Chapter 21

GABRIEL

"Gianna, what did you do?" I got down on one knee, not quite believing my eyes. I couldn't breathe around the lump in my throat and had to swallow twice before I could find my voice. There was nothing I could do about the moisture gathering in my eyes as I looked over the little one from head to toe just as I'd done with her mother and had to fight back the tears.

I had to clear my throat a couple of times and must've looked like a fish when I kept opening my mouth to speak, but the words wouldn't come. She just stared at me, this kid, with no fear.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" I cupped her little face so much like mine; in fact, not so much; it was my face. How fickle is the heart? How can it hold so many different emotions? One minute dark and the next, the next filled with a love that's so instantaneous it's all-consuming.

"My name is Gaby. I'm two." She held up two fingers. I looked up at her mother before getting to my feet.

"You kept my child from me? You? Yo