“It does look like a fucking magazine spread,” Logan muttered, staring around at everything.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said dryly.
“And it’s clean,” Maia added. Fresh tears pooled in her eyes. “This is how other people live. With books and nice things and clean. Why didn’t she give me that?” she begged. “I loved her. She should have loved me and given me that.” Her tears broke free, but before I got to her Logan did. He was across the room and pulling her into his arms in under a few seconds.
He let her cry it all out as I stood there crying for her too.
But I was also hopeful for her, because only ten minutes ago Logan MacLeod had been a scared-shitless ex-con, and now he was stepping up for Maia, comforting her without even having to be asked.
There was a possibility Logan was a natural at this stuff. His sister certainly seemed to think so.
For Maia’s sake, I hoped so.
“Is this all right?” I said, pulling back the duvet on my guest room bed.
Maia was looking a little shell-shocked again. “It’s really nice.”
The guest room was decked out with a mahogany sleigh bed and matching furniture. The walls were a soft lilac, and the accent colors for the furnishings were black and silver. I loved my guest room and was more than thankful I had it set up and ready to go.
Dinner had been awkward. I had had no grand expectations of anything else. It was going to take time for Maia and Logan to get used to each other. Logan asked questions about school and her hobbies. She muttered more stuff about maths and physics and something about a choir, but it was like pulling teeth to get information from her. I think it had all just hit her.
Plus, she and Logan were both exhausted, and Logan had to leave early to get ready for work. It was only eight o’ clock, but Maia’s lids were drooping, so I’d insisted she get ready for bed.
We had a lot to do the next day and we all needed rest.
She dumped her book bag on the floor as I handed her a pair of clean pajamas.
“You can borrow those for now. Tomorrow we’ll need to do some shopping. We’ll just get you a few things until…” I trailed off, not knowing how to complete that sentence without sounding insensitive.
“Until Logan gets the paternity results back,” Maia finished for me. “It’s okay. I’m not stupid. I know it would be insane of either of you to spend too much money on me for it to come back that I’m not his kid.”
“I think we both know that with those eyes of yours and that face that is scarily similar to his sister’s, the chances are you’re Logan’s. But that doesn’t mean this will all work out legally. We’re being cautious because you might not get to stay with him, and I just want you to be prepared for that.”
Her lower lip trembled, but she nodded and slumped down on the bed. “Why are you helping, Grace? I mean, you and Logan aren’t together, and from the questions he was asking you at dinner, it doesn’t even seem like you know each other that well.”
I sighed and sat down next to her. “Honestly?”
“The answer to that is always yes.”
I smiled at her response. “Okay. Noted. The truth is, Logan moved in here only a few months ago, and we’ve been at loggerheads for most of it. But I don’t think he’s a bad guy. In fact, I’m fairly certain that he’s one of the good ones.” I thought of all his women. Well, for the most part. “But mostly I’m doing this for you.”
“Why? You don’t even know me.”
“Because I’ve been where you are – looking for family because the one I was born with let me down in a way you can’t forgive.”
She stared up at me with those wise violet eyes. “They hurt you too.”
I nodded. “I made a new family here with my friends. I just want the same for you.”
Silence enveloped us, but this time it was the sweet kind, made even more so when Maia reached across the bedspread and slipped her hand into mine.
CHAPTER 7
“I
don’t really need this.” Maia stared at me with those big woeful eyes of hers as she stood in a changing room.
“It’s cute.” I gestured to the dress she’d tried on. It looked particularly cute with her grungy biker boots. “We should get it.” I patted my purse and reminded her, “Logan’s credit card.”
She looked down at the ground. “I just don’t want him to be mad at me for spending too much money.”
I’d been having so much fun with Maia that morning, making her breakfast, taking her shopping, that I’d temporarily forgotten how scary and confusing this must all be for her. Just because she initiated the whole thing didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified it could all blow up in her face. “Logan won’t be mad. We’ve barely bought anything. He knows you need at least a week’s wardrobe. That’s what we’re doing.”
The nod she gave me was reluctant, but we ended up buying the dress along with a pair of jeans and a few shirts. She changed out of her uniform and into a set of her new clothes. Afterward I led Maia away from Princes Street and up onto the path that ran along the outskirts of Calton Hill, where we would have privacy.
I had woken up that morning to the sound of my kettle boiling at five a.m. Maia was in my kitchen, making herself a cup of tea, moving from one foot to the other with nervous energy. Her eyes were bloodshot, and that, along with how early it was, told me the girl had gotten hardly any sleep. I thought the best thing to do was get her out of the flat. Logan had given me his credit card before he left the previous night for work, and I’d thought Maia would be like most teenage girls, and that shopping would take her mind off things.
It had not.
She had so many thoughts right now I could practically hear the buzz of them over the sound of the busy city-center traffic below us.
“You can talk to me,” I announced. “If you want to talk to me about anything that happened at home. I understand if you’re not ready yet for that. I just want you to know that I’m here.”
She stared out over the city, and for a moment I thought she might not answer. Finally she spoke. “Maybe you could just tell me more about you?”
