He trailed off, his throat aching. “I’m sorry I missed them.”
Stella watched him with huge brown eyes. Such a familiar shape. And the curve of her mouth.Damn. He looked just like that when he was confused.
He cleared his throat. “I have to tell you the special secret now. And it’s going to be hard to understand. Stella… the woman you call mama isn’t your mama. Mariana is your grandmother.”
Yeah, that scowl was real familiar too. He saw it in the mirror all the time.
“Emma is your real mama,” he continued, trying not to rush through the words. “You are Emma’s daughter. That’s the super special secret—the one the accident made her forget.”
Stella twisted behind her to look at Mariana.
“Your grandma Mariana will tell you all of this is true in just a minute. Because the secret is so big, I’m not done with it yet.”
The sweat was trickling down his back now. But there was no help for it. “You see, I am not just Emma’s new husband. We were boyfriend and girlfriend before her accident.”
He paused, searching for the right words and not finding them. In the end, he just blurted it out.
“Stella, I’m your dad.”
“What?” The earsplitting screech made him flinch.
He chuckled, the noise scratchy to his ear. “I am your father. And Emma is your real mom. But because of her accident, no one knew. Emma didn’t get a chance to tell me she was going to have a baby before she got hurt. Which is why I didn’t know about you. If I had, we would have met a lot sooner.”
The little girl stared at him. She didn’t even blink.
“Stella, do you understand everything I just told you?” he asked, giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “I know it’s a big and very weird surprise.”
Stella’s mouth opened so wide Garrett was sure he could see her tonsils. He braced himself for another shriek.
“Emma is my mom and you’re mydad?” This last was delivered in that same eardrum-destroying frequency as her last scream.