Suddenly a Father

by Michelle Major

  “Poor baby,” Natalie murmured. “This has to be hard for her.” She turned to Millie. “But Brooke liked you?”

  Millie nodded. “Kids trust me. I think it’s because I’m small. My mom is the same way—we put people at ease.” She pushed her hair away from her face with one shoulder and took another cookie. “We’re nonthreatening.”

  “Right,” Olivia said with a harsh laugh. “Your mother was a threat to my family for decades. Joyce may be small, but she packs quite the emotional punch.”

  Millie didn’t know how to respond to that. She and Olivia shared a father, a US Senator who’d remained married to Olivia’s mother up until his death a few years ago. Married, but not faithful. Millie’s mother, Joyce, had been Robert Palmer’s mistress for almost thirty years. She’d built her life around being available to him whenever he needed her, never asking anything in return—no financial support, no pleas to leave his wife. Joyce was the perfect other woman, making the time Robert spent with them fun and easy—a break from the pressures of real life.

  But it hadn’t been a break for Millie. She’d needed more. She’d wanted a father who would come to school functions and swim-team meets. Hell, she would have been happy being able to tell her friends she had a father. But her mother had insisted they keep silent about Robert for the sake of his reputation and career. It had always been about him.

  So, yes, she and her mom both had a gift for making people feel comfortable. Comfortable walking all over them. Millie didn’t know how to do relationships any other way. That was why she gravitated toward children. Kids didn’t keep secrets or have ulterior motives. And that was what had drawn her to Crimson, Colorado, and the half sister she hardly knew. Olivia had been kind to her, even though she had every reason to hate Millie. They were joined by a family history that had damaged them both.

  “I’m not my mother.” She hated that her chin trembled as she said the words.

  “Thank heavens for that. But Jake is part of my family now.” Olivia’s voice was solemn. “Logan hardly sleeps at night for how bothered he is that Jake insists on doing everything himself. I asked you to do this because I trust you, Millie. Maybe I see something in you that you can’t see in yourself right now, but it’s there. I hope spending time in Crimson will enable you to discover it again.” She smiled. “This place is special that way.”

  Emotion welled in Millie’s chest. If Olivia believed she could help Jake Travers and his daughter, she wanted to prove her sister right. No one had ever put much stock in Millie. She’d been taught from a young age that the way to get ahead was to not make demands—to be amiable and fun and nothing more.

  But Jake and Brooke needed more if they were going to make it as a family unit.

  “You might be pushing it talking about Crimson being special,” Natalie added, her expression doubtful. “My experience begs to differ.”

  Millie was certain Olivia’s friend was trying to lighten the mood, for which Millie was grateful. “You’re a Crimson native, right?”

  “Born and raised.” Natalie gave an exaggerated flip of her dark hair. “And only a little ashamed to admit it.”

  “You’re still here,” Olivia pointed out. “It’s a wonderful place.”

  Natalie shrugged. “It has its good points. The Travers brothers are three of them.” She turned to Millie. “So are you going to stay and help Jake, whether he wants it or not?”

  This was it. Her chance to make a run for it. Millie knew Olivia would smooth things over with Jake as best she could. This entire situation had train wreck written all over it. She’d promised herself that she was going to start looking out for number one, but the instinct for self-preservation just wasn’t in Millie’s DNA.

  She bit down on her lip until it hurt then nodded. “Although it’s probably another on my long list of bad decisions, I’m going to stay.”

  Chapter Three

  As soon as he heard Brooke’s happy squeal, Jake knew Millie was back.

  It had been almost two hours since she’d left to get her things from Olivia and Logan’s, and the possibility that she wouldn’t return had occurred to him only a couple thousand times.

  He wouldn’t have blamed her.

  She might need a job, but his messed-up life was too complicated for most people to handle. Yes, his brothers and their wives had offered support more times than Jake could count since he’d returned to Crimson. But he was the oldest and the brother who’d never needed anything.

  How could he admit to them that he was so weak?

  All of their offers only brought back the flood of guilt about how he’d deserted their family years ago. He’d gotten a college scholarship that had enabled him to leave Crimson and their alcoholic father and never look back. Which he hadn’t, even when his younger siblings needed him. Even when Logan’s twin, Beth, had died in a tragic car accident. Even years later for their mother’s funeral. Jake had used school, then his residency and his work to avoid the past.

  He’d only returned because he had nowhere else to go. But he’d do all he could not to let himself depend on his brothers. He didn’t deserve their kindness.

  Still, they’d given it to him. Millie was proof of that. Jake would have gotten around to finding a nanny for Brooke, although even that had been difficult because he was too afraid of seeing pity in a stranger’s eyes when they heard his story. Jake didn’t want anyone’s pity.

  He lifted himself off the sofa, where he and Brooke had been watching some show about an oversize red dog in between her frequent trips to the window to watch for “Fairy Poppins,” as she’d named Millie.

  Millie had made it to the front door, a large roller suitcase at her feet and a duffel bag slung over her shoulder.

  She met his gaze and blew out a breath. “You thought I was going to ditch you guys.”

  “I’m glad you’re here,” he answered, not bothering to deny his doubts. Years of being a surgeon had taught him to keep his emotions off his face, and it was disconcerting that she could read him so easily. “Let me take your bag.”

  “I can manage.” Her eyes tracked to his right side for a moment.

  “I’m not a total invalid, Millie.” He reached out, plucked the bag from her shoulder and turned into the house.

  He was pretty sure he heard her mutter, “Invalid, no. Idiot, maybe,” but chose to ignore it.

  “Want to see your room?” Brooke scooted past him, tugging Millie behind her.

  He caught the faint scent of chocolate chip cookie, and his mind went immediately to his youngest brother. Logan had been baking since he was a kid. In fact, Jake and Brooke had made their way quickly through a batch of Logan’s oatmeal scotchies just last week.

  “Me and Daddy cleaned it,” Brooke continued.

  “Impressive,” Millie called over her shoulder.

  “You haven’t seen it yet,” he answered and took the handle of her wheeled suitcase in his uninjured hand. He was glad Millie and Brooke had already disappeared toward the back of the house, since his progress was slow and not so steady as he balanced her luggage on his good side.

  Eventually he made it to the back half of the house, where there was a bedroom, a bathroom and small sitting area. Sara had found this house for him to rent. He was grateful for her forethought in making sure it contained enough space for live-in help. Clearly she hadn’t underestimated his postsurgical needs the way he had.

  A bead of sweat trickled between his shoulder blades, another reminder of his weakness. Brooke popped out of the bedroom, beckoning him with a large swipe of her arm. “In here, Daddy.”

  Daddy.

  She used the word so freely, although he’d done nothing to earn it. Of course, he knew how little that meant in the grand scheme of things. If the name father was given based on merit, Jake’s dad would have had the title stripped from him
decades before he’d died.

  He poked his head in the room but didn’t enter. Something about stepping into Millie Spencer’s temporary bedroom felt as if it might mean more than he wanted it to.

  “Does everything seem okay?” he asked, looking all around except where Millie was perched at the edge of the bed.

  She stood quickly, her attention focused on brushing the quilt smooth. Apparently he wasn’t the only one affected by the unexpected intimacy of the moment.

  “Perfect.” Her voice squeaked just a little, making him smile. She glanced at her watch. “Do you have plans for dinner?”

  “Pizza,” Brooke yelled. “Can Fairy Poppins eat with us, Daddy?”

  He saw Millie stifle a laugh. “You can call me Millie, Brooke.”

  “Millie Poppins?”

  “Just Millie.”

  “What do you like on your pizza, Ms. Poppins?” he asked when Brooke’s face fell.

  “Don’t you start now.” Millie made a face. “And I’m fine with anything.”

  “Bacon and pepperoni,” Brooke shouted.

  “Inside voice,” Millie told her.

  Brooke crossed her arms over her chest. He hadn’t known his daughter long, but already he could see a temper tantrum brewing. “She gets excited about pizza,” he explained to Millie.

  “Inside voice,” she repeated, and suddenly he realized that Fairy Poppins had more backbone than he’d expected.

  “We have pizza a lot,” Brooke told Millie. Jake noticed that her decibel level had lowered a few notches. One point, Millie Spencer.

  “Tomorrow we’ll go to the grocery store.” Millie ruffled Brooke’s hair then turned to Jake. “Do you have peanut butter?”

  “Um...yes.”

  Brooke shook her head. “Pizza and peanut butter don’t go.”

  “It’s for the gum in your hair,” Millie told her. “We’ll work on that after dinner.”

  “Mommy didn’t let me have gum.” Brooke stuck her fingers in her mouth, sucking hard.

  “I bet you miss her very much,” Millie said softly, bending to Brooke’s level.

  Brooke went totally still, but swiped the hand that wasn’t occupied across her eyes.

  Jake cleared his throat. “Millie’s going to unpack now, Brooke. Would you help me order the pizza?”

  She didn’t move. Although it had happened only a couple of times since he’d picked her up from Stacy’s parents, it scared the pants off Jake when she got like this. He knew what it was like to be paralyzed with emotion. “If you come with me, we’ll get cinnamon sticks for dessert.”

  The promise of sugar broke the spell. She nodded and wiped her fingers on the front of her purple cotton dress. Without a word, she lifted her still-glistening hand to him. He swallowed and took it, once again dumbfounded that she trusted him so completely.

  Millie stared at him, her hands clutched to her chest.

  “We have a lot to talk about,” he told her.

  “Yes,” she whispered, her lips barely moving.

  “Pizza first,” Brooke yelled, then repeated in a lower tone, “Pizza first.”

  “Pizza first,” he agreed and led his daughter out of the room.

  * * *

  While Jake tucked Brooke in for bed later that night, Millie found a bottle of wine pushed to the back of the refrigerator and poured a tall glass. She wasn’t a big drinker by nature but definitely needed some liquid fortification before talking to Jake Travers alone.

  She took out a second glass as he came into the kitchen.

  “I hope you don’t mind that I helped myself,” she said, turning to him.

  “Knock yourself out,” he answered.

  If only it were that easy.

  “Would you like a glass?”

  He shook his head. “I take one pain pill a day when Brooke goes to bed. It doesn’t mix well with alcohol.”

  “How much pain are you in?”

  “It’s not that bad,” he said, not meeting her eyes. “It gets worse when I’m on my feet a lot or don’t take time to rest.”

  “Which you don’t, being a full-time father.”

  Stretching the splinted arm out in front of him, Jake curled his fingers a few times. “I have an appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning then physical therapy. I’ve had to cancel my last two appointments because Brooke wouldn’t stay with anyone and I didn’t want to take her with me.”

  “She’s really bonded to you.”

  He looked at her now. The intensity in his gaze almost knocked her over. “It blows me away. I have no idea what I’m doing, and she doesn’t care one bit.”

  “You’re trying,” Millie answered. “That counts for a lot.”

  His eyes narrowed, studying her. Millie realized she was doing exactly what her mother had always done. Smoothing things over, trying to make the man in front of her feel better even though she barely understood his situation. One of Millie’s biggest weaknesses, inherited directly from her mother, was her habit of caring too quickly. She led with her emotions, and her first inclination was always to view people through rose-colored glasses.

  For all she knew, Brooke would be better off with her grandparents. But Millie understood what it was like to have a father who only dropped in occasionally, always bearing toys or some other bribe for affection. Gifts couldn’t make up for the long absences, to a little girl feeling alone and deserted by someone she wanted so desperately to love her.