It occurred to me then that for all Maia knew, I was a crazy person she was entrusting with her well-being. I didn’t think she believed that, but I could understand her hesitation. She had been desperate to get away from the situation with her mother, and that meant taking a big risk, such as living with me. “Sure. That’s only fair. What would you like to know?”
Finally she looked at me. “You’re an editor? For, like, a publisher?”
“No. I’m a freelance editor. I mostly do editing for self-published fiction writers, but I also copyedit academic papers.”
“And you make a lot of money? You have nice things.”
I grinned at the nosy question. “I make just enough. Most of that nice stuff I found while bargain hunting, and a few pieces are from a previous life.”
She frowned. “What does that mean?”
Although this was a topic I usually shied away from, I knew to earn Maia’s trust I was going to have to show her I trusted her in return. “My parents have a lot of money.”
I watched as she processed this. “But you don’t talk to them anymore,” she deduced.
“No, I don’t.”
“Can I ask why?”
“You may,” I corrected her with a reassuring smile.
She blushed a little and looked away. “May I ask why?”
“Well, it’s not something I like talking about, but… my parents are not very nice people.”
“When did you stop talking to them?”
I searched her face, wondering why she wanted to know so much. “About seven years ago. I went to university here at Edinburgh, and when I graduated I returned to London. I tried to be a part of the family, but it… Let’s just say I was better off back in Edinburgh, where I felt more at home with the friends I’d made here. I stayed in a flat with a number of them for a while, and then they all start
ed pairing off and getting engaged. By then I’d built up a clientele and was making good money editing, and so I found my little flat on Nightingale Way.”
Maia came to an abrupt stop, and I halted too, looking back at her quizzically. “So you did it,” she said softly. There was something in her tone. Something akin to awe. “You made a life for yourself outside of your family. You really did it.”
I understood now. “Yes. I really did.” And you will too.
Her eyes grew big, luminous, and there was something hesitant in them. “Can… May I ask what your family did that was so awful?”
I looked out over the city I loved and sighed. “Some other time perhaps.”
When Maia didn’t reply, I glanced sharply back at her, afraid I’d hurt her feelings. Instead her sad smile was one that offered understanding.
“That was quick.” Logan was stooped over, his elbows leaning on the railing of our landing as he watched us climb the stairs. I looked up at him, and my smile faltered when I took in his appearance. He looked as exhausted as Maia.
“Turns out Maia is not much of a shopper.” I threw her a teasing smile as we stepped onto the landing to join Logan. I held up the bags in my hand. “I had to force-feed her.”
He straightened up, eyeing the bags and then Maia. “Did you get everything you needed?”
She nodded shyly.
We had gotten her everything she needed. Clothes, underwear, shoes, and toiletries.
Logan reached for the bags Maia was carrying. “Let me help you with those.”
I smiled at the way she watched his every movement with big round eyes, completely fascinated by him, before I let us into my flat. They followed me inside to the guest room, and I dumped the bags on Maia’s bed. Logan followed suit, and he took in the room. “This is nice. Do you like it, Maia?”
“It’s really nice,” she agreed quietly.
“Oh, here.” I dug in my purse for his credit card and handed it to him. Our eyes met, and he gave me this little smirk. I laughed. “Don’t worry. We were kind.”
His smirk turned into a tired smile, and I ignored the little pang of feeling it produced in my chest. “I’m sure you were. Have you guys had lunch? I thought I could take you out.”
“We haven’t. But you know… I’ve got some work to do. Why don’t you take Maia?”
We locked gazes again, and that little pang I felt quadrupled at the gleam of gratitude in his eyes. “That sounds great. What do you think, Maia?”
She nodded, and I could see her trying to mentally bat away her nerves like she had done in our landing yesterday when she’d confronted Logan. My gosh, was that only yesterday?
“What do you fancy?” Logan said as he guided her out of the room.
“Um… a cheeseburger?”
“Oh, my kind of food, girl. I know where we can get a good burger.”
“Have fun!” I called after them.
Maia gave me a wave at the door, and Logan lifted his chin toward me in what I assumed was a macho good-bye. When the door closed behind them, I bit my lip.
What the hell was I doing?
“What the hell are you doing?” Aidan yelled.
I winced and pulled my phone away from my ear.
“Grace? Grace!”
“I’m here,” I snapped. “Stop yelling before you blow out my eardrum.”
“I was shouting at my teammate, who is acting like a complete arse,” he said. “Sorry. I’m in the locker room. Anyway, I probably should be yelling at you. Would you like to explain to me what on earth made you think it was a good idea to take in a strange homeless girl who may or may not be your annoying next-door neighbor’s long-lost daughter?”
I’d decided it was best to call Aidan and let him in on my current situation, because he’d be pissed off at me if he found out about it much later. However, I was now rethinking that decision.
“Well, when you say it like that, it sounds nuts.”
“Because it is nuts.”
“Look, they needed my help.”
Aidan grunted at that. “I’m coming over to meet them.”
I frowned at the thought. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. Maia is overwhelmed as it is.”
“I’m sorry this girl is going through all this and I think it’s amazing that you want to look out for her, but I’m looking out for you. I’ll be over at yours in a bit to meet them. No arguments.”
I smiled because it wasn’t so bad having someone care about me. “Fine. But I’m not feeding you.”
He was quiet a moment. “But I’ll be hungry.”
I snorted, knowing he was pouting like a little boy on the other end of the line. “Fine. I’ll feed you.”
“Do you have feelings for this guy? Is that what this is?”
I froze at Aidan’s question, hot oven tray held aloft in midair. “What?”
“Um… Why don’t you put the sausage rolls down before you answer that?”
True to his word, Aidan had come over after his training, and I’d decided to heat up some snacks like sausage rolls and little mini samosas for our lunch while Logan was out with Maia.
I had not expected to be hit with a question I really didn’t know how to answer.
Putting the hot tray down, I tugged off my oven gloves and turned my back to put them away so I didn’t have to look Aidan in the eye. “It’s not like that. Impossible though it may seem, I think Logan and I might be friends.”
“Just friends?”
I laughed, but even to my ears it sounded hollow. “Of course.” I turned around to look at my friend. “Aidan, I’m not his type at all.”
“That’s not what I asked.” He leaned across my kitchen counter. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Oh, I won’t.” I waved off his concerns. “Logan is not my type either.” I adamantly ignored memories of the dream I’d had about him, or the fact that every time he shot me that crooked smile I felt a flare of pleasure-pain in my chest. I didn’t know what it meant, but I knew I was damn well going to ignore it. “I’m just helping out a neighbor. And mostly I’m helping out Maia. I think you’ll understand once you meet her.”
I began to plate up our food, and Aidan was quiet until I sat down beside him. “What do you mean?”
I cocked my head to the side in thought. “She reminds me of me.”
My friend smiled. “Then I’m sure she’s worth all the effort you’re putting in.”
I returned his smile with a grateful one of my own and then caught him up with the situation to date.
It wasn’t much later that we heard my front door open, and my ears pricked up at the sound of Maia’s giggle. Relief whooshed through me. I had to admit I’d been anxious for her, and for Logan, wondering if they could get over their awkwardness around each other long enough to enjoy lunch together. From the sounds of that giggle, things might have gone all right for them.
“I’ll ask Grace,” I heard Logan say. “She’ll back me up.”
I smiled at Aidan’s raised eyebrows and called out, “Back you up about what?”
“About music from —” Logan suddenly cut off his reply as he and Maia entered the kitchen. His eyes narrowed on Aidan. When I looked at Maia, her expression was almost an exact mirror image of her father’s.
I swallowed my laughter. “This is my friend Aidan Ramage.”
“The rugby player.” Logan’s voice seemed to rumble with suspicion.
“Rugby player?” Maia said softly.
“Aidan plays for Scotland,” I explained to her. “He’s one of those friends I was telling you about. We’ve been friends since first year at university.”
Aidan was standing now, towering over me, eyeing Logan and his daughter.
“Aidan, this is Logan MacLeod and Maia.”
“MacLeod,” Logan added. “Maia told me her surname is MacLeod.”
“But that…” I frowned. “Does that mean you’re on the birth certificate?”
“I’ll find out tomorrow. I’
m heading to the register office on Princes Street.”
“Nice to meet you both,” Aidan broke in. “I understand it’s an interesting situation here.”
Logan drew his eyes over him, carefully, deliberately, and really quite intimidatingly. “It’s a private family matter.”
Aidan shrugged at the warning, not at all intimidated, but also not offended. “Grace is involved, and Grace is my family,” he said pointedly.
I knew Logan understood, but he didn’t seem any happier about it. Maia was worrying her lower lip with her teeth, gazing up at Aidan as if he were about to take everything away. One of the reasons I loved Aidan was because he was a pretty perceptive guy. He smiled disarmingly at Maia, and she blushed to her roots. “I just wanted to check in and make sure Grace was okay.” His gaze drifted back to Logan.
Logan’s shoulders seemed to relax somewhat. “I understand. I meant no offense.”
Aidan grinned good-naturedly. “I wasn’t offended.”
“Did you guys have a nice lunch?” I said, deliberately changing the subject before I was stifled by the testosterone in the air. “Did you get your cheeseburger?”
Maia nodded. “And then we went to the National Museum on Chambers Street because I’ve never been before.”
I raised an eyebrow at Logan. “Good food and a trip to the museum. Who are you trying to impress?”
His lip quirked up at the left corner at my teasing. “Maybe I like culture and was just trying to impart some.”
“Yes, you’re full of surprises,” I said sardonically.
“You have no idea.” He flashed me a full-on wicked smile that hit me straight in the gut and I blinked, stupefied for a moment. “Maia, why don’t we head next door and let Grace visit with her friend.”
“Guys, please stay,” Aidan encouraged. “I’ll be leaving soon anyway.”
Maia was the first one to make a move toward the counter. I noted her eye the mini savory snacks we hadn’t gotten around to eating. “Help yourself, sweetheart.”
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