Chapter 4 #2
Her laughter floats toward me, and before I know it a small hand is cupped around my ear as she whispers, “E-e-mmy-y.”
Her voice is timid, crackly and rough as she stutters. For some reason, the sound of it has my heart pinching. She must be shy if she’s nervous to say her own name.
Pulling back with a large smile, I feign a gasp, putting my hand on my chest. “That is the prettiest name I’ve ever heard!”
Her thumb is firmly back in her mouth now but the smile remains, until I hold out my hand and ask, “Want to take me to your mommy and daddy?”
The light vanishes behind her eyes and I know I’ve said the wrong thing. Thinking quickly on my feet, I whisper conspiratorially, “Have you met Bambi?” Her eyes widen the moment I mention the deaf dog my best friend adopted last year. “Where is she? Should we go find her?”
She nods as I stand, and to my surprise, she lifts her arms, albeit as much as she can in a dress too tight, asking to be carried. Not thinking much of it, I gently grab her, my heart panging and my ovaries crying as she lays her cheek on my shoulder.
“You’re so sweet, Queen Emmy,” I whisper, earning a soft chuckle.
Biting the inside of my cheek so I’m not grinning like the Cheshire Cat as I round the corner, I almost lose my footing when I spot Kieran on the deck.
My breath hitches and I stop walking.
Standing at the living room threshold, with all the flirty text messages he sent me burning a hole in my pocket, I drink in the sight of him in.
He is another one of my secrets.
It took all of my willpower to not respond to a single text of his.
That, and a heavy dose of online stalking to remind myself how much of a player he is.
However, that doesn’t mean I can’t admire how attractive he is because that man is the definition of handsome.
The cheeky smiles he gives, the flirty winks, the utter confidence that oozes from every pore.
The way his eyes drink you in as if he wants to savor you to memory.
Everything about him is alluring.
Although that cheeky swagger of his seems to be missing tonight. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him frown before and yet here he is, his head hanging low, his expression perplexed as he runs a hand through his hair. Grayson murmurs something beside him.
My heart sinks. Did something happen?
Walking out onto the deck, I make my presence known by declaring, “Queen Emmy here is the best welcome party I’ve ever received.”
At my voice, Kieran’s head snaps upright. His eyes land on me, seeming to spark, before they shift to the small girl in my arms, and suddenly, he’s standing. “Did you just say Emmy?”
Sudden worry overtakes his features, Bella and Grayson wearing mirroring expressions. “Yes? This is Emmy, right?”
Kieran nods slowly, his jaw dropping, at a loss for words.
That’s a first.
I would know, the man sent me over 577 text messages.
Bella moves first. “How do you know her name?”
Now I can’t help but laugh. “Come on guys, stop freaking me out. She told me.”
Kieran sucks in a sharp breath. The look he gives me and Emmy…no words could comprehend it.
Swallowing thickly, I turn to my best friend. “Can someone please fill me in on why you’re all looking at me like I grew a second head? And while we’re at it”—I lower my voice—“who does she belong to?”
Grayson steps forward, clapping Kieran on the shoulder. “This one has to come from you.”
Ignoring his best friend’s cryptic words, Kieran musters his courage before asking, “She talked to you?”
Frowning, I hold her a little tighter in my arms, suddenly feeling cornered and defensive over our exchange. “Yes.”
He shakes his head. “She hasn’t spoken to anyone…in weeks.”
I rear back before I crane my neck to try and catch Emmy’s eye, but she just nuzzles her head further into the crook, not allowing me to see her. “Cheeky queen,” I whisper, biting my tongue as she giggles.
Kieran’s eyes all but bug out of his head.
I try to find her parents on the deck but come up empty. “Where are her…” I stop myself from saying parents after what happened earlier in the hallway.
Kieran rubs the nape of his neck before he rounds the table, past a shell-shocked Bella and toward me. He holds out his hands and before I can stop her, Emmy tumbles into his arms, wrapping around his neck instinctively, as if they’ve done this move before.
“We put her down for a nap on the couch. I guess she woke up when you got here,” Kieran says, his usually flirty tone gone, replaced with a certain monotone that has me steeling my heart.
Something in my stomach begins to churn, a queasy feeling as I look from the little girl in his arms to his face.
Then it clicks.
The resemblance is uncanny when they’re next to each other.
Taking a step back, I mutter, “Oh my god.”
Kieran’s eyes lock on mine and hold me in place, trapping me in the blue depths. He looks so vulnerable in this moment, so small and afraid, like the wrong reaction from me will make him crumble.
This version of Kieran is so far from the man I met over a year ago it steals my breath.
I miss the man who pushed my buttons and flirted with me endlessly.
I want the man with the light in his eyes.
And by the way he’s looking at me, he doesn’t want to say the words. So I do him this favor. Squaring my shoulders, I offer him a smile. “Is she yours?”
At my shift, his shoulders loosen, that caginess leaving his eyes as he dips his chin. “It’s a very, very long story.”
Bella and Grayson fade into the background, as if it’s just Kieran and me here in this bubble as I whisper, “Are you okay?”
I don’t know what compels me to ask it, whether it’s compassion for the man who was beside me helping my best friend through her grief, