“Don’t feel bad, it was the first question I asked, too. He faxed me a copy of her birth certificate, Sandy’s will, and a couple of Paige’s school photos. Once you see the pictures, you’ll stop wondering. She’s mine.”
He reached for a folded sheaf of papers she hadn’t noticed and slid them across the table to her. Casey picked them up gingerly, glanced at him across her untouched dinner plate, and unfolded them. Skimmed the will until she reached the part where it said Full custody of the minor child to be retained by the biological father, Robert K. MacKenzie. She swallowed hard, then studied the birth certificate. Name of child: Paige Morgan MacKenzie. Mother: Sandra Louise Sainsbury. Father: Robert Kevin MacKenzie.
She glanced at him again before looking at the photos. The adolescent girl who stared back at her had a thick head of golden curls, a strong, square jaw, a face with more angles than curves, and a light dusting of freckles across her nose. Although it was impossible to tell from a black-and-white photo, Casey would have bet the farm that her eyes were the trademark MacKenzie green. A tear ran unbidden down her cheek. “Oh, babe,” she said, “she looks just like you.”
“Poor kid got my hair.”
“There’s nothing wrong with your hair, MacKenzie. You just need to comb it a little more often. So of course you told him we’d take her.”
“I did not. I told him I had to talk it over with my wife. This is a life-altering decision, Fiore. It was hard enough springing this on you as it is. I wasn’t about to give you the news as a fait accompli.”
“Um, sweetie? This fait is about as accompli as it gets. Of course we’re taking her. We don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice. But whether or not we bring her here, she’s still my responsibility. At least until she’s eighteen.”
“She’s not a responsibility, she’s a child. Your child.” She took in a sharp breath. “Oh, Flash—” Another tear trickled down her cheek. “You have a kid.”
“I’m so sorry,” he said, reaching across the table to swipe away her tears. “I know it’s a shock.”
“That’s not why I’m crying. I’m crying because I’m thinking about all those years you missed because that damn woman couldn’t be bothered to tell you that you had a daughter. She stole fifteen years of a relationship with your child away from you. And of course I’m sorry she’s dead. I always liked Sandy. But—damn her! How could she do this to you?”
“I don’t know. But if we do this—”
“There is no if. This is your little girl we’re talking about. We’re doing it.”
“Damn it, Casey, this will change everything! We’ve only been married for a year. We’ve barely had any time together as a couple. And it took us so long to get here. What if this screws things up for us? I’m not willing to jeopardize what we have. And this isn’t a matter of trying her on for size and changing our minds if she’s not a good fit. This is a permanent commitment. One that’s so unfair to you. How can I ask you to raise another woman’s child?”
“Rob, she’s your child. Part of you. And of course it’s a permanent commitment, one that will change our day-to-day life, but we’re solid, you and I. Nothing will change the way we feel about each other. We’ll work through any problems that arise like the rational adults we are. We won’t let this come between us.”
“That sounds great in theory. But in practice? It might not be so easy. You’re my first priority. Always. The way I feel about you is the most important thing in my life.”
“Sweetie, I hate like hell to burst your bubble, but it doesn’t work that way. The minute you step into that little girl’s life, she becomes your number one priority. That’s the way parenthood works. Trust me when I say this. I know it from experience.”
He let out a long, ragged sigh. “This isn’t the way it was supposed to be.” He took her hand and threaded fingers with hers. “It was supposed to be you and me and a couple of babies. Our babies. We weren’t supposed to start out with a teenager that I fathered with a woman I haven’t even thought about in almost fifteen years.”
She brought their joined hands to her lips and kissed his knuckles. “Life is what happens while you’re making other plans,” she reminded him. “And you and me and those babies? That’ll still happen. This just means our kids will have a big sister to look up to. And we’ll have a built-in babysitter.”
Darkly, he said, “Right.”
“You listen to me, MacKenzie. This is a miracle! Something wonderful like this, coming out of the tragedy of Sandy’s death, like the phoenix rising from the ashes. You’re going to have a relationship with this beautiful daughter you never even knew about. No matter how you look at it, my friend, that is a miracle.”
“Have I told you lately what an extraordinary woman you are?”
She released his hand, got up, and walked around the table. He pushed back his chair, and she settled on his lap and wound an arm around his neck. “You,” she said, laying her head on his shoulder, “are going to be an amazing father.”
He buried his face in her hair, and they sat that way for a long time before he said, “I don’t know anything about teenagers.”
“Neither do I. But we have Rose and Jesse just down the road. Between the two of them, they know pretty much everything there is to know about kids. We will be calling them frequently.”
“Oh, man. I have to tell Rose. And my parents. I can deal with the rest of the family later.”
