by BJ Bentley
“Yeah. I think she might want to be his girlfriend.” Okay, that might have been a full blown lie, but it was necessary.
Mr. Fellows started to dance around like he had ants in his pants when my dad came back.
“Hey, you know what? I gotta go. Maybe the three of you can spend some time together. Tell Sophie I had to leave, will you?”
Uh oh. Daddy was frowning. Did I do something bad? I thought getting rid of Mr. Fellows would make Daddy happy, then he could have Miss James all to himself. When he looked down at me, he was still frowning, but he also looked like he was trying not to smile.
“What did you say to him, Tierney?”
I shrugged. It didn’t matter what I said, my dad would see right through me. He always did.
“I don’t know whether to scold you or thank you,” he muttered.
I pressed my lips together to hide my smile.
***
I washed my hands and dried them on my jeans. Pulling the restroom door open an inch, I squinted one eye shut like I was looking through a microscope and peered out into the frozen yogurt shop. I watched my dad move closer to Miss James. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but something Miss James said made my dad laugh. I loved it when he laughed. He didn’t do it very often. I think he was always worried about work too much to laugh.
I smiled watching the two of them. I liked Miss James with my dad, and I knew he liked her too when he kissed her.
***
“Hey, baby girl, I’ve gotta run out for a little bit, so Chloe’s going to make sure you’re tucked in tonight, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy.” I didn’t mind when Chloe tucked me in, but I always preferred it when my dad did it. That was when we talked about how our days went and what we could do to make the next day better. Besides Sundays, it was the only time when it was just the two of us. And, now that my dad had Miss James, I figured Sundays would become the three of us. I was okay with that. I liked Miss James a lot. But I still wanted time when it was just me and Dad, and bedtime was the only time that happened. Still, I meant it when I said it was okay that Chloe tucked me in.
“You got another fifteen minutes, and then your butt gets upstairs,” he warned me playfully, because we both knew the warning was unnecessary. I wasn’t the kind of kid who acted out. “I shouldn’t be gone long, but I’ll check in on you when I get back.” He kissed me on the top of my head just like he always did whenever he was going to be away from me for any length of time and dashed out the door.
Several minutes later, I closed out my game and set the tablet down on the coffee table before making my way upstairs. I brushed my teeth and changed into my pajamas. Making sure my book and reading light were where I left them- hidden under my pillow- I climbed into bed just as Chloe reached the end of the hall.
“Hey, girly, you ready for bed?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.” She smiled and tucked the blankets around my shoulders, brushing my hair out of my face. “Goodnight, Tierney.”
“Goodnight, Chloe.” I liked Chloe a lot, and I’d be sad when she graduated from college and moved out. Then my dad would have to find me a new nanny, and I didn’t really like that idea at all.
I was reading my new book under the dim glow of my small reading light when my dad came home. I quickly bookmarked my page and turned the light off, shoving them under the bed. I laid down and pretended to be asleep, knowing my dad would come to check on me, but I heard him talking to someone, and the voice that answered him sounded familiar. My persistent curiosity getting the better of me, I snuck out of bed and crept to the bedroom door, which was left ajar. Peering down the hall, I could see my dad and Miss James reaching the top of the steps. Their voices were hushed, so I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they were holding hands, and Miss James must have said something funny because my dad’s head tipped back and he laughed.
My dad wasn’t a sad man under normal circumstances, but I knew his job was stressful, and sometimes that made it hard for him to smile. Seeing him laugh like that and knowing that Miss James was responsible for it made my chest feel funny.
“Shh!” Miss James tried to make my dad be quiet.
I smiled to myself, backing away from the door and tiptoeing back to my bed. I climbed in, wrapping the blankets around me and closed my eyes. A few moments later, I heard the hushed voices just outside my door.
“Hang on one second. I’ve got to check on Tierney,” my dad was whispering.
The door creaked slightly when it opened. Still feigning sleep, I listened as my dad quietly moved across the room to my bed. I felt his hand lightly land on the back of my head as he planted a kiss on my forehead. I struggled to suppress my smile.
“Night, baby girl,” he whispered before quietly walking back out and shutting the door behind him.
I fell asleep thinking that if Miss James was here, then maybe I wouldn’t need a new nanny after all.
***
I tried to be quiet as I spied on my dad and Sophie. I hadn’t gone up to my room like I was supposed to, and I didn’t want to get caught listening to secrets that weren’t mine to know. I almost gave myself away when Sophie agreed to move in with us. I jumped from the bottom step and did a victory dance like the one I saw on one of Uncle Johnny’s football games. I hoped that this meant that someday Sophie would be my mom. I didn’t much care for the one I had because she didn’t care much for me. I wasn’t sad about it, though; it was just the way it was. Plus, I didn’t really know her, so I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything there.
Georgia wasn’t anything like Sophie. Sophie was warm and kind and told me she was proud of me. Georgia only cared about what Dad thought or what Dad could give her. Georgia only came to the science fair to ask my dad for money. She didn’t even say hi to me. But, Sophie looked out for me. And she loved me and my dad. Sophie was going to make a great mom.
When they started to kiss again, I’d decided I’d spied enough. I tiptoed back up the stairs to my room to get ready for bed. As I brushed my teeth, I decided that whenever my dad married Sophie and she changed her last name, I’d change mine too. I wasn’t a Buchanan, a member of a family I never knew. I was a Hatch.
Epilogue
One month later
Damon
“All I’m saying, is that you’ve already convinced her to move in with you, and you haven’t brought her around the office. I warned you months ago that I’d planned to be her friend, but you don’t bring her around!”
“Sorry to cramp your style, Lydia.” I leaned back in my chair and leveled my gaze on my friend and assistant. “Tell you what. I will bring her by next week. School will be out for winter break, so Sophie will have some free time on her hands. Maybe you two can do some Christmas shopping together or something.”
“I accept your terms.”
“Pleasure doing business with you.”
I shook my head in amusement as Lydia headed back to her desk. She’d been asking about Sophie since her photography show where they’d first met and took great pleasure in giving me grief about my unwillingness to share Sophie.
Since Sophie had agreed to move in with me and Tierney, I’d been pushing for it to actually happen. I pressed my luck by calling a moving company behind her back and told her we had to pack up her place by the end of the week. She scoffed and yelled at me for being high handed and pushy but ultimately gave in when I resorted to manipulation and threatened to withhold the nipple clamps she’d become so fond of.
In the three weeks that we’d been cohabitating, I’d never been happier. We hadn’t been plagued by Georgia since the science fair debacle, mainly because when she left there that day, she’d once again gotten behind the wheel while intoxicated and crashed her BMW into a utility pole. She wasn’t hurt, but she did land herself in rehab once again. Maybe this time it would stick. Maybe it wouldn’t. Either way, Tierney and I had both wiped our hands of her.
My mom had been over to visit a c
ouple of times. Things were still slightly tense and awkward, but everyone was making an effort, so I couldn’t really expect more. Af far as my parents reconciling, that still remained to be seen. Seemed my mom was more determined than even she knew to do things her way for a change. But, it also seemed that my dad was still determined to win her back. Time would tell which one would come out victorious.
One year later
Sophie
I smoothed down the ivory silk and lace overlay of my gown as I waited for the music to turn from the processional piece I’d chosen to the one that would signal the bride’s arrival. I knew April, my matron of honor, had made it to the end of the aisle when the chords changed. Gripping my bouquet of pink roses, I exited the white tent and stepped barefoot into the sand of the Tahitian beach.
I overlooked the small crowd that was gathered. Damon’s parents, who were now splitting their time between Texas and Oregon, had flown in for the wedding. Damon had flown in my parents, who were living their best retired lives in Arizona. April and John were the wedding party, so of course they were there. Chloe and Lydia were the only non-family members present.But I paid no attention to any of them. My sole focus was on the two people who waited for me at the end of the aisle. The two people who were about to officially become my new family and the center of my universe.
Damon and Tierney.
I arrived at the end of the aisle to my fiancé’s adoring gaze and eager touch. I handed my bouquet to my sister and placed my hands in Damon’s. Tierney stood at Damon’s side rather than with the bridal party because I wanted to include her in my vows. The same promises I was making to love, honor, and cherish Damon, I was also making to Tierney. And she didn’t know it yet, but once our honeymoon was over and we were back in the States, we were starting proceedings to make her mine. But today, in the eyes of God or whoever was watching, Tierney was getting a new mom and I was getting a daughter.
***
“You’ve got exactly five minutes,” Damon growled in my ear.
He was fond of giving me deadlines. He gave me a week when he asked me to move in with him. When he proposed, he gave me three months to plan the wedding, but I’d haggled for six months and won. A small, destination wedding and subsequent honeymoon in the same locale may have seemed like the easy road, but there was more planning and coordination involved than one might expect. When Lydia and I wanted to spend a weekend at a spa, he gave me twenty-four hours. I relented on that one because I didn’t like the idea of being away from him for two whole days any more than he did.
But, right now, he was issuing a different kind of deadline. I had five minutes to excuse myself from the conversation I was having with the event coordinator and meet Damon in the restroom for some reception sex.
He’d challenged me every day since we’d been together to live a little wild, and with him I felt safe to do so. He encouraged that free spirit inside of me while simultaneously having my back so I didn’t get too crazy. I made him promise that if I ever felt inclined to pilfer any livestock, he’d put his foot down. So far it hadn’t happened, but we were still young; I wasn’t ruling anything out.
I’d barely made it in the door when he snatched my hand, yanking me inside and pushing me up against the restroom door.
“You’re cutting it a little close, Mrs. Hatch.”
“I got here as soon as I could, Mr. Hatch.”
“I can’t wait to get you upstairs, so I’m afraid you’re going to have to take my cock right here, right now.”
I reached down to pull up the layers of fabric that reached my ankles. “Let me help you with my skirt.”
Fifteen years later
Tierney
“Congratulations, baby girl, I’m so damn proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dad.” I smiled at my dad before he handed me off to my teary-eyed mom. “Come on, Mom, don’t cry,” I whispered in her ear as we squeezed each other tighter.
“I’m so proud of you.” She sniffled.
We broke apart when my brother, Brock, demanded his turn. “Congrats, sister. How does it feel to hold a masters degree in astrophysics? Do you feel smarter than the rest of us?”
“I am smarter than the rest of you.” I was only half joking. Truth was, both my siblings were brilliant. We got that from our dad.
Our compassion and free spirits we got from our mom. It didn’t matter that Sophie wasn’t my biological mother. She was my mom in all the ways that mattered, and I grew up knowing that I could do whatever I wanted, be whoever I wanted, and she’d love me no matter what. So, even if I wasn’t quite as free spirited as my brother and sister, I was still proof that sometimes nurture trumped nature.
“Well, I’ve decided I’m going to double major in college,” announced Hadley, the youngest and the most competitive of us three.
“And what are you going to major in?”
“I don’t know yet. But if you can do it, then so can I.”
“Well, you’re only thirteen, so how about you worry about making it through high school first?”
She stuck her tongue out at me, and Brock gave her a noogie, making her squeal.
“Alright, you three, stop tormenting each other.”
“Yes, Mom,” we all sang in unison.
“It’s your day, Tierney. How do you want to celebrate? Fro-yo?”
I shrugged. “Sure, Dad. Just don’t let Mom eat all the cheesecake bites.”
“I can’t make any promises, sweetheart. You know how she gets when she’s emotional.”
“I can hear you, you know. I’m literally standing right here,” Mom said, drily.
“Come on, doll,” Dad drawled, the Texan in him becoming more pronounced. He wrapped his arm around Mom and pulled her in tight as they began walking away, waving to Aunt April and Uncle Johnny and our cousins.
Trailing behind them, Brock, Hadley, and I all looked at each other with wide grins. Life had been good to the Hatch family, and we knew that we owed it all to the two people who loved us and each other more than anything else in all the known universes.
And possibly the unknown ones, too.
The End.
Acknowledgments
I am so very lucky to have so many amazing people support me on my writing journey. Authors, bloggers, readers, and friends.
Badass Authors: Rebecca Sharp, Danica Dawn, and Paula Trotter. Thanks for being the best support system.
Beta readers: Stacie, Emma, and Jenn. Your eagle eyes and feedback are invaluable.
ARC team: BJ’s ARC Angels. Thank you for your overwhelming support and for being on this crazy ride with me.
Last, but certainly not least, thank you to all my readers. Obviously, I couldn’t do any of this without you! Thank you for not only reading my books but for hanging out with me in the Little Bits group and encouraging my shenanigans!
About the Author
In addition to writing romance, BJ is a psychic medium, devoted cat mom, and introverted nature enthusiast who swears like a sailor. She loves coffee and tea equally, so don’t ask her to choose.
BJ’s love of romance started at an early age with her mom’s Harlequin subscription, though the first authors to solidify that love were Jude Deveraux and Johanna Lindsey. Current favorites include (but not limited to): Kristen Ashley, Jessica Gadziala, Anne Malcom, JR Ward, Shelly Laurenston, Laura Thalassa, Brynne Asher, Layla Frost, DD Prince, and so so so many more. (Seriously, a whole book could be devoted to this list.)
BJ was born and raised in the wilds of northeastern Pennsylvania.
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