Virgin Bride: A Single Dad Romance

by B. B. Hamel

  Just as I’m finished eating, my phone starts to buzz. I practically jump out of my chair so I can run over and answer it. My heart is beating fast and I realize that I expect it to be my father.

  Instead, it’s Griffin.

  “Hello,” I answer it.

  “Hey,” he says. “How’s Lacey?”

  “She’s good.” I pause for a second, frowning. “How’s everything there?”

  “Word moves fast in an office,” he says, laughing. “Everyone knows about our marriage.”

  “Really?” I have to admit, I’m surprised. I expected the key people to know about this, but not his whole office.

  “Yeah, I guess James wasn’t discreet.”

  “Probably a cover for him telling my father.”

  Griffin pauses for a second. “You’re probably right,” he says, thoughtfully. “If everyone knows, it won’t be weird that your father knows as well.”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something.” He sounds a little stressed, which surprises me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him sound stressed before.

  “What about?”

  “Can we meet in person?”

  “Of course,” I say. “Lacey is down for her nap right now.”

  “When she’s up, come to my office.”

  “What’s this about?” I can feel my nerves starting to tingle all through my skin.

  “Nothing bad. Just… something interesting came up. Come visit soon.”

  “Okay,” I say. “No hint on what it is?”

  “Just trust me. I’ll see you soon.”

  He hangs up the phone, and I have a stone in my gut.

  What can he possibly need me to come into the office for? I bite my lip and stare out the window. He sounded stressed, though he was trying to mask that with optimism. I’m surprised that I even notice it, to be honest, but I guess I’m starting to know him better than I realized.

  In the other room, I hear Lacey starting to stir. I take a deep breath to calm myself then head over to take care of her.

  I haven’t been in too many extremely nice offices in my life. I just haven’t had many opportunities. I went from boarding school to college, and my father never bothered to invite me to any of his offices.

  Which is why I’m so surprised when I show up at Griffin’s office. It’s beautiful and modern, and takes up two entire floors in one of the largest and nicest buildings in the city. Everything is sleek and modern and the people are professional. As soon as I walk in the door, the secretary instantly recognizes me and very kindly walks me through the winding halls toward Griffin’s office.

  “He likes to be hidden,” the secretary says. She’s in her late thirties, pretty in a simple way. “I mostly work the front desk so I don’t see him too often.”

  “Why’s that?” I ask.

  “His office is all the way back here. I think because he likes privacy.”

  “I’m not surprised.” Lacey fusses in her carrier.

  “She’s so cute,” the secretary says with a smile. “What’s her name?”

  “Lacey,” I say.

  She hesitates. “That’s his daughter, isn’t it?”

  I laugh and nod. “Has she been here before?”

  The secretary looks down at Lacey a little reverently. “Not really,” she says. “I mean, I’ve never met her before. Oh god, she’s so cute. Isn’t he amazing, raising her on his own?”

  I laugh and nod my head. “He’s pretty impressive.”

  “Seriously impressive. He’s really well-liked here, you know. Everyone has nothing but respect and admiration for Griffin.”

  “That’s really nice to hear,” I say, smiling despite myself. Part of me expected to feel really uncomfortable coming to his office, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I feel nothing but welcome, and clearly Griffin is very loved by his staff, which is so important. It just means that he really is a good man.

  “Here we are.” The secretary stops in front of an office door. It’s large and has Griffin’s name on a plaque in the front, but otherwise it’s just like every other office door in the place. “Do you need anything else?”

  I shake my head. “No, thank you.”

  “Okay. Griffin’s secretary is named Maureen, she’ll take care of you if you need anything.” She points over to a woman sitting in a nearby desk. “Have a good day.”

  “Thank you,” I say, realizing that I never got her name, but it’s too late to ask.

  I turn to the door, knock twice, and then turn the knob.

  Griffin looks up from his desk and smiles. “There you are,” he says.

  His office is big, much bigger than I expected. His desk is in front of the large windows at the far end with two big chairs. There’s another sitting area, shelves with books and folders and binders, and paintings hung on the walls. All in all, it’s a large and gorgeous office, pretty much what I expected from him.

  He walks around his desk and kisses me quickly. He takes Lacey’s carrier and brings her over to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

  “Hey there, little girl,” he says to her. “Remember Daddy’s office?”

  “The secretary out front nearly lost it when she realized that’s your daughter,” I say to him.

  He laughs. “I don’t bring Lacey around much.”

  “She seems to really like you, you know.”

  “That’s good to hear. We try to treat everyone really well. Better for morale when people are happy.”

  I sit down in the free chair as he fusses with Lacey a little bit. He glances at me out of the corner of his eye and I catch him looking at me. I frown at him, remembering what we’re doing here.

  “Let’s talk,” he says, going back around his desk.

  “You’re freaking me out.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” He sits and clears his throat. “Something came up that I need to talk to you about.”

  “Can you just spit it out, Griffin?” I ask him. Lacey squirms and I take her out of the carrier. She sits on my lap and plays with a paper weight from Griffin’s desk.

  “Okay,” he says, taking a deep breath. “I don’t know how else to go about this other than to just ask. Do you own part of your dad’s company?”

  I pause for a second then start laughing. He watches me but he doesn’t smile, and it takes me a second to realize that he’s not kidding.

  “Uh, no, of course not,” I say. “My father has kept me far, far away from all of his businesses, including the Fisher Consortium. Especially the Consortium.”

  He nods, looking uncomfortable. “That’s what I thought you’d say. But, well, I don’t know how to say this, but it looks like you’re wrong.” He pulls a file from his desk and hands it to me.

  I take it from him and open it while Lacey fusses in my lap. I can’t really understand what I’m looking at, but it’s clearly some kind of breakdown of the Fisher Consortium.

  “I’m sorry,” I say to him. “But what is this?”

  “When we started doing the merger analysis for your father’s company, we were given all of the financial and ownership records on the Fisher Consortium. At the time, nothing looked out of the ordinary, at least until this morning when word of our marriage got around the office.”

  “I still don’t follow,” I say, getting frustrated.

  “I know. I’m getting there.” He takes the folder back from me. “One of my top lawyers came to me this morning and showed me this document. According to your father’s own records, you own thirty percent of the Fisher Consortium. It’s right here in your name.” He shows me the paper and points.

  Sure enough, my name is there, followed by some numbers.

  “That’s a thirty percent stake,” he says, points at the number. “Look up here. Your father has another fifty-one in his name. And the rest is parceled out to important members of the staff.”

  I stare at him, shaking my head. “What are you saying?”


  “You own part of the Fisher Consortium, Erin. I mean, you’re the second largest owner.”

  I just don’t really understand what’s happening here. “Is this some kind of joke?”

  He sighs, looking at me seriously. “I’m not kidding around, Erin. Clearly you didn’t know about this, but your father must have forged some documents and put these shares in your name. I don’t know why, but he did.”

  This is insane. I look at the paper again and sure enough, my name is still there, follow by the numbers. I just can’t seem to wrap my head around this, and Lacey’s squirming isn’t helping.

  My father has never given me anything in my life, or at least nothing more than he’s supposed to as a parent. He gave me a home and clothes and sent me off to school, which is all well and good, but he never once suggested that he was going to give me a part of his business.

  I had no clue about this. He never mentioned it. Clearly he had to forge my signature on any legal documents, which is shady to say the least, but I don’t understand why he’d go to the trouble of putting those shares in my name.

  “What does this mean?” I ask Griffin.

  He looks at me and sighs. “I don’t know,” he admits. “It’s very, very strange. But I do know that you’re a part owner of his company, at least legally speaking.”

  I’m a part owner of the Fisher Consortium. The mere thought makes me laugh out loud, and Griffin looks at me like I’m insane.

  He stands and comes around his desk again. He takes Lacey from me, which makes her giggle with delight.

  “Take some time and process this,” he says. “Think back and try to remember if he ever mentioned anything about this to you.”

  “Griffin,” I say, standing and starting to pace. “I swear to you. I didn’t know a thing about this.”

  He sighs and frowns at me. “You can understand why I might be a little… hesitant.”

  I stop pacing and face him. “Do you think I was hiding this from you?”

  “I don’t know.” He looks down at his desk. “I don’t know what to think, Erin.”

  I stare at him, shocked. He thinks that I knew about this and that I was hiding it from him, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. “You’re really accusing me of lying to you?”

  “You did it once,” he points out. “Can you blame me for being careful?”

  I stay away from him. “I married you.”

  “I know,” he says softly.

  “I’m not lying. I wouldn’t lie about this. I had no clue about any of it.” I step away from him again. “But you think I’m a liar.”

  “Please, Erin. I’m just being careful. It’s a pretty huge coincidence that you just so happen to own part of this company. I don’t know what to think.”

  “I married you. I gave myself to you.” I step toward the door, practically shaking.

  “Erin, please. Stay. We’ll talk about this.”

  “No. I have to get out of here.” I grab the handle to his door and throw it open.

  “Erin, wait.”

  But I don’t wait. I shut the door and hurry away. His secretary Maureen says something to me, but I don’t hear her. I walk as fast as I can back toward the elevators.

  I ride them down and run out of the building. I hit the streets and just start walking. Griffin calls my phone, but I don’t answer. I’m not ready to talk to him. I’ll call him back soon, but not just yet.

  I don’t know what to think about any of this. Apparently my father put part of his company in my name behind my back, which seems totally insane and unlike him. Part of me wants to believe that he did it because he cares, but I know better than that. He has some ulterior motive at play here, I just need to find out what it is.

  But what hurts the most is Griffin’s response. I’m sacrificing so much for him and yet he doesn’t see it. I know I made a mistake when I agreed to spy on him for my father, but I’m trying so hard to atone for that. He said that I was forgiven, but maybe he’s the liar. Maybe he can’t ever get over what happened and move past it.

  Maybe marrying him was the biggest mistake of my life.

  25

  Griffin

  She’s not at the apartment when I get home from work and she’s not answering her cellphone.

  I’m worried. I should be angry, but I’m worried. She stormed out of my office, leaving me to take care of Lacey for the rest of the day, which is no big deal. But she disappeared in the middle of our conversation and nothing felt resolved.

  That’s the bigger issue here. This whole ownership thing is a huge deal. I don’t know how she could possibly be ignorant of this, but clearly she didn’t know about it. I don’t know what to think about that.

  I know I need to trust her. She’s already done so much for me. She told the truth when she didn’t have to, she ran away from her parents, she protected me, and she married me. She’s given me so much of herself, and yet… I can’t help but feel paranoid. This whole situation is insane and I’m out of my depths.

  I just want to talk to her. I’m not accusing her of anything, I’m not saying that she’s been on her father’s side this whole time or something like that, but I do want to have a conversation about this. Clearly we can’t do that if she’s missing.

  I don’t know what to do. I take care of Lacey like always, but Erin doesn’t come home. I feed Lacey and finally put her to bed, and still Erin isn’t home yet, making me more and more worried. I try calling again, but her phone is off.

  I start to think about maybe hiring some guys to go around looking for her, but that’s a little too much. I even go so far as to think about showing up at her father’s place and demanding to see her, just to check if she’s there or not. I want to make sure she’s safe above all else, and if she ran back to her family, then so be it. I’ll move on and at least she’s safe and sound.

  It’s this not knowing that’s driving me insane. I want to protect her, but I can’t protect her if I don’t know where she is. I wish I could swoop out and find her, locate her with no problem, and explain everything that I’m feeling.

  I pour myself a drink and force myself to wait. I can’t do anything other than that. I look over the financial records of the Fisher Consortium again, trying to figure out how Erin could possibly own so much of the company without her knowledge. The only way it happened was if Fisher had a crooked lawyer and Fisher forged Erin’s signatures himself. Which of course is entirely possible.

  I’m through my first drink by the time I hear the front doorbell ring. I practically get up and run to answer it.

  Erin is standing there, frowning at her feet. “Sorry,” she says.

  I grab her and pull her into my arms, hugging her tight. Relief floods through me. I kept picturing the worst, seeing her washed up dead on the bank of the river or something equally morbid, but she’s here and she’s safe. That’s what matters. We can resolve the rest of this stuff later, but for now, she’s safe.

  I pull her inside. “Don’t be sorry. I’m just happy you’re okay.”

  “I didn’t mean to worry you.” She sighs, shaking her head. “I really messed this up, didn’t I?”

  “Come on. It’s fine.” I’m surprised at how upset she seems. “I was just worried about you.”

  “I’m okay,” she says. “I’m sorry I didn’t answer. I’m sorry… I’m sorry I came back here.” She looks down at the floor.

  I pause and hold her at arm’s length. “Why?” I ask.

  “I doubt you want me here. But I have nowhere else to go right now.”

  I gape at her, shocked, and then I pull her close against me. I kiss her full and deep, because I need her to know that nothing matters to me but her.

  She kisses me back, tentatively at first, but slowly she melts into my embrace. We break off eventually, but I can feel my blood flowing through my body as she looks up at me with wide eyes.

  “You’re not mad at me?” she asks.

  “Mad?” I shake my head. “I was never mad, no
t really.”

  “But you thought I was playing you again.”

  “No,” I say. “I mean, you have to understand why I might think that. I really just want to talk about this.”

  She sighs. “I know. I understand. I totally get why this is suspicious.” She slides away from me and walks into the kitchen. She sits down at the counter and puts her elbows on the counter. “What do you want to know?” she asks.

  “Just the truth.” I lean up against the cabinets. “Do you have anything to do with this?”

  “No,” she says simply.

  “Okay. I trust you.”

  A small smile cracks her stoic face. “Are you sure?”

  “We’ve come this far. I’m sure.”

  “Good.” She nods once, like she’s reassuring herself. “But this is a good thing, you know.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “You have leverage now.”

  I raise an eyebrow. “I do?”

  “I own thirty percent of his company, you know. I could just sell you my stake. Hell, I could give it to you. Or threaten to.”

  I nod my head slowly, a smile crossing my lips. “Well, well, well. That’s very diabolical of you.”

  She grins at me. “I was thinking about it while walking around. I even went to see a movie, which is why my phone’s been off.” She shrugs a little bit. “I want revenge as much as you do, and now we can get it.”

  “I guess that marriage thing is really working out.” I smirk at her and step toward her.

  “I guess so.” She leans back in her chair and crosses her arms. “What do we do now, though? Should I give you my stake?”

  “No,” I say. “That’s yours. When this deal goes through, you’re going to make some serious money.”

  “I don’t care about that,” she says quickly.

  “I care. You deserve money, and this can seriously help you get started now that you’re out from under your parents.”

  “Yeah,” she says softly. “I guess so.”