Ten
It was quiet when Kayla came back downstairs after her shower. She knew Imelda wouldn’t be far away when she left the kitchen, so she wasn’t too worried about leaving Van with Sienna, but she was surprised that neither of them were in the room where she’d left them twenty minutes ago. She found Imelda bustling around with her customary efficiency.
“Good morning, Ms. Porter,” the housekeeper said cheerfully. “Looks like when the cloud burns off, it’s going to be a beautiful day.”
“Yes, it does.” No matter how many times Kayla asked Imelda to use her first name, the woman insisted on the more formal address. “Have you seen Van and Sienna? I left them here when I went for my shower a little while ago.”
Imelda beamed. “Oh, yes. They’ve gone into the garage. Jacob arrived with a new delivery for Mr. Murphy. He said for you to go through when you were down.”
The garage? Kayla frowned. “Do you know what that’s about?”
The housekeeper continued grinning. “Yes, I do, but don’t ask me what it is, because it’s meant to be a surprise. You go on through and find out.”
There was nothing left to do but obey so Kayla followed the corridor that led toward the three-car garage and pushed open the connecting door. She stopped in her tracks when she saw what was there. Or, more to the point, what wasn’t.
“Where’s my car?” she asked, looking through the open garage door to the driveway to see if it had been moved.
“Right here,” Van said, straightening from the backseat, where he’d been securing Sienna in a car seat, and gesturing to the gleaming Audi SUV parked where her car should have been.
“That’s not my car, Van. This isn’t funny. You said I wasn’t a prisoner here but now you’ve taken my car away from me?”
“Kayla, relax. This is your car now.” He took a set of keys from his pocket and handed them to her. “Here—these are yours, too. Do you want to take it for a ride? Sienna’s already in her seat and ready to go.”
“I...I don’t understand.” She glanced from him to the vehicle in utter confusion. Had he just bought her a vehicle that was worth several times her usual salary? And gotten rid of her own car without even asking? “No, I can’t accept it. I want my car back.”
“Kayla, you and I both know that heap of rust and bolts wasn’t going to last for much longer. I didn’t like you driving it, especially not with Sienna on board. I’ve donated it to a trade school where the kids are going to use it as a project car for restoration.”
Anger boiled so hot and so fast she thought steam might be coming out of her ears.
“You had no right. I owned that car fair and square. It was mine, not yours to do what you wanted with.”
All the joy leeched from Van’s face, and inside the car, Sienna began to whimper.
“I wanted you to be safer. All of you,” he said firmly. “I did what any responsible adult would have done, and if you were more responsible yourself, you’d see that. Can’t you just say thank you, take the keys and move on?”
She understood what he was saying, but that didn’t make her any happier. She took a deep breath and forced herself to respond calmly.
“Van, a responsible adult would have sat me down for a conversation about how my car was unsafe for children. Then we could have discussed options for getting it repaired or replaced with something safe but affordable that I’d be comfortable in. Giving away my property without my permission and replacing it with something we both know I would have never chosen for myself isn’t responsible—it’s dictatorial. I’m not your employee, or one of your troops. You don’t have the right to make all the decisions with the expectation that I’ll just fall in line.”
He looked stricken, which made her soften just a bit. Yes, he’d overstepped—but just how long had it been since there was someone in his life who wasn’t a subordinate, just waiting to fulfill his orders? He ran a major business and had a lot of people counting on him to make the right decisions. He was used to taking the lead, and that was usually a good thing. Just not now—not here. Not with her.
“I understand that this is an adjustment for you,” she continued. “You got thrown in the deep end with parenthood, and you’re still trying to figure out how to make this work. And,” she admitted, knowing it was only fair for her to admit her flaws, too, “I know that my past hasn’t given you a lot of confidence in my ability to make smart decisions for myself. Plus, I’ve been fighting back on most of your actions since I got here. But I need to know that you’re not going to make any more decisions like this—decisions that affect my life and my property—without consulting me. We’re in this together, Van. Equal partners. And that means you can’t go behind my back like this again. Is that understood?”
“Yes, I...I understand,” he said. Then to her shock, he added, “And you’re right. I’m sorry. I should have talked to you first. It can’t be undone now but it won’t happen again.”
There was a pause as Kayla, baffled, tried to recall if she’d ever seen Van back down before. Finally she managed to push out a “Thank you.”
“Are you up for giving the Audi a try?” he asked.
“I’ll try not to hate it,” she said teasingly, accepting the keys.
His lips quirked in his signature half smile, making her stomach do a little loop. “Thank you,” he said gently.
Kayla got into the driver’s seat while Van went around to the passenger side. He showed her how to adjust her seat and mirrors and set them as the driver default setting and instructed her on the features of the car. They were many and varied and Kayla began to wonder if she’d ever remember half the things he told her.
“Guys,” she muttered under her breath.
“What’s that?”
“Guys,” she repeated. “Always about the features. Just tell me how to start the thing, okay?”
Van laughed, and after a quick demonstration of what to do, she put the SUV in gear and backed out of the garage.
The car moved smoothly up the driveway and out the gates. Kayla followed Van’s instructions for a short ride around the neighborhood, then back to the house again. Kayla drove into the garage and turned off the engine.
“So, what do you think?” Van asked.
“What do you think I think?” she said, exasperated. “Of course I love it. I’d be mad not to. It drives like a dream, visibility is fantastic and it feels so darn good beneath my hands.”
She caressed the leather-covered steering wheel and then the seat on either side of her thighs.
“You don’t have to say that—we can trade it in for something else if you’d prefer.”
Kayla sighed. “No, it was a good choice. I’ll keep it. Thank you, Van. I’ll probably spend the next twenty years terrified someone will scratch or steal it, but thank you.”
“It has a remote-link antitheft device, so at least you won’t have to worry about that.”
She rolled her eyes. “Enough with the features. It’s very nice and I’m very grateful.”
Van nodded in satisfaction. “Good. Then we’ll use this to go to the aquarium later?”
“Of course,” she said. “There’s no reason why not.”
“So we’re okay now?”
She looked at him, saw the seriousness behind his question reflected in his gaze. “Yes, we’re okay.”
His shoulders relaxed and his smile was a full one this time. “Good. Then let’s go and get ready for the aquarium. I asked Imelda to pack us a picnic so we don’t need to rush back.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” she said with a sprinkle of acerbity.
“It’s what I do,” he said simply. “I don’t think I’ll ever really change—but I can and will work on hearing you out when the situation involves you or the kids. I’ll probably fight back pretty hard if we di
sagree on a situation involving your safety, though.”
He was so focused on protecting the people around him. His words made her wonder when anyone, aside from her sister, had ever looked out for him, and she said so.
Van paused in the middle of unclipping Sienna’s child restraint. “Why, I do, of course.”
“Of course,” Kayla repeated and reached out for her daughter. “Come on, Little Miss Muffet. Let’s go get you all ready for the fishies, shall we?”
Sienna crowed with glee at the excitement in Kayla’s voice, then shouted, “Dadadadad!” at the top of her voice.
“Yes, and your daddy is coming, too.”
* * *
Van felt a keen sense of belonging that he hadn’t experienced before. He wasn’t sure how to take it. Or where it fit in his carefully constructed new world. He knew, of course, that once he’d decided to pursue this parenting thing, he would do whatever he could to ensure his children were properly cared for, but he hadn’t looked terribly far past that. Suddenly here he was—part of what would appear to be a family outing.
His instincts told him to run for the hills—or at least the office—before it was too late, but a part of him really wanted to actively take part. To soak up Sienna’s pleasure in the day. To actually be a dad. No one had ever mentioned how terrifying the prospect truly was. What if something happened? Not that anything had gone wrong so far. Kayla had said the baby was grumpy with her tooth coming through, but he’d seen little enough evidence of it today. In fact, while he’d had that quiet reading time with the child, he’d actually found himself relaxing and enjoying it.
Sienna had been captivated by the selection of pop-up books that were in the basket next to the chair. She selected one after the other herself, then demanded to be lifted into his lap, where she leaned with her warm little back against his stomach and listened as he read the words, then copied him in opening the book flaps. He wasn’t sure if she was exceptionally bright for her age or if this was a normal developmental stage for a child, but he experienced an enormous sense of pride in her actions.
Pride, yes, and something else. There was an incredible closeness in having her sit with him—trusting him. He felt as if he would move mountains for her in that moment. Seeing her little fingers reach for the page flaps, listening to her baby babble as she mimicked him reading out loud. Every moment had been incredibly special and it made him realize just how much he’d missed out on already.
Suddenly the idea of shared custody with Kayla held a lot less appeal than it had before. He didn’t want to be a part-time father. But maybe he needed to prove that to himself first. This past week he’d been so busy at work he’d stayed back each night as late as he could to get things done. A thought occurred to him. Had it been absolutely necessary that he be the one dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s? Wasn’t that why he’d employed the best of the best in every department of his business, so he could leave when he wanted to?
But he hadn’t really wanted to leave work, had he? He’d been staying at the office to avoid seeing Kayla. There, he’d admitted it to himself. What he wasn’t prepared to admit just yet was why.
He heard Kayla and Sienna coming back downstairs and went into the foyer to meet them.
“Wow, you don’t travel light, do you?” he teased as he relieved Kayla of a large bag she’d slung over one shoulder.
“Not me, her,” she replied.
She’d changed into jeans and a colorful long-sleeved cotton top that had tiny mirrors embroidered onto the bodice. It was so her and yet chic at the same time. She was nothing like Dani and he certainly couldn’t imagine his sleek business partner toting a baby and a bag with the same air of joy that Kayla seemed to carry inside her. The thought crept into his mind and took him by surprise. Even though he and Dani had planned to take their relationship toward something permanent, they hadn’t wanted children, so of course he wouldn’t ever have seen her like this. But it was still odd to compare the two women and find his business partner wanting. Dani had been everything he thought he wanted in a life partner. At least, that was what he’d been telling himself for the past year or more.
But she could never be the kind of woman who could simultaneously wipe drool from her child’s chin and juggle a hefty tote while walking down stairs. Speaking of heavy totes... Van reached for the bag.
“Jeez, what have you got in here?”
“Just the usual. It’s not like you can just sling your wallet in your back pocket and head out the door with a baby on your hip, you know.”
“So I’m learning,” he admitted ruefully.
“We need to stop in the kitchen for her bottle, too.”
“Already on it. Imelda is putting it in its special container already for us and Jacob has probably already loaded it in the car.”
“And her stroller?”
“That’s in the car, too. Jacob transferred all your personal effects to the Audi last night. I don’t know how you fit all that in your old car. You’ll find you have a lot more room in the new one.”
Kayla gave him a baleful look. “Van, you’ve already convinced me to accept the new car, okay? You don’t have to keep selling it to me.”
He laughed, feeling genuinely lighthearted at their banter. “Good to know you haven’t changed your mind in the last twenty minutes.”
“I may be female but I’m not that fickle,” she said with an exaggerated sniff. “Shall we get this show on the road? The aquarium will be opening soon and I’d rather go through before the crowds build.”
In the end, they spent little time at the aquarium. Sienna enjoyed seeing the habitats but the sight of a giant Pacific octopus was enough to start her screaming. Fielding a mixture of concerned and sympathetic looks from the handful of other aquarium patrons, they hurried Sienna back outside. Van tried to soothe her, but ultimately, only Kayla could bring her sobbing to an end. He’d never felt so incredibly helpless in his life. If this was parenthood, he didn’t want it.
The instant he thought it, he felt as if he’d betrayed something that ran deep to his moral core. It forced him to rethink, to reassess—and to realize that it wasn’t that he didn’t want parenthood; it was that he wanted to be the one who could soothe his daughter.
“It was easier when I still nursed her. Sometimes suckling helps her to settle. Can you get her bottle from the bag for me?”
Van reached into the tote and found the insulated container with Sienna’s bottle. “Here it is,” he said after removing the protective cap.
Kayla looked up gratefully. “Would you like to feed her?”
“Sure,” he answered before he could overthink his reply.
“We can go get a seat over there in the shade.”
Kayla started walking and Van pushed the stroller in her wake. Once she found a bench seat, she gestured for him to sit down and put Sienna in his lap. For a moment it looked as though Sienna would start up howling again but then Van offered her the bottle and, distracted, the baby grabbed it and began to suck furiously.
“There, that’s better, isn’t it?” he found himself saying to Sienna.
The baby looked straight up into his eyes and inside him he felt an elemental shift. How could he have considered, even for a moment, not being a part of this—of handing over all care for this wonder of nature, this mini female version of himself, to others to look after?
“She’s quite something, isn’t she?” Kayla said softly. She sat down beside him and reached out to brush her fingers over Sienna’s hair. “Every day I look at her and I marvel at how she was made and who she’s growing up to be.”
“She’s a little miracle, all right,” Van replied, his voice thickening with emotion.
He swallowed it back. He didn’t do that kind of thing. He never showed weakness. He remained on the outer fringes, where it was safe, but as Sie
nna’s eyes began to slide shut and she became heavier in his arms, he realized that he had fallen head over heels in love with this precious child. And he hated how vulnerable that made him.
“Should we put her back in the stroller now that she’s asleep?” he asked.
“Sure, if you don’t want to hold her any longer.”
“It’s not that—I just thought she might be more comfortable in there.”
Kayla looked at him as though she could see right through him to the epiphany that had just occurred and to the terror that closed a cold fist around his heart. He held her gaze, not saying a word. She gave a little sigh and turned to the stroller, adjusting something at the back that lowered the seat into a reclining position.
“There you go. Just pop her in there. We can keep walking around, can’t we? You’re not in a rush to get back?”
“Sure. I took the day so we could spend it with Sienna. It would be a shame to cut it short.”
Through the next hour, they walked from one exhibit to the next. Sienna woke just as they approached the otters, and he was relieved to see she’d slept off her tantrum from before. Then he noticed twin rosy spots had appeared in her cheeks as she slept and he felt a pang of concern.
“Is she all right?” he said, pointing them out to Kayla.
“They’re just another symptom of the teething,” she said.
Another thing he had no idea about, he reminded himself. The sense of being out of his depth just grew bigger and bigger. How did anyone cope with it? None of the books or articles he’d read had prepared him for the enormity of all of this. It made him wonder why Kayla, who’d always been the quintessential free spirit, had taken on something so big—so committed.
“Why did you decide to have Sienna’s babies rather than donate the embryos?” he asked.
He realized that it was a question he should have asked her right from the start months ago.
“I thought about it for a long time. It was a scary prospect. You saw how we were living when Sienna died.”
One Heir...or Two? Page 11