by Claire Adams
“I want Daddy,” Emma said.
“I know you do,” I said softly. “You really like Daddy, huh?”
“Daddy's the bestest,” Emma said. “He's funny.”
“He is,” I agreed. “You like living here, don't you?”
“Uh huh,” Emma said. “JanJan”–that was her nickname for Janice–“and I was playing hide-'n-seek, and she couldn't find me cause the house was so big, and I'm so little!”
I smiled. “It is a big house,” I agreed. “Do you like it?”
“Uh huh!” But then, she frowned. “Are we gonna have to leave again, like we did at Aunt Misty's house?”
I winced. I should have known not to start this conversation, not when I didn't have concrete answers to questions like that. I wanted to promise her that we weren't going to have to leave, and indeed, Andrew had said that he wanted to have us stay for at least a few months while he and I worked things out. But at the same time, things could change, and I didn't want to promise anything when I didn't know exactly how long we were going to be able to stay there. For all I knew, Andrew had only proposed we stay there for a few months because that's how long it would take for him to get us settled into a place in downtown.
I didn't really think that was the case, but it was possible.
Emma, sensing my hesitation, burst into tears. “I don't wanna leave Daddy!” she wailed.
“Oh, honey,” I said, pulling her into my arms and stroking her back. I had known that she was getting attached to Andrew. Of course, she was. Andrew was unfailingly wonderful with her, always listening and attentive, showering her with love and spoiling her with little gifts.
“You're not going to have to leave Daddy.” That, at least, I could promise. Even if we no longer lived here, Andrew loved this little girl, and there was no way he was going to cut her out of his life.
Still, this did nothing to console Emma, who continued to sob against my shoulder.
“Emma, honey,” I said, hating what I was about to do but knowing that it was necessary. I settled her back down on the bed, holding her hands between mine and looking into her eyes. “We're not going to leave Daddy,” I told her. “It's going to be just like in all your stories. You and Daddy and I are going to live in this castle forever. We're going to live happily ever after.”
Emma sniffled. “We are?” she asked.
“Of course, we are,” I said firmly. I hated lying to her, but I didn't know what else to do. “Daddy loves you so much. He doesn't ever want you to leave.”
“Does Daddy love you, too?” she asked.
I swallowed hard, trying to push back my own tears. It wasn't that I wanted Andrew to tell me that he loved me. I wouldn't have believed him if he did. At the same time, when she asked it like that, it was heartbreaking to think that Andrew didn't love me, that he might never love me.
All I wanted was to promise Emma that Andrew and I were madly in love and that we were going to be together forever. But that was one lie that I couldn't bring myself to voice.
“Daddy loves you best,” I told Emma, hoping that would be enough for now. Sure enough, Emma giggled, settling back against the bed. “Okay,” she said. There was a knock on the door, and she clapped her hands in delight. “Daddy!”
I forced a smile onto my face, even though I still felt a bit heartsick over Emma's worries. “And the hero returns,” I said.
Andrew laughed as he came to join me by the side of the bed. “I don't know if I'd call myself a hero,” he said. “But I do know a pretty good story about a hero. You want to hear it?”
Emma nodded vigorously.
“All right,” Andrew said, pulling up a chair so that he could sit beside me.
He was close enough that our knees touched, and he caught my hand where it rested in my lap, stroking his thumb lightly across my knuckles as though sensing my distress.
I only hoped he hadn't heard the conversation Emma and I had just been having, but he gave no signs of having done so.
He proceeded to make up a story about a mighty knight named Orinoco, who used the magic of the IPO to get the “magical capital power,” which he needed to destroy the goblins of the “Poorly-Run Competitor Firms.”
Emma was all smiles by the end, and she quickly drifted off to sleep. I watched as Andrew tucked the blankets around her and then bent to kiss her forehead. Then, he turned towards me, a smirk on his face, and nodded towards the door.
