She looked back at Tony.
“Can you think of a secret you’ve kept from people, because it was either too complicated to explain, or you just wanted to keep it close to the chest?”
She shrugged.
“You and I have grown pretty close since you’ve moved to New York. And I know for a fact that there are secrets between us. The first day we met, I told you my whole life story about my marriage, kids, divorce. But you never wanted to open up about your divorce, and about Caroline’s father. I understood. Those were elements of your life you didn’t want to share. That’s fine. Did I feel you were lying to me? Not at all.”
Alyssa shook her head, exhaling an exasperated breath. “It’s not the same thing, Tony. I mean, sure, you don’t know who Caroline’s father is because I haven’t told you. But if it were you, and I hadn’t told you, that would be a lie, wouldn’t it? Because now you’re vested.”
“Just my two cents, buddy. Take ‘em or leave ‘em. But if you need anything to help you get through this, you know where to go, right?”
“Thanks. You helped me see there’s more than one way to look at this thing.”
Her desk phone rang and she lifted a finger to Tony and reached for it. “Alyssa Stark.” She listened. “Sure, Daniel, I’ll be right down and I’m sure we can clear it up.”
She came around the desk and walked toward the door. Tony stood and turned to go. “There’s a discrepancy in my commission on the Calibrite account for this month. Daniel wants my help in figuring it out.”
Tony made a shooing motion with his hands. “Go, go. I’ll let myself out.”
Alyssa paused and put a hand on his cheek. “Appreciate you watching out for me.”
He smiled. “My pleasure, killer. Go get ‘em.”
* * * *
At 5:45, Alyssa was struggling to release the lock on her laptop computer so she could bring it home and continue work. Since she’d reactivated all her inactive accounts, she was receiving a surprising amount of interest from clients in renewing associations with McDunn and Early. It was great news, but it meant a lot of extra hours. And of course, she wouldn’t work until Caroline was in bed, so it also meant a lot of late nights.
She didn’t mind. Her workaholic nature enabled her to manage her time so she fit it all in. A lack of sleep was the price to pay, and she was willing to pay it, every once in a while, at least.
But right now, she was late. Caroline’s after-school program closed promptly at 6 and at this rate, even if she found a cab right away, she wouldn’t make that deadline. She’d never been this late before, so worried that they’d put her daughter out on the street at 6 whether she was there or not, she picked up the phone and called the school.
“Hi, it’s Alyssa Stark, Caroline’s mom.”
“Good evening.”
“I’m running a little late. I should be there in the next twenty five minutes, half hour at the latest. Does that cause you great problems?”
There was a pause on the line. “We have a strict policy that we close at 6. If children remain, we charge a ten dollar penalty fee for every five minutes after closing time.”
Alyssa sighed. “I understand. Put it on my bill. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
She hung up, then picked up the phone again and called the security guard at the entrance of the building. “Hi, this is Alyssa Stark, McDunn and Early. I’m on my way down. Any way you could have someone hail a cab for me and have it waiting when I get down there?”
“Yes ma’am, we’ll try.”
“Thank you so much. You’re a life-saver.”
At 6:10, the cab pulled to the curb at the Kensington Day School. Alyssa asked the driver to wait. She ran into the school, then to the gymnasium, where an employee of the after-school program sat at a long table with Caroline, playing checkers.
“I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again.”
The young woman looked up. “It happens. Bye, Caroline. See you tomorrow.”
After Caroline settled into the cab and buckled herself, she turned to her mom. “I’m starving. What’s for dinner?”
Alyssa chuckled. “I have no idea. Probably grilled cheese sandwiches. We’re getting too late a start for me to cook anything.”
Caroline smiled. “I like grilled cheese.”
Alyssa rumpled the little girl’s hair. She was a trooper. Of course, she had to be. “Thank God for small favors.”
The cab let them off at their building. When they reached their floor, unlocked and swung their door open, something was wrong.
Not wrong, exactly. More like absolutely, positively right.
A delicious aroma filled the apartment. Alyssa froze in the open doorway and breathed it in. Her stomach instantly responded by letting out a hungry, tired growl.
“Something smells good,” Caroline said.
Alyssa smiled. The girl’s powers of observation were exceptional.
Then a sliver of fear sliced through her. Someone was cooking in her kitchen. Who had her key? It wouldn’t be her landlord coming to her rescue on a harried late night. What was this all about?
“Caroline, go to your room, please. I’ll call you when you can come out.”
Her daughter caught a note of uncertainty in her voice and looked up at her with panicked eyes. Alyssa kneeled down and brought her into her arms. “I’m sure it’s okay. I just want to check it out, all right?”
She nodded. Alyssa caught a movement in the kitchen doorway but before she could move, Grant walked into the living room, a large spoon in his hand.
She was so relieved to see that it wasn’t a dangerous culinary criminal, she chuckled. “Mystery solved, Caroline. Look.”
She released the girl, and she twirled around, raced over to Grant, and threw herself against him in a hearty hug. “Mr. Fontaine! You made us dinner?”
He laughed and closed his eyes while she held onto him, then replied, “Yes, I did.”
“It smells delicious!”
“I hope it is,” he said, and looked over the top of Caroline’s head to meet eyes with Alyssa.
Alyssa shook her head, trying to wipe the smile off her face. She shouldn’t encourage him. As wonderful as a home-cooked meal sounded right now, she had to figure out what he was doing and why. “I didn’t know you could cook.”
He shrugged, and Caroline pulled away from him to gaze adoringly up into his face. “I don’t. But I bought a great cookbook, and you know, cooking is really just a matter of following directions in a recipe.” He turned toward the kitchen. “We’ll see if it’s edible in a few minutes.”
“Caroline, go wash your hands and change out of your uniform. Then stay in your room, sweetie. Mr. Fontaine and I need to have an adult talk. I’ll call you when it’s time to eat.”
Caroline looked back and forth between the two of them, obviously reluctant to leave, but finally nodded and trudged out of the room.
He watched her go. “I was actually beginning to wonder if I’d picked the wrong night for this. As time ticked by, I thought maybe you were taking Caroline out to dinner.”
Alyssa let out an exasperated sigh. “What’s this about, Grant? Starting with, how did you get in here?” He started to answer, but she interrupted. “Don’t tell me you paid someone in my building to bend the rules and unlock my door.”
He paused, his mouth a set line. “Okay, I deserved that. But the answer is, no. No one in your building was bribed or compromised with a request to bend the rules.”
“Then who? Or do I have a security breach here and I need to start looking for a new place to live that doesn’t make break-ins quite so easy?”
“I convinced a friend to lend me the spare key you gave him months ago for precautionary measures.”
She frowned. Then, “Tony!”
He nodded.
“That rat. He’s never getting it back.”
Grant held up a hand. “Don’t hold it against him. I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be.”
“O
h, really.” She drew out the words to emphasize her sarcasm.
He ignored it. “Actually, once I explained what I intended to do, he was supportive. I think he’s a cheerleader for us, if you want to know the truth.”
She brushed past him, shaking her head. “Okay, so you talked Tony out of his spare key, and you came here and made me dinner. That doesn’t change anything. I told you, I don’t want to see you anymore. You lied to me, deceived me. I can’t trust you.”
She took off her coat and took it to her small closet, hung it inside.
“I know a home cooked meal doesn’t change any of that. But I was running out of options. You removed yourself from my account, you wouldn’t take my calls, you don’t respond to any of my messages. Desperate times called for desperate measures.”
He closed the distance between them and laid his hand on her arm. Despite her best intentions, the simple touch caused a shot of adrenaline to dart through her. She closed her eyes and remembered that same hand touching her naked body during the throes of their lovemaking. The man affected her in amazing ways. But she couldn’t let that fact color her common sense in this matter.
“Could we sit down and talk?” he asked.
She opened her eyes and looked at his face, steeling herself to be strong and smart, and not swept away by the fierce attraction she felt for him. She nodded and moved to the couch, sat down.
He joined her. “I found out about Caroline, and my focus was absolute. I can’t deny that. It’s the way I am in business, and I guess it’s why I’ve been so successful. I get what I want.”
She couldn’t blame him for that. She had the same characteristics. But this was personal. The subject of his focus was her daughter.
“When you moved to New York, I was going to stick to the original plan – be an invisible cog in the wheel behind the scenes until Caroline was 21, then approach her with the whole story, and the offer to join me at Calibrite. But I became obsessed with meeting her. The only way I could do that was to befriend you, so you would let me in, and then keep my real identity a secret to you both. I had too much at stake to reveal myself to you.”
He reached for her hand. She stared at the top of the table in front of them. “It sounds cold and calculating, and it was. That’s what my life was – had been – for so long, I didn’t know any better. I had nothing in my life -- no companionship or love for another person. When Marguerite died, she took all that with her. This is what my life had become. Work, making more and more money, and keeping tabs on my daughter, so that when the time came, I could contact her.”
“That’s so sad.” She hadn’t intended her thoughts to be spoken, but they came out in a whisper.
“You’re right. But you changed all that for me.”
She turned and stared, their eyes locked.
“You’ve changed me and given me so much, Alyssa.”
She shook her head.
“No, it’s true. You’ve given me a reason to leave the office and experience life. A reason to open up my heart and let someone in. You’ve given me the opportunity to put another person’s needs before my own.” He reached out with his free hand and caressed her cheek. “You’ve given me my life back, better than it ever was before.”
He leaned closer to her, and with his lips an inch away from hers, he said, “I love you, Alyssa.” Their lips joined and Alyssa felt the familiar churn of desire in her gut. She ran her hand through the hair at the back of his head and let out a soft moan.
She’d missed him so much. She’d missed the contact with him. She’d missed talking to him, laughing with him.
She pulled back but stayed close to his face. “You left your established advertising firm and hired me, why? To get close to Caroline?”
He sighed and his lips clamped shut. “At first, yes. But as I said, I’m good at business. It took me no time at all to realize that what you had to offer me was much better than what Friedman, Inc. had going. Your ideas were innovative, fresh, modern. Friedman was stuck in the past. Hell, the sales results proved that. In the first two weeks after we went live with your advertising, sales were up 12% nationwide. We had to increase production to keep up with demand. A great problem to have.” He gave her a quick kiss. “You’re tops at your game, baby.”
With him sitting so close, holding her hand and kissing her, her brain was going a little fuzzy. This man affected her like no other had. She’d never given her heart away easily, and she loved this man. A nagging voice in the back of her head told her to forgive him. He’d explained his actions, and he didn’t even know her when he’d set all this in motion.
She pulled away and stood, her back to him. She needed to think, and she knew she’d melt if she looked at him.
He allowed her the space, but went on. “I came over here tonight to not only do my best to explain the truth, the whole truth. But the dinner was to try to show you what it would be like.”
She frowned. “What, what would be like?”
“All of this. Us. As a family.”
She twirled around and glared at him. “You’re saying you’d have a home cooked meal waiting for me each night if we were a family? Come on, Grant.” She scoffed her disbelief. He sprang to his feet and came to her, put his hands on her arms crossed over her chest.
“I didn’t mean it like that. Let’s review the facts, shall we? You’re a single mom with a demanding career, raising a daughter in New York City. I’m a single man with a demanding career, desperately wanting to know his daughter. I love you. You love me. She loves us both.”
She looked into his eyes. He raised his eyebrows and smiled. “You do the math.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”
His shoulders did a bob. “Why not? We’re a family, Alyssa, that’s the truth. Sure, we’re not the Cleavers, but very few families are.”
Alyssa stared at him, waiting for the panic to flow through her. The very fabric of her life was being threatened by what he was saying. She’d built a family with just her and Caroline, and she’d never needed anyone else. It would be difficult, but she could go back to that life once she’d gotten over him.
But the panic didn’t come. Just a sense of sadness at the prospect of going back to normal.
Staring into his beautiful copper-colored eyes, the same shade as her daughter’s – the feature that had nailed home the truth that Grant was indeed Caroline’s father, as he claimed – the truth sunk in. She didn’t have to go at it alone. Caroline – her Caroline, her pride and joy – was as much his daughter as hers.
She wanted to let him in.
“I’m sorry for deceiving you, Alyssa. But I was a different man then. I’m a better man now, because of you.”
She nodded. She understood.
He brought his arms around her and pulled her close. “Can you forgive me? Can you love me? Can we be a family?”
She managed a quick “yes,” and sank herself into a long kiss. All the emotions they’d both struggled with over the last few weeks combined and they couldn’t get enough of each other. Alyssa ran her hands up and down his back and he held her in his arms and pulled her closer against his chest.
“Mommy?”
They broke apart. Alyssa turned, straightened her hair and ran her fingers over her lips. “Yes, sweetie. Come here, please.”
As the little girl made her way over, Alyssa sent an expression Grant’s way, which she hoped told him, trust me. He stood a little awkwardly, but he nodded.
“Let’s all sit down,” Alyssa said, gesturing to the couch. Caroline sat between the two of them. Grant watched Alyssa warily.
“We have something to tell you, sweetie.”
“You and Mr. Fontaine?” Caroline turned her head to look at her, then at him.
“Yes. But I don’t want you to call him Mr. Fontaine anymore.”
She heard a small intake of breath come from Grant, but she focused her attention on Caroline.
“But you said ….”
“
I know I told you to call him that, but things have changed. A lot of things have changed.” She glanced at Grant, and his eyes were wide and he looked a little dazed. Scared?
“What should I call him now, Mommy?”
She met eyes with her daughter and reached for both her hands. “I want you to call him Daddy.”
Caroline gasped and Grant got a look on his face that she’d never seen before. Studying it quickly, she interpreted it as gratitude.
Caroline’s forehead scrunched with confusion. “Why Daddy?”
“Because, sweetheart, he is your daddy.”
Caroline’s eyes popped open wide, and she turned away from her mother so she could face him. “For real?” Her smile was wide with excitement.
He nodded. “Yes, Caroline. You’re my daughter. I’m your ….” His voice caught and he cleared his throat. “Your daddy.”
She threw herself into his arms and he held on tight, his face buried in her hair. Alyssa’s heart was so full she thought it would burst, but instead her eyes welled up with tears of joy. Without loosening his grip on Caroline, Grant looked up and his eyes contained tears of their own. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you so much, Alyssa.”
She nodded and smiled at him.
Grant whispered something into Caroline’s ear which caused her to gulp. Conspiring, he nodded and she clapped her hands.
Caroline scooted onto Alyssa’s lap and Grant moved off the couch, lowering to his knee in front of her. Alyssa sensed the room spinning a bit.
Grant reached for one hand of Alyssa’s and one hand of Caroline’s. “You two beautiful ladies are the loves of my life. I love you both more than I ever thought I could love anybody. You’ve brought beauty, joy and purpose to my very empty life. You’ve made me what I am today – a man who is willing, able and anxious to love and share his life. I want you to be my family, and I want us to live as a family.”
Alyssa’s head felt like it contained a swarm of mosquitos, buzzing in her ears, but she strained to hear his next words.
“So I have a question for each of you.” He looked at Caroline. “Caroline, will you be my daughter, my family and my future?”
Hidden Agenda Page 19