Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86240 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 431(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 287(@300wpm)
“Now push,” Bailey’s mom said.
For the next however long, I couldn’t measure time except by pain. My hair was a rat’s nest around my head as sweat covered every inch of me before my baby was placed in my arms.
“What’s her name?” someone asked.
That was a good question. I looked up at Shawn.
A few months later…
David walked me into a home that was fit for a king. It was way too large and too ostentatious for words. My rubber-soled shoes squeaked on the marble floors as I entered. We headed up the left side of a grand double staircase. At the top, we passed an open elevator door.
He opened double doors at the end of the hall, and we stepped in. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but there was my father. He was gray and pale and looked small in the king-size canopy bed. What also caught my attention were the two men standing off to the side. They resembled David and I felt ambushed not expecting to meet my other brothers today. One came forward.
Before I could get closer to the bed, I was waylaid. “Tayla,” the younger one said and wrapped me in a hug. “I’m your brother, Dean.”
He held me a second longer before he let go. His expression was kind and welcoming, unlike the other brother I knew to be Declan. He said nothing and only eyed me suspiciously.
“Is that my daughter?” the frail man said, breaking the standoff between me and Declan, whom I didn’t know I was meeting today.
“Yes, Dad. Tayla’s here.”
David urged me past Dean and forward. I ended up on the right side of the bed.
My daughter let out a little yawn and opened her blue eyes. “You brought my granddaughter,” my father said.
He’d requested it. Shawn hadn’t been happy about the idea and wanted to come. Because everyone thought Shawn was dead, he couldn’t.
I held out my daughter so my father could get a better view. The man grinned. “She looks like a Kewpie doll with that swirl of blonde hair at the top of her head. I wonder where she got that from.”
There was no way I could tell them that Shawn—Matt had blond hair. The Shawn David knew was a brunette. I laughed and shrugged. “Recessive genes.”
My father reached out and patted my hand. “Don’t you worry. We Royals take care of one another. David will make sure you have the money needed for her care. He’ll start a trust for her to ensure she can go to college and have a proper start in life.”
It was a thoughtful gesture because they all assumed I was a single mom. But David eyed his father like he was crazy. I was about to say I didn’t need anything when Declan said, “Mother.”
We all turned toward the double doors as one. When I saw the woman who looked good for her age, I turned to glare at David. He’d promised me his mother wouldn’t be here.
“Mom, why are you here?” David asked with genuine surprise.
She breezed forward like she owned the place, and so she did. “I had to see what all the fuss was about.” She stopped in front of me. “The baby is cute.”
I didn’t begrudge the woman her dislike of me. In fact, I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t feel the same if I’d been in her place.
“I should go,” I said, really not wanting to get into a war of words with this woman.
“It’s not you,” she began. “Well, it is you. You are the walking reminder that my husband cheated on me. And then you give him his first grandchild. It’s hard to like you when you are the epitome of my failures.”
I had the worst luck when it came to rich, older people. They either loved or hated me. “I really should go.”
Though I had many questions to ask my father, like why he cheated with my mother and lied to her and why he continued to pay child support for me when I wasn’t a child. But I’d gotten what I came for, even in that brief time we shared. Acceptance. He’d looked at me like a father looks at his daughter. There had been unmistakable pride in his eyes. I wasn’t just a bill to pay every month. I could be happy with that.
Time would tell if I’d see him again and try for a private conversation, just the two of us.
Days later…
“I’ve been thinking,” I said as we parked in front of my parents’ house.
“What about?” Shawn asked.
“I think I’m leaving the FBI.”
His mouth shut. It had been something I’d contemplated. I’d joined for all the right reasons, but there was too much red tape. Like they still didn’t know who the mole was. There were suspicions, but a long investigation was underway. Justice moved too slow for my liking. Besides, I had a better offer. One that would allow me to do what I loved and still work from home while our baby was an infant.