by Claire Adams
“Hey sweetie,” I said down to her. “Want to go see if Janice needs help in the kitchen?”
“Okay!” Emma cried, and then she was off, racing towards the kitchen. I was sure she would be in the way more than she would actually be helpful, but I knew Janice wouldn't mind. And my curiosity was killing me. I needed to know what card Andrew had up his sleeve. It was strange for him to be so suddenly cheerful.
Andrew laughed and started to pick up the game. “That was fun,” he said.
“Yeah, it was,” I agreed slowly, still wondering what the catch was. But whatever he was thinking, whatever he was planning, it wasn't forthcoming just yet. “How was work today?” I finally asked, when the silence became unbearable.
“It was work,” Andrew said, shrugging his shoulders. “Busy. It's my first day back after being gone for all of last week, so of course there was plenty to talk about with a million different people.”
“Sounds interesting,” I said lamely, even though it sounded like nothing of the sort.
Andrew hummed. “I snuck away for lunch with my sister, though.”
“Oh, really?” I asked. “How did that go?”
I practically buzzed with nervousness, waiting to hear about lunch with his sister. From the casual way that he had brought it up, I could tell that this whole game-playing thing stemmed from that. But I didn't know what she could have said to him to make him change so drastically.
He had been avoiding me when he had left for the office that morning, and now he was being positively friendly towards me. He was still a bit stiff, maybe, but the fact that he had played the game with us definitely scored him some brownie points in my book.
For the first time, I could see the hint of something beneath the stern businessman that he usually projected.
“I told Katherine about you and Emma,” Andrew said, drawing me back to our current conversation. “I figured I owed it to her to let her know that she was an aunt.” He cleared his throat. “To be honest, I wasn't planning on telling her, but she could tell that I was stressed out about something, and she also seemed to know that it wasn't just work things, so eventually, I had no choice but to fess up. We haven't set a date for her to meet Emma, but I was hoping that that could happen. At some point.”
I frowned, trying to sort out how I felt about that little bombshell. “Emma doesn't even know that you're her father yet,” I pointed out.
I felt irrationally disappointed to find out that his playing the game with us that night really was just because he wanted to sweeten me up for something. And furthermore, as much as I wanted to like this sister of his, if she was anything like her brother, the last thing that I needed was two cold Goldwrights hanging around Emma.
Then again, it was still a nice evening, all things considered. Maybe I should just be happy with that, and stop, as Misty had told me, looking for trouble where there was none. Anyway, Emma was his daughter, too, and Katherine's niece, just as Andrew had reminded me. It wouldn't be fair for me to say that Emma couldn't meet her aunt, no matter what my personal feelings were on the matter.
That was why we were there, in Andrew's house. It was all for Emma's sake. I had to do what was best for her, and giving her the biggest, most loving family that I could muster was what was best for her.
I nodded at Andrew, but before I could respond verbally, Emma came back out into the living room, dragging her feet and her head hanging down. “Janice said I had to come say goodnight,” she said, pouting cutely.
“That Janice,” Andrew said, his grin a mile wide as he shook his head. He held open his arms to the girl, and Emma rushed at him, flinging herself at him. He caught her easily, holding her close and peppering her face with noisy kisses. “Good night,” he told her eventually.
She couldn't stop giggling for almost a full minute. “Good night,” she finally managed to say. She solemnly came over to me. “Mama, are you sure I have to go to bed now?” she asked. “Big girls get to stay up later.”
“That they do,” I agreed, just as solemnly. “How about this? If you're a good girl all week, maybe you can stay up late one night this weekend. We'll watch a movie and have some popcorn. How does that sound?”
“Yay!” Emma said delightedly, clapping her hands together. She gave me a big kiss and then waited for me to pick her up.
I carried her upstairs to our room so that I could put her down in her crib. To my surprise, Andrew followed after me.
“This big girl is almost too big for a crib, isn't she?” he asked.
Emma nodded her head, but as soon as she saw her crib, I could tell that she started to get sleepy. I hid a smile as I lay her down and tucked her in.
“Can I have a bedtime story, Mr. Goldwright?” Emma asked sleepily.
Andrew gave me a worried look but then took a step forwards. “Uh, sure,” he said. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl. She was a princess. There was a little princess. And she had a pet penguin...”
Fortunately, Andrew had only made it a couple paragraphs into whatever strange story he was telling before Emma was soundly asleep, snoring softly, her breathing heavy.
I smiled at her and put a hand on Andrew's shoulder, steering him out of the room, flicking the lights off as we went.
Chapter Eighteen
Andrew
As I followed Lexi back down into the living room, I couldn't help but reflect on how much fun it had been to play the game with her and Emma that night. It was just a simple child's game, but somehow, it had kept me entertained for nearly an hour. Even though, as Emma had pointed out, I hadn't been doing so well at it.
It was a weird feeling to have, knowing that I'd been so engrossed in that game and in spending time with my three-year-old daughter and the girl's mother. I didn't think I'd ever had such a warm, fuzzy feeling before. Maybe a couple times when I was doing some holiday things with my sister, growing up. But even then, I didn't think that the feelings had been quite so intense. And I wasn't sure what to do with these feelings, now that I was having them.
I laughed a little to myself, wondering if I was starting to grow soft. Maybe it had something to do with settling down and getting myself into a steady relationship.
A steady relationship. Renée.
I pulled out my phone, grimacing when I saw that I had three unread messages from her over the course of the evening. I'd been so busy with the game that I hadn't even noticed the thing going off each time. I'd been focused on something better.
“Work messages?” Lexi asked, having seen the look on my face change.
“Nah, it's my girlfriend actually,” I told her. “She wants to meet up at some point, but I'm trying to keep her from coming back to the house while you and Emma are here. She doesn't know about the two of you.”
“Why not?” Lexi asked curiously. “Is there some reason you're hiding us from her?”
“I just think it would be better for everyone involved if she didn't know about you,” I told her sternly. But seeing the look on her face, I sighed and relented. “I like Renée. A lot. But I also just don't trust her.”
Lexi snorted derisively, as I might have expected she would. “She's been your girlfriend for how long now?” she asked. “And you don't trust her? I know every relationship is different, but if you can't trust your girlfriend, she shouldn't be your girlfriend.”
I groaned. “It's not that simple,” I insisted. “You know that I'm rich, and you know that members of the press are always on the hunt for a scandal. Finding out that Seattle's ‘Hottest Young Billionaire,’ or whatever they're calling me these days, has a three-year-old daughter, and that his baby-momma is currently living with him? That would give them a field day. One that I'm eager to avoid, even if you're not.”
“What does that have to do with Renée?” I asked.
“Renée and I don't see eye to eye when it comes to the press,” I admitted. “She likes to be in the spotlight. And I sometimes think that she'll do anything to get in the spotlight. If she knew
that I had a daughter, I wouldn't put it past her to spill the beans on that one. Or at least to use that as leverage against me.”
“Hmm,” was all Lexi said.
I didn't want to phrase it in so many words to Lexi, but I was trying to keep her safe. I didn't want to compromise her anonymity.
I was a good judge of character. You couldn't work in business like I did without being a good judge of character, I didn't think. Renée had a predatory spirit. I had known that since the day we met. It was one of the things that attracted me to her, to be honest. But I wasn't a fool, and I wasn't about to leave an opening for her. I shuddered to think of the kind of stunts she could pull, with knowledge of Lexi and Emma as ammunition.
“Well, I guess if you have a hard time trusting your girlfriends and find that lying to them is the best solution, then maybe it's no surprise that you have a difficult time holding down a steady relationship,” Lexi said, surprising me with how snide she was.
I drew myself up to my full height. “At least I can keep a job and—”
“Wait,” Lexi interrupted before I could go any further with my indignation. She ducked her head, biting her lower lip. “I'm sorry,” she said, sounding sincere. “We just had a really nice night, and now I'm ruining it by escalating things. How you want to handle your relationships is none of my business. If you don't want to tell Renée about me, if you don't think it's a good idea for Renée to know about me, then I'll do my best to make sure that Renée doesn't find out about me.” She paused, and I could tell that there was something else on the tip of her tongue.
“Go on, say whatever it is,” I said.
“She came over here this afternoon. Renée. I answered the door. She wanted to know who I was, and Janice lied and said I was her niece, and that Emma and I had come to stay with you for a little while because of some family troubles back home.”
I frowned at her, mulling over that new bit of information. Finally, I shook my head. It would do no good to dwell on that now. If there was any damage done, it was already done. “I always appreciate Janice's quick thinking,” I said.
“Yeah,” Lexi said. She paused. “Seriously, thank you for spending some time with Emma. I can tell that she really likes you.”
“But?” I asked, wondering what she was holding back on now.
She shook her head, though. “There is no 'but,’” she said. “While you were on your business trip, I had a lot of time to think things over. For the past couple years, I've been just reacting. All I could do was worry about keeping a roof over our heads and food on our table. Once those worries were taken care of, for at least a little while, I was able to think of something else. And I think it would be really good for Emma to know her father. I only hope that you want to get to know her as well.”
I frowned, wondering where this was coming from. “So, you just woke up one morning and were like, hey, I think Emma should get to know her dad?” I asked dubiously.
She took a deep breath, rubbing her palms nervously against her jeans. “I had a difficult relationship with my father,” she finally admitted. “Things were strained. It wasn't the best situation to be raised in. I've cut him out of my life at this point, but I still have all those feelings inside me. And when I look at Emma, I can only imagine what things might be like for her, if she has a father who is just like mine was.”
“And you think I'm just like he was,” I surmised, feeling surprisingly bitter about that.
“I don't, actually,” Lexi said softly. “That's the thing. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I'm only projecting my fears onto you. And that's not very fair.”
I ruminated on that for a moment. “I didn't have the best relationship with my own father,” I admitted at last. “Or with my mother, for that matter. Both cold, but in their different ways. The closest thing I had to family, growing up, was my sister Katherine.” I cleared my throat. “But I don't want to be that guy, Lexi. I want to be better than them. I really want to try.”
“Okay,” Lexi said simply.
We sat there in silence. Finally, I laughed. “You're going to have to forgive me, though. I'm still new at this. Where do I even get started?”
Lexi laughed as well. “Spending time with Emma is a great start,” she said. “I know you're busy with work, but even if you could spend some time with her in the evenings, that would be a huge step in the right direction. She already likes you, but I want her to trust you, too. And maybe, once she trusts you some, we can go ahead and let her know that you're her dad.”
“I am busy with work at the moment,” I agreed. “But this is important.” I frowned, thinking over my schedule for the next day. There was nothing critical, nothing that I couldn't delegate. “Why don't I make some time tomorrow, and we can do something together? Just you, me, and Emma.”
Lexi sighed. “Don't go making promises that you can't keep,” she said. “And spending time with Emma doesn't count if you're on the phone to work the whole time that you're there.”
“Nah, don't worry,” I told her. “There's nothing big on my schedule tomorrow anyway. I can push some of those meetings off. This is important. Getting to know my daughter is important.”
“Are you sure?” Lexi asked dubiously.
“I'm sure,” I said. “It won't be anything too big, just something simple. Something fun. Just something where we get to know one another a little better.” I paused and rubbed at the back of my neck. “To be honest, I don't really know what kids like to do. I wouldn't know the first thing to suggest for tomorrow.”
Lexi laughed. “Well, what did you like to do when you were a kid?” she asked.
I frowned, thinking back. “That was a long time ago,” I said. “And I never really had time for fun, once Dad really started getting me into the business stuff. I went to school, and then I came home and had private tutors so that I could learn everything else that I needed to know. Every once in a while, we got to go to the park.”
“The park would make a nice outing,” Lexi suggested. “Emma loves going to the park. She likes to climb on the jungle gym, and if the weather's nice, we like to take a picnic over there. With some extra bread, so that Emma can feed the birds.”
I laughed. “Sounds like you have the day all planned already,” I said. “But come on, I want to do something special. You guys could go to the park without me. It doesn't have to be something special for every outing, but for the first one, maybe we could go someplace that she's always wanted to go but never been able to before?”
Lexi was quiet for a minute, and I wondered if I had offended her by reminding her that I was able to give our daughter things that Lexi had never been able to before. But when she spoke, she didn't seem upset. She just sounded like she'd been thinking.
“What about the Seattle Children's Museum?” she suggested. “Tickets are a little pricey, but maybe we'll qualify for a family discount if there's three of us. Or maybe Lexi is young enough to get in for free. I don't remember anymore. I haven't looked at it in a long time since it was so out of the question for us before.” She paused, looking uncertain. “I can research all the information tonight, if you want. If it's too expensive, we don't have to go.”
I reached over and put a hand over hers, squeezing lightly. “Lexi, relax,” I said gently. “I don't exactly know what a children's museum is, but I doubt it costs so much that a billionaire wouldn't be able to afford three tickets for his family to take a day trip there.”
She ducked her head, looking embarrassed, but I reached out with my index finger to tilt her chin back up. “The Children's Museum sounds like a great idea,” I told her. “But let's not spoil the surprise for Emma. We'll just tell her we're going somewhere and let her figure it out when we get there.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Lexi said, smiling back at me. Then, she yawned, belatedly covering her mouth. “Sorry,” she said. “I think that's my sign to go to bed.”
“We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow,” I said, standing up
off the couch and holding out a hand to help her up as well. Impulsively, I drew her into a hug, feeling her warm curves pressed against me. “Sleep well,” I said as I broke away, feeling sheepish.
“You too,” Lexi said softly, smiling as she turned to head back upstairs.
Chapter Nineteen
Lexi
I watched Lexi scamper through the fake landscape that they had set up in the Children's Museum, flipping over rocks in her search for “bugs.” I glanced over at Andrew, who was also watching Emma, looking amused but also a bit perplexed.
“Having fun?” I asked.
Andrew shook himself, turning towards me. “Oh, yeah,” he said. “Having fun.” He frowned, though, waving his hand towards the exhibit as though he just couldn't figure the place out. “To be honest, I didn't know that places like this existed.”
“You never came here as a kid?” I asked, feeling surprised. For someone who had grown up in the city, it was hard to believe that he had never been here before.
“Never,” Andrew said, shaking his head. He paused. “To be honest, running around tubes and frolicking weren't really big in my childhood.”
“You definitely missed out,” I told him.
“Yes, god forbid that I wasn't out here finding fake bugs beneath fake rocks,” he said mock-seriously.
I laughed. “It's not all about finding fake bugs under fake rocks,” I said.
“True,” Andrew said. “Actually, I never built a fort when I was a kid either. Out of blankets or out of boxes.” He laughed, sounding a little self-conscious. “I don't know what my father would have said if he found me practicing my architectural skills rather than working on something to do with business, but I don't think he would have praised me for my creativity.”
I winced, struck again by how normal my childhood had been in comparison with his. Sure, I didn't get along with my father, and my mother was something of a flake, but at least she had always been there to encourage me in whatever pursuit struck my fancy. I was lucky to have that.