I trailed after him into the hallway. “What a great story,” I said teasingly.
Andrew stuck his tongue out at me. “Well, the audience seemed to like it, anyway.”
“It's always work with you, isn't it?” I asked, unable to keep the sad note out of my voice.
“My work is very important to me,” Andrew agreed, nodding seriously. He caught my hips and pulled me close to him, fixing me with his piercing gaze. “But I'm making some changes. I had a meeting today with the executives, and I told them that I'm not going to be working as many hours from here on out. There may even be whole days that I take off from work! And they're just going to have to fend for themselves.”
I blinked at him, shocked by the declaration. “Really?” I asked.
“Don't get me wrong, I'm still a workaholic,” Andrew cautioned. “I'm not going to drop everything just to spend more time with Emma and you.”
“Of course not,” I said quickly. “I wouldn't dare think that.” But I couldn't keep the smile off my face. “At least you'll get to enjoy this house of yours a little more often.”
“Hmm, yes,” Andrew agreed. “I was also thinking that maybe you and I could set up a date-night.”
I could only stare at him for a moment. Then, I giggled. “You really don't seem like the kind of guy who sets up a date-night,” I said seriously. “Unless it's Friday nights, because you want to go drinking at the club and then go home and fuck.” Then, I winced, hardly able to believe that those words had just come out of my mouth. “Sorry. I just mean—”
“You're right,” Andrew interrupted. “I've never been the kind of guy to have a date-night. But I was thinking about it, and it seemed like maybe it would be a good idea for you and me. Maybe it would lend a little normalcy to our relationship. Remember how we talked about how abnormal this all is, given that Emma is an integral part of our relationship? This would let us have that, and let us get to know one another better. If you're not interested, though, we don't have to. It was just a thought that we had.” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking surprisingly uncertain.
“I really like that idea,” I said softly. I couldn't believe that he had come up with it, frankly. But it was a great idea.
“Good,” Andrew said. “I need to juggle things around with my schedule and figure out how I'm going to do this, but once I have that all sorted out, we'll give it a shot.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Andrew
I glanced over at Lexi as I chopped onions. She was fidgeting worriedly again, sliding first a plate slightly to the left and then adjusting a wine glass two millimeters to the right. I smiled. “Katherine's been to my house before,” I told her.
Lexi gave me a startled and somewhat guilty look. “Of course, she has,” she said. But she was clearly confused as to why I'd said that.
“So, Katherine knows that this place never looks perfect,” I told her, looking pointedly at the table. “I mean, it's a beautiful house, but it's not as though I have a caterer come by to set the table or make the dinner.”
Lexi looked sheepish. “Sorry,” she said. “I'm just nervous.”
“I know,” I said. “But for the hundredth time, you have nothing to be nervous about.”
“That's easy for you to say,” Lexi said, rolling her eyes. But she moved away from the table and came to sit at one of the barstools, watching me put the finishing touches on the dinner casserole that I'd been assembling. She picked at a loose thread at the end of her sleeve. “What if she thinks I'm just some gold digger trying to extort you?”
“Katherine would never think that,” I promised. “Even if she were capable of thinking something like that, she wouldn't tell you if that's what she thought of you. She's nice to everyone.”
“Great, so she'll be nice to me to my face, but then she'll tell you to break up with me in a few days?”
If anything, Lexi looked even more panicked.
“Of course not,” I said, abandoning my cooking utensils and moving around the counter until I was standing next to her. I put a hand on each of her knees. We were almost the same height like this. “Just be yourself. Katherine is going to love you.”
“How do you know that?” she whispered.
“Because you make me happy,” I told her simply. “And Katherine likes seeing me happy.” I leaned in for a quick kiss and then went back to the casserole, putting a few last touches on it and then sliding it into the preheated oven.
“So, do you always cook when Katherine comes over?” Lexi asked curiously. She paused. “I didn't realize you ever cooked, actually. I thought that was Janice's job.”
“Every once in a while, I like to cook,” I said, shrugging. “And while Katherine loves Janice's cooking, she appreciates when I put in the effort to cook for her. Plus, this is one of our mother's old recipes. I know how to make it better than Janice ever could.”
“Don't let her hear you say that!” Lexi said with a laugh.
I grinned at her and got to work on salads for each of us. In actual fact, I hadn't been planning on cooking that night, but it had been the only way to get Katherine to agree to come over for dinner rather than going out to lunch with the girls. The closer it had gotten to my sister's return, the more nervous I'd gotten about the idea of letting them meet without my supervision. I wanted to make sure Katherine realized how special Lexi was to me.
Katherine arrived not too long after that, and she immediately swept both Lexi and Emma into hugs. “It's great to finally meet both of you,” she said warmly. She knelt down next to Emma and held out a small present. “I brought you something from Paris. I hope you like it.”
“What do you say?” Lexi asked.
“Thank you, Aunt Kat'rine!” Emma chirped, beaming at Katherine.
“'Aunt Kate' is good, and probably easier to say,” Katherine said.
“Aunt Kate,” Emma agreed solemnly. She looked down at the present, her fingers clearly itching to tear the wrapping off it. But she paused, looking towards Lexi for permission. Lexi nodded.
Emma shrieked with delight when she saw the beautiful doll that her aunt had gifted her with. I saw Lexi's look of discomfort and moved towards her, lightly squeezing her hand. She relaxed noticeably, smiling over at me.
“I would have loved to have a doll like that when I was her age,” Katherine said, straightening up and turning towards us. Her smile was sheepish. “I'm sorry if I'm overstepping, I just couldn't help myself.”
“She's beautiful,” Lexi said.
There was a moment of silence. “So, the two of you seem to be settling in nicely here,” Katherine finally said, looking between Lexi and me.
“Yeah,” Lexi said, glancing over at me. “Andrew's been really great.”
“You guys are easy,” I told her, kissing her gently on the lips and hoping that would calm her down a little, too. “Emma especially.”
Lexi laughed. “She's a good kid,” she agreed.
“Any luck on the job front?” Katherine asked. “Just, Andrew said that you were looking.”
“Nothing yet,” Lexi said, a faint blush staining her cheeks, and I inwardly cursed Katherine for bringing up the job situation. But Lexi forged ahead. “I had a couple interviews recently that I'm hoping could turn into something, though. We'll see.”
“If not, it's fine,” I said.
“I know that,” Lexi said.
“I was just wondering because we might have an opening at my job,” Katherine said, sincerely sounding apologetic. “I work as a nanny, so it wouldn't pay much, but it would at least be something. I think the work's really interesting, too, and you're really making a difference in people's lives. Of course, what you'd be doing would be more like basically administrative work, but I suppose that does help us make a difference in people's lives since if the paperwork didn't all get done, we wouldn't be able to function! Plus, if I had to do all the paperwork myself, I'd cry.”
Lexi laughed again. “Thanks for the offer,” she said. “I'll look into it.” Then, she grinned. “So I guess you're the nice one, and Andrew's the gruff one, is that it?”
Katherine snorted. “I guess you could say that,” she said. Her expression turned introspective. “Andrew's always been more cautious than me,” she finally said, shrugging. “He can't help it. He's the older brother, and he always felt that he had to protect me from the world.”
“Andrew would like it if you would stop talking about him as though he wasn't here,” I said pointedly, but I couldn't help smiling.
I was glad that the two of them seemed to be getting along with one another. I hadn't been too worried, but they were two of the most important people in my life, and I wouldn't have known what to do if they hadn't liked one another.
We all watched Emma in the living room as she colored a picture and chatted away to her new doll.
“I actually didn't know what to expect from you,” Lexi piped up, cocking her head to the side as she stared at Katherine.
My sister rolled her eyes. “Don't tell me, Andrew filled your head with all sorts of strange stories.”
