His to Protect: Book 1 in the Bound to Him Series by Sandra Antoni (the reading list TXT) 📗

a hand through his hair. “I had searched, just in case, but I never found her,” he continued.

His tone and the expression on his face had me lowering my guard. He loved Chelsea, and I could see that written all over his face. In this, we were the same, and now, he was here because of her.

“She found Marissa’s death certificate, but because it had Marissa’s maiden name on it, Chelsea had never been able to find you. It wasn’t until I dug deeper that someone else realized who she was. That is when they tried to kill her,” I explained. He nodded, taking in everything that I told him.

“Can I see her now? Can I see my daughter?” he asked anxiously, and I turned and headed back towards the living room. Governor Adams followed right behind me.

Chapter 16

Chelsea

When Zeke returned to the living room, there was an older man standing behind him. I studied him closely He was tall, slightly taller than Zeke, but he was slender compared to Zeke’s broad shoulders. He had dark hair that was peppered with gray. He was a handsome man, even though I figured he was probably in his mid-fifties.

He wore a gray, tailored suit, and his bearing led me to believe that he had a position of authority. His eyes met mine, and he seemed to be studying me in the same way that I had been studying him. A chill ran down my spine, and I turned my eyes to Zeke.

“Chelsea, I would like to introduce you to someone. This is Governor Adams. Your father,” he said gently, and my eyes flew open wide and my hand flew to cover my gaping mouth.

The man walked across the room towards me, and then he knelt on the floor in front of me. I had a feeling that this man was not often on his knees. He reached for my hand, and I felt it trembling in his as I studied his face.

“Chelsea, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know…I thought that I had lost you too,” he said in a tender voice that was filled with emotion. A tear slid down my face, but I didn’t try to wipe it away.

“You look just like her. Marissa, your mother. You look just like her,” he repeated, and his eyes filled with tears. I finally found my voice, even though it was shaky.

“I didn’t know…I mean, I don’t know what she looked like. I’ve never known,” I managed to get out.

He leaned back and reached into his suit pocket, pulling out a wallet. When he had it open, he pulled out a picture and handed it to me. With trembling hands, I reached for the picture and looked at it.

The woman in the photo looked to be a few years younger than me. She wore a smile that I would recognize anywhere. I saw that smile every time I looked in the mirror. The resemblance was obvious. This was definitely my mother. I finally knew what she looked like, and I looked just like her.

The picture fell to my lap, and my arms went around the man in front of me. I sobbed against his shoulder, and I felt his arms come around my back, holding me tightly against him. I never thought that this day would come. I never thought that I would meet my father.

I had always thought that my father had abandoned my mother and me. He had not been listed on my original birth certificate, and now I knew why. My mother had done that to protect me. My father had loved both of us, and now he was here. He had thought I was dead.

When my tears finally stopped, I leaned back and studied him again.

“I’m sorry. Your suit,” I said, reaching up and touching the spot where my tears had left his shoulder wet. He laughed and took my hands in his.

“Don’t worry about the suit. I have more. Some things are replaceable, and some things aren’t,” he said softly, and I knew that he was talking about me. He kept my hand in his as he stood from the floor and sat down on the couch beside me.

I had so many questions, and I knew that he did as well. Jessica spoke up first. She told my father how her parents had gone with Marissa to Kansas City and hid her until I was born. She told him everything that she had told us when she first arrived here.

Next, Zeke told him about my fall down the mountain and how we happened to meet. I felt my body shudder when he told my father how someone had tried to kill me when we were on the tram.

“When I married your mother, we kept it a secret. Once the council found out about it, I was forced off the council. That was fine with me because I had your mother, and she was all I needed. When we discovered that she was pregnant, we didn’t think anything of it. But that was when someone tried to kill her.”

“I assured her that I would protect her, but she left in the middle of the night. I didn’t send her away. She left to protect you. I had no idea where she had gone, and I searched for her for months. I knew the approximate time that she would have had you, but the only thing my men found was a death certificate,” he told me quietly as tears streamed down his face.

“We named you Chelsea, your mother and me. You were to be Chelsea if you were a girl, after your mother’s mother. You were going to be Joshua if you had been a boy, after my father,” he said, and his voice broke. It felt like my heart was breaking along with it and I studied the man who had given me life.

“I never even knew that you were a girl,” he said softly. “I assumed that