The word hit me like a physical blow, and for a moment I couldn't breathe. Luna—my daughter—had just called me Daddy for the first time, and the sound of it completely unmade every emotional barrier I'd spent years building.
'Daddy.'
'She actually said it,' Luna observed in my mind, her voice warm with approval. 'Look at you, Arthur. You're a father now.'
'I don't know what I'm doing,' I replied, still holding Luna against my chest as she whispered how much she loved me. 'I'm nineteen years old. I have no idea how to be anyone's father.'
'Love her. Protect her. Put her needs before your own. That's all any parent needs to know.'