“Actually, he didn't tell me much of anything,” Lexi admitted. “He told me that you were really nice and that I'd like you, but that's about it.”
“Andrew,” Katherine chided, but her eyes were sparkling with amusement.
I was spared from responding by the sound of the oven timer going off. I pulled out the casserole and set it on top of the stove, waving away the smoke. “That just needs to cool and settle for a minute, and then we can eat,” I told them.
“Good,” Katherine said. “Smells delicious, by the way.”
“Thanks.”
Katherine turned back to Lexi, and with some weird sixth sense, I could tell before she even opened her mouth that I wasn't going to like what she was about to say.
Sure enough: “Well, I'm glad you're getting all settled. I think you'll make a nice addition to the family.”
I scowled at her. “Can I have a word with you in the other room?” I asked.
Katherine raised an eyebrow at me but followed me out of earshot. I whirled on her. “You can't just say stuff like that,” I hissed, mindful of my volume even though there was no way Lexi would be able to overhear us.
“Stuff like what?” Katherine asked, genuinely looking confused.
“That she'd make a nice addition to the family!” I snapped. “You basically just implied that I was going to marry her.”
“And?” Katherine asked. She shrugged. “You're the happiest that I've ever seen you. And I've never seen you this charming and thoughtful with a woman before. Anyway, there's Emma to think of. You and Lexi have a child. Don't you think it would be best for everyone involved if the two of you tied the knot?”
I stared at her. “I can't believe you,” I finally said in disgust. “I invited you over here so that you could meet the woman that I'm dating. Dating. Not planning an engagement to.”
“I can't believe you,” Katherine retorted. “What, are you holding out for something better? Or are you still just so afraid of becoming Mom and Dad that you're not even willing to give Lexi a chance?”
“I am giving her a chance,” I snapped. “But we're not at the point where we're swearing undying love to one another or anything even remotely close to that. Just watch what you say around her.”
“If you were going to get rid of her, you missed your chance,” Katherine told me. “You know you can't just kick them out now, not now that Emma's grown attached to you.”
“No one said anything about kicking anyone out,” I said pe
evishly. “Not that any of this is any of your business. You're here to meet Lexi and Emma. Not to give me opinions about how to handle my relationships and live my life.”
Katherine rolled her eyes, but she didn't say anything else. Instead, she stomped off to the kitchen. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. I loved Katherine, and I knew she wasn't really trying to meddle. She just wanted to see me happy.
For a second, I allowed myself to entertain the thought of it: a wedding with Lexi. Emma would make the most adorable flower girl, and I could already picture Lexi in her dress, a simple but elegant affair that did nothing to hide her curves. She'd grin demurely at me, and when we kissed–
I shook my head, breaking off the thought. I couldn't think about that now. As I'd said to Katherine, Lexi and I were still a long way off from marriage. Anyway, I should get back to the kitchen, before Katherine let slip some other meddling line.
But throughout the meal, despite the fact that the conversation moved miles away from my relationship with Lexi, I couldn't help tossing the idea around in my mind.
A springtime wedding to Lexi. It was an idea, anyway.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Lexi
Dinner with Katherine had gone well. There had been a couple weird comments here and there, but that was to be expected. It had been fun. I liked Katherine. She reminded me of Misty in a lot of ways. I could see us becoming friends.
If Andrew let us, that was. Katherine had mentioned that she'd originally planned to take Emma and I out to brunch one morning but that Andrew had changed the plan to dinner at his place at the last minute. She hadn't said it in a pointed way. She'd just wanted to invite us to do that some other time.
But it made me wonder why Andrew hadn't said anything about that plan. Was there a reason he wanted to be present while Emma and I hung out with his sister?
Of course, it was one thing for Andrew to commit to dating me. It was another thing entirely for him to introduce me to his family. That was a much bigger step. Maybe he was suddenly getting cold feet about this whole thing.