  Brooke had already lost one parent. Millie had to help Jake see that he could be a father, that an imperfect parent who was a solid part of his daughter’s life was better than a fly-by-night dad.

  She picked up the pad of paper and pen she’d found in one of the drawers and stepped forward to the kitchen table. “Let’s make a list of what needs to be done, the schedule for you and Brooke, and where I fit into everything.”

  His blue eyes darkened and Millie suddenly had a clear picture of where she’d like to fit—pressed up against Jake’s lean frame. He was more than a foot taller than she, so she could imagine how safe she’d feel tucked along his side. She didn’t want to have this awareness of him—it felt new and unsettling, especially in the quiet of the evening. When Brooke was around, she was the focus of both their attention. Now Millie couldn’t help but notice every detail about Jake, from the fullness of his mouth to the broad stretch of his shoulders underneath his faded T-shirt.

  She also saw the tiny lines of exhaustion bracketing the edges of his eyes. That evidence of his fatigue brought her back to the present. She wasn’t here because of her undeniable attraction to him as a man. Of course she had a reaction to him. Like Natalie said, all three of the Travers brothers were drop-dead gorgeous. Millie knew Olivia’s husband, Logan, and had met the middle brother, Josh, on her first visit to Crimson. But there was something about Jake that drew her to him in a way she’d never experienced before.

  More than anything that reaffirmed her commitment to keeping their relationship strictly professional.

  “Money,” she blurted.

  He paused before lowering himself into the chair across from her. “Cutting right to the chase? I like it. We haven’t discussed your salary.”

  “We should... I know you’ll pay me...and I want to help you... I probably should have asked yesterday but...”

  “One thousand.”

  “One thousand what?”

  “Dollars. The majority of my rehabilitation will take place in the first month and a half, according to the doctors. By then, I’ll know if the nerve damage has healed enough for me to do surgery again. Brooke’s grandparents are coming out in two weeks, but I still want you full-time through the duration of my stay in Crimson.”

  “One thousand dollars for six weeks of work?” Millie hadn’t made much working in presc
hools over the past couple of years, but her ability to live on a tight budget only went so far.

  One side of his mouth quirked. “I’ll pay you one thousand dollars a week for six weeks. You’re staying at the house, so it’s like you’re on twenty-four-hour call. You’ll have no rent, and I’ll buy all the groceries.”

  She felt her eyes widen. “I can’t accept so much money.”

  “I don’t think that’s the right response,” he said with a laugh. “And I can’t cook. I buy the groceries, but you’re in charge of meals.” He patted his flat stomach. “I can’t handle another night of take-out pizza.”

  “You’re a terrible negotiator,” Millie said. “No one starts with their best offer.”

  His smile widened. “How do you know that’s my best offer?”

  “Are you some sort of secret billionaire who can throw money around like it’s nothing?”

  “I have plenty of savings and a great disability policy.” He leaned forward, the tips of his fingers brushing the back of her hand. “I believe you get what you pay for, and you’re worth what I’m offering.”

  He was touching one tiny patch of her skin, but she felt the reverberation of it through her entire body. Before tonight, no one had ever thought she was worth much. She’d taken jobs in preschools and day-care centers because she liked being around kids. It had taken her years to believe she might actually have some talent for teaching. But when she’d tried to make a career of that, she’d made a mess of her college internship.

  Millie knew she needed this job as much as Jake needed her. Not for the money, but because her self-confidence had been torn to shreds. She wanted to prove that she could make a difference.

  For someone.

  For this man.

  “You won’t regret it,” she said softly, tapping her pen against the pad of paper. “Now let’s start that list.”

  Chapter Four

  Jake jerked awake, pushing the covers aside as he scrambled from the bed. His heart raced as memories of the earth shaking while the hotel collapsed around him assaulted his mind. The intense pain that shot through his leg when he tried to put weight on his right foot brought him back to reality. He sank to the edge of the bed, bending forward with his hands on his knees, and took several breaths to clear his head.