The Quarterback's Princess

|1| I'm Aware

Cayden's POV

    I walked through my parents front door after finishing a long day of working out, classes, and practice. Being a student athlete is no joke. Being a student athlete while raising a kid at the same time, now that's even harder.

    Both my daughter and I wouldn't be in as good of a situation as we are in right now if it weren't for my parents. They've seriously helped me every step along the way.

    Just like I thought, they were extremely fucking pissed with me when I came home and told them about Valerie being pregnant. They were even more furious with me after finding out that I didn't even know Valerie prior to knocking her up, let alone have any sort of relationship with her. But thankfully, when I told them how Valerie was planning on giving the child up for adoption, they supported my decision to raise her on my own. Even if I was still in high school. Thank fucking goodness for that because keeping Cayleigh was the greatest decision I ever made in my life.

    I may be being biased but she's the most beautiful girl in the world. The first time I laid eyes on her, I fell in love with her even more than I did before. And I didn't think it was possible to love her anymore than I already did. 

    And the first time I held her... I can't even put into words how I felt. I remember hovering over the nurse's shoulders while she cleaned her up trying to telepathically tell her to hurry the hell up so I could hold my daughter. After what felt like forever, she finally handed me my screaming bundle of joy.

    "Shh, princess. Daddy's got you. It's okay. You're okay," I told her while subtly rocking her. Then just like that, she calmed down. It surprised me how soothing she found my voice considering she only heard it when I accompanied Valerie to her doctor's appointments.

    That moment in the hospital was very bittersweet. I was on cloud 9 welcoming my baby girl into my life. But Valerie was struggling with her decision to give up all rights to this amazing little girl. She didn't even want to hold Cayleigh because she was afraid to get attached to her. I understood completely since my daughter is a pretty lovable kid.

    "Daaaaaddy." Cayleigh came running from the back of my parents house. As soon as she reached me, she launched herself into my arms giving me the biggest hug she could by wrapping her arms around my neck.

    I immediately dropped down to the floor while fake coughing, pretending that her hug was choking me. I laid on my back with her lying on my stomach while her arms still wrapped around my neck. Turning my head to the side, I stuck my tongue out so that it was hanging out of my mouth.

    Cayleigh giggles at my theatrics. "Stop it, daddy. You're being so silly." I continued to lay there trying not to move a muscle. "Daddy?" She shook me. "Daddy," she asked shaking me again. "Uh oh. Daddy?" She shook me harder this time. "Oh no, oh no, oh no. Grammy," she yelled with a shaky voice.

    I opened my eyes to see her staring down the hall with tears building up in her eyes and her pouting lip quivering. "Baby, baby, baby. I'm okay. Daddy was just playing," I said trying to comfort her. She was so cute.

    Her watery blue eyes turned into angry blue eyes. "That's wasn't very funny, Daddy." She stomped her way back down the hall where she came from, leaving me feeling like the biggest jackass on the planet.

    I walked into the kitchen, where I assumed she went, to see her in one of my mother's arms while she stirred a pot with her other hand. "I thought I broke him, Grammy. He wasn't moving. Then he opened his eyes and said he was tricking me. That wasn't nice. Tell him he cannot eat dessert."

    "Aww, Princess. Is that really how you're gonna do your daddy? You're gonna have Grammy take away my dessert?"

    She turned and looked at me with the cutest mad face. "Yes because you said when someone is bad, they cannot eat dessert. And what you did was very not okay, daddy."