“First, you need to call the lawyer back.” She kissed his cheek and got up from his lap. “I’ll clean the kitchen and put supper in the fridge. We’ll reheat it and try again later.”
While he took the cordless phone and went out onto the back steps to make his call, she sprinted upstairs to change out of the suit. Then she stood in the hallway outside her bedroom, contemplating all those closed doors. She had three empty rooms up here. Would Paige feel more comfortable near them, or would she prefer to maintain some independence, some distance between herself and these new parents that fate had forced upon her? Casey couldn’t forget the emotional rollercoaster she’d ridden after her own mother’s death. There’d been grief, and frustration, and resentment at being forced to grow up overnight at the tender age of fifteen. But what stood out most in her memory was the terrible feeling of isolation. What she’d needed more than anything had been simple human contact. Closeness with the living, to ease the pain of the dead. She’d been lucky; Dad and her sister Colleen had been there, and she’d had extended family nearby. Paige, on the other hand, would be with strangers. Blood relative or not, Paige’s father was a stranger to her. It wouldn’t be easy for the girl.
Casey went back downstairs, and while she loaded the dishwasher and wiped down the mess he’d made cooking a meal that neither of them had touched, she listened to the soft murmur of Rob’s voice as he talked to the lawyer. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, and she was tempted to go outside to eavesdrop, but if he’d wanted her to hear, he would have stayed in the kitchen. This was his personal business, and she couldn’t step into the middle of it unless she was invited. He would share whatever he chose to share when he was ready.
Nearly a half-hour later, just as she was rinsing the last of the soap suds from the kitchen sink, he came inside and set the phone in its cradle. He stepped up close behind her, folded his arms around her and pressed his face to her hair. “We’re driving down to Boston in the morning to pick her up,” he said.
Casey turned in his arms, saw the fear in his eyes, and melted. It was true, what she’d told him earlier; she would walk through fire for this man. “It’s going to be fine,” she said. “We’ll get through this together.”
“I talked to her,” he said. “Paige. I got her number from the lawyer and I called her.”
“That’s what took you so long. I was starting to wonder. How did it go? How did she sound?”
“Like a typical teenager, I guess. Mostly monosyllabic. I told her how sorry I was about her mother, and how excited
I was to find out that I had a daughter. I made sure she understood that if I’d known about her before, I would’ve been there for her, right from day one. I told her about you, said we were good people and we’d give her a good home, and she’d have aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents. Lots of extended family, on my side and yours. I hope I didn’t overwhelm her. Family isn’t something she’s ever had. I didn’t know what else to say, except that we’d be down tomorrow to bring her home.”
“I’d say you did just fine.”
“I called Rose, too. I didn’t tell her what was going on, just asked if they were planning to be home because we wanted to come over and talk to them about something important. This is kind of a big thing to tell people over the phone. As a matter of fact, I think we should stop in and tell Mom and Dad in the morning, since we’ll be in Boston anyway.”
“I agree. This isn’t the kind of news a man wants to give his mother over the phone. Listen, I’ve been thinking about where we should put her. The poor kid is going to feel so alone. I think we should give her the room next to ours.”
“Great. There goes my sex life.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Surely you knew that was inevitable once we started having kids?”
Darkly, he said, “I figured we had a few good years left before it all went to shit.”
“I’m teasing you, MacKenzie. Your sex life isn’t going anywhere. Trust me.” She brushed a single curl away from his face. “We’ll just have to be a little more quiet, that’s all.”
He raised both eyebrows and gave her a knowing look, and she said, “Never mind. I forgot myself for a minute there. Maybe we should give her the downstairs guest room instead.”
“That’s a much better idea, Fiore. Unless you want to give her an advanced sexual education at the age of fifteen.”
“Surely you jest. At fifteen, she probably knows more about sex than we do.”
He let out a snorting laugh, then quickly sobered. “This isn’t funny, is it? This is my daughter we’re talking about. She’s fifteen years old, and if those school photos are any indication, she’s a knockout. Does this mean I have to go out and buy a shotgun to keep the hordes of teenage boys away?”
“It could come to that.” She patted his cheek affectionately, gave him a quick kiss on the lips, and said, “Welcome to parenthood.”
DAYS LIKE THIS, coming in late 2012!
Table of Contents
JACKSON FALLS BOOK 2
chapter one
chapter two
chapter three
chapter four
chapter five
chapter six
chapter seven
chapter eight
chapter nine
chapter ten
chapter eleven
chapter twelve
chapter thirteen
chapter fourteen
chapter fifteen
chapter sixteen
epilogue
BOOK 3 IN THE JACKSON FALLS SERIES,
Sleeping With the Enemy Page 26