by Rose, Louise
“Annie Mimi!” Louis, Ivy’s adorable one-year-old son, came running over to me as I entered the nursery. He’d only recently started walking, but since he’d mastered the use of his legs, he seemed determined to get everywhere as quickly as he could, like he was in a rush to cram in all the things life had to offer. He couldn’t say Auntie Milly properly yet, but I loved the way he pronounced my name and hoped I’d always be Annie Mimi to him.
I had no idea which of Ivy’s three lovers was Louis’s father. I wasn’t even sure if Ivy herself knew. But it didn’t matter – the three men all doted on Louis and they were all happy to share parenting duties, regardless of whether they were known as Dad, Daddy, or Papa.
I knelt down and gave the little boy a huge hug as he threw himself at me. “Hey, Lou-Boy,” I said. “How’s my favourite little man?”
“Happy as ever.” I stood up as Ivy came up to join us. I hugged my best friend hello, holding onto her for a little longer than usual. I needed the reassurance of the physical contact.
When we broke apart, Ivy put her hands on my waist and held me in place so she could get a good look at my face. “All right, Mills. Spill it. Something’s happened. What is it?”
“Lucas.” I could barely say the word without my voice cracking.
“Lucas?” Ivy frowned. “What’s he done now?”
“He’s taken over as head at the Academy.”
“Mother-” Ivy caught herself just before she could say something she didn’t want her son repeating. “Why on earth would he want to come back? He must know that nobody wants him here.”
“I don’t know, but there’s something I haven’t told you. Something about Lucas.”
“You need wine, don’t you?”
I nodded miserably as Ivy scooped up her son and blew a raspberry on his tummy. “Come on, munchkin. Let’s find Papa.”
“Romy’s in the kitchen with Amber,” I said as we went back downstairs. “He’s going to try and feed her something a little more nutritious than cookies.”
“Cookie?” Louis’s ears pricked up at the word.
“No cookies. Dinner,” Ivy said firmly. I admired how she was able to set boundaries with her son. I really needed to be more like Ivy in my parenting, especially since Louis didn’t seem all that upset to hear that he wouldn’t be getting a cookie right now.
When we entered the kitchen, I was pleased to see that Romy had managed to persuade Amber to help him put together some mac and cheese. As I watched, he tossed in some finely chopped broccoli, getting Amber to help him put each piece in the sauce. Maybe I should come round here for Friday dinners more often. He was easily sneaking in the vegetables Amber would never eat when it was just the two of us.
“Room for another little one?” Ivy asked, going over to the high chair by the kitchen table and strapping Louis in.
“Of course.” Romy came over and affectionately ruffled Louis’s hair before kissing Ivy. There was so much love between them. I always loved seeing them together. Anyone else and maybe I might have been jealous that they had three men to love them when I couldn’t even hold onto one, but Ivy deserved all the love in the world and more.
“Amber and I will be in my office if you need me,” Ivy said, as she crossed over to the wine rack and pulled out a bottle of red. She grabbed a couple of glasses from the cupboard and gestured with her head for me to follow her.
Ivy’s office was more like a cosy little nest than a place of business, but anyone who thought this meant she was soft would be making a serious mistake. Despite the plush sofas, comfy chairs, and brightly colour blocked walls, Ivy ran her international business empire with an iron fist. She knew exactly what was going on in every little aspect of her corporation. She always said that she did her best thinking when she was comfortable, so she’d wanted to create a space which made her feel relaxed. Now I was grateful for the soft seating as I sank down onto one of the couches, Ivy sitting next to me. She poured two generous glasses of wine, placing the bottle on a low coffee table before tucking her feet under herself, getting comfortable.
“So, do you want to tell me what’s wrong, Mills? Lucas is my ex, not yours. If you’re upset on my behalf, you don’t need to be. He’s the distant past and I’m happy with my life now.”
I took a large gulp of wine, needing all the Dutch courage I could muster before telling her the secret I’d kept for so long.
“Lucas and I hooked up once,” I revealed.
Ivy’s eyebrows shot up, but she pulled herself together before speaking. “Okay. I didn’t know that. I guess it must have been a fling if you didn’t tell me about it?”
“Just the one night,” I confirmed.
“Okay, but if it was just one night, why would you be upset about him coming back? Unless…” Ivy’s eyes widened as she put two and two together. “He’s Amber’s dad?”
“Yeah.” A tear rolled down my cheek and fell into my wine. “That’s why I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t.”
“Milly, you can tell me anything. You should know that.” Ivy put a hand on my knee to reassure me. “No judgement from me. Ever.”
“Thanks, Ivy.” I smiled sadly.
“So what happened between the two of you?”
“I always liked him,” I confessed. “I figured that after he’d been married to you there was no way he’d be interested in me.”
“Oh Milly.” Ivy sighed. “I wish you’d realise how gorgeous you are. You could have anyone you wanted. You just need a little more self-confidence.”
“You know me. It takes a couple of drinks before I can get up the nerve to talk to a man, let alone anything else,” I said. “That’s why, when I met him in a club, I was able to flirt with him. I thought it was harmless, but then Lucas kissed me…” A wistful smile spread over my face at the memory. “I figured what the hell? He wasn’t married to you anymore. A bit of harmless fun was all it was meant to be. He stayed the night at mine and it was amazing. I’ve never been with anyone who made me feel the way he did. We were up all night and what he did to me…” I bit my lip, not wanting to go into too much detail out of respect to my friend. “Anyway, the next morning, he stayed for breakfast and I really thought it was the start of something special, you know? Then Archer came over.”
“Wait – Archer knew about the two of you?” I frowned.
“Don’t be mad at him,” I begged. “I asked him not to tell you until Lucas and I were an official couple. I wanted our relationship to have a chance to develop without letting history complicate things. Only Lucas left later that day and never came back. I never heard from him, not an email, not a text, not a DM, nothing. I thought that was it, but then I missed my period. I hadn’t been with anyone else.”
“So, Lucas walked out on you, leaving you with the baby?” Ivy clenched her fist. “I’m going to kill him. The boys are going to kill him.”
“You can’t. Lucas doesn’t know,” I told her, panicked by her strong reaction. “I thought about telling him, but I figured that if he couldn’t be bothered to get back in touch with me, he probably wouldn’t be interested in being a father.”
“You can’t know that though,” Ivy pointed out. “For all that he went along with my father’s plans, Lucas always seemed like he had certain standards. I’m sure he would have wanted to be involved with Amber if he’d known.”
“I did try to tell him,” I said. “I was about eight months pregnant and feeling hormonal, so I reached out to him, wanting to see if we could figure something out.”
“And?”
“And nothing. None of the contact details I had for him worked. Or if they did, he wasn’t answering. So, I took that as a sign that it wasn’t meant to be. Anyway, Amber and I don’t need him. Never have, never will.”
“He has a right to know, though,” Ivy said gently. “Maybe he won’t want to have anything to do with his daughter, but that’s his decision to make, not yours. And what about Amber? Don’t you think she should get to know her father?”
“Even so, Milly. As a mother, I can see how important a father figure is to Louis. I know how great a mum you are, how much you’ve always wanted to do your best for Amber. Don’t you think you owe it to her to tell Lucas what happened? Maybe he’s got a good explanation for why he walked out on you. You should give him a chance.”
“You’re a better person than I am, Ivy,” I said. “You always have been. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to even face Lucas, let alone tell him about Amber.”
“Of course, you are,” Ivy said. “And you’ve got me to support you. I mean, whatever you decide, I’ve got your back. But if I were you, I’d tell Lucas about his daughter sooner rather than later. It’ll only get worse the longer you leave it.”
Chapter Seventy-One
I’d always loved my job, but walking into the Academy the following Monday was the hardest thing I’d ever done. Knowing that Lucas was officially head meant that I was bound to have to deal with him and I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do about Amber.
I’d thought about what Ivy had said all weekend. I’d barely been able to sleep because I was so stressed about what might happen if I told him about Amber. Would he want access to her? Would he fight me for custody? Amber and I were a perfect little family, just the two of us. Lucas had the power to ruin all of that.
Or what if he wanted nothing to do with us? I didn’t know what would be worse – Lucas deciding he wanted Amber in his life or Lucas turning his back on us again. Whatever he did, nothing good could come from telling him he had a daughter. Ivy might be the person I turned to for advice all the time, but on this occasion she was wrong. I was keeping my secret. It was only a matter of time before Lucas got bored and left town again.
“Fight! Fight! Fight!”
I heard the sounds of an all-too-familiar chant filtering through the hallways and I hurried in the direction of the sound. I pushed my way through the crowd that had gathered in one of the classrooms to the clearing at the centre where two girls were trying to tear each other’s hair out.
“That’s enough!” I forced myself between the two of them, making them step back. “You are young ladies! This behaviour is unacceptable!”
I got my first good look at the two girls and shook my head in disappointment. “Fenella Knight. I expected better of one of my cousins. We are Knights. We don’t lower ourselves to these petty squabbles.”
“It’s not my fault, miss,” Fenella protested. “Chantal was bullying Daisy. You always told us that it’s a Knight’s duty to stand up for the underdog. Daisy’s younger than Chantal. She can’t stand up for herself.”
“Is this right, Chantal?” I turned to the other girl in the fight. “Were you bullying Daisy?”
“No way, miss!” Chantal’s eyes were overly wide in that trying to look innocent expression that told me Fenella was telling the truth. “Daisy and me are best friends, aren’t we Daise?”
She reached over and grabbed a younger girl, pulling her towards us. I couldn’t help but notice the way the girl winced and I wondered what exactly Chantal had been doing before Fenella stepped in.
“Daisy?” I spoke gently, hoping the girl would speak up for herself, but knowing it was highly unlikely she would.
“Chantal’s right,” Daisy said softly. “We’re friends. We were just messing around when Fenella decided to interfere.”
“Oh come on!” Fenella groaned. “Stand up for yourself, Daisy. You’re a Knight too! We aren’t afraid of anything.”
If only, I thought.
“All right, girls,” I said. “I’ve heard enough. Fenella and Chantal – you’ve both got detention for a week.”
“But miss,” wailed Fenella. “I’ve got hockey practice. I’ll be kicked off the team if I miss it.”
“You should have thought of that before you started fighting,” I said. “The pair of you should consider yourselves lucky I’m not marching you into Mr Donatello’s office to be suspended. But if I find you fighting again, make no mistake. I’ll make sure you receive a very harsh punishment. Do you understand?”
“Yes, miss.” Fenella and Chantal both looked miserable at the news, but they had no idea how lucky they were. King Academy had a zero-tolerance policy towards violence. If Jenny was still head, I’d be marching them both to her office where they’d be lucky if a suspension was all they got. It was only because I couldn’t bear being around Lucas that I was giving them detention instead.
“All right, everyone.” I clapped my hands, gazing round at the crowd which was still there, enjoying the drama. “Classes are about to start. You’ve all got places to be, so I suggest you go there before the bell rings and you’re late.”
Daisy made to follow the others out, but I pulled her to one side. “A quiet word, Daisy?”
“I’ve got class, miss.” The girl looked incredibly uncomfortable, but I wasn’t going to let her off. If she’d stood up for herself, Fenella wouldn’t be risking her place on the hockey team.
“This won’t take long.”
I shooed away a couple of straggling students and closed the door to the classroom so we could talk in private.
“I don’t believe for a second that you and Chantal are best friends,” I said. “In fact, I think Fenella told me the truth about everything. Am I right?”
Daisy shrugged miserably.
“Look, I can’t tell you what to do with your life, but take it from me: things get a lot easier if you learn to fight your own battles. Fenella is one of our star hockey players and she may well lose her spot on the team because she was defending you. Do you think that’s right?”
“No, miss.”
“You need to learn to live up to the Knight name,” I said to her. “Doing what’s right isn’t always easy, but it is the best strategy in the long run. And if you ever need to talk, you can always come to me in confidence. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do, but take it from someone who’s been there – there are ways of dealing with people like Chantal that mean you don’t have to rely on someone else to rescue you.”
“Yes, miss.”
I looked at her, shaking my head. I had no idea whether my little pep talk was going to make any difference, but I’d done my best. Maybe I could get Fenella to mentor the girl. She certainly wasn’t afraid of doing what was right.
And now I supposed it was time to practice what I preached. Lucas needed to know about the fight, even if I didn’t want to face him. I had a free period first thing. I might as well get that awkward first meeting over and done with and go see him now.
“All right. Go to your class,” I said to Daisy. “The bell’s going to go in a minute and it would be a shame if you got a detention for being late after Fenella tried so hard to keep you out of trouble.”
“Yes, miss.”
Daisy scurried away while I tried to quiet the nervous butterflies flapping up a storm in my stomach as I went over to the head’s office. Maybe he’d forgotten that we’d slept together and we could just be two old friends catching up.
Yeah, right!
I stood outside the solid oak door which already bore a brass plaque with Lucas’s name on it. Jenny must be pissed off that they’d acted so quickly to wipe out every trace of her. She’d dropped so many hints during her time as interim head that needing to interview for the position was only a formality. She was convinced that she was guaranteed the job, only to have Lucas swoop in and turn her life upside down. Funny how he had a habit of doing that.
Taking a deep breath to quell my nerves, I knocked.
“Come in!”
I pushed open the door to see Nigel sitting opposite Lucas at his desk.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” I blushed. “I needed to talk to you alone, but I can always come back later.”
“No need. Nigel and I were just about done, weren’t we?”
“Yep.” Nigel got up
and reached over to shake Lucas’s hand, the two of them looking like they’d been best buddies for years.
As Nigel walked past me, he winked at me, making me smile despite myself. Maybe I was never going to say yes to that drink with him, but it felt good to know someone had my back while I dealt with having Lucas as my boss.
Nigel shut the door behind himself, leaving me with Lucas.
“Take a seat, Milly.” My legs were quivering like jelly as I crossed over to sit where Nigel had just been.
For a moment, we sat in silence, gazing at each other. I wanted to look away, but I made myself keep eye contact, not wanting to give Lucas any sense that I might be afraid. I was the Knight heir, dammit! If I couldn’t stand up to one man who didn’t care enough about me to stick around, I had no right to take over the family business.
“You look good,” I said at last, not sure what to say. How was I supposed to tell him about Amber? Already, I was regretting coming here.
“I’m glad you said that,” Lucas told me. “Because I’ve been wondering how to approach you knowing our history.”
“Uh-huh.” Was he going to ask me out? I wasn’t ready for this. I was so not ready for this!
“What happened between us was great, but it was a long time ago,” Lucas went on. “I’ve moved on and now that I’m your boss, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to start anything. I’m going to respect your professional boundaries and I’d appreciate it if you did the same. So no flirting, no hitting on me, nothing that’s not work related, okay?”
“Dammit, Lucas, I’m not flirting with you. You have a daughter.” The words came out before I could stop them.
Lucas looked like a ten-tonne truck had just run over him. If he wasn’t sitting already, I didn’t doubt that he’d have collapsed.
“What did you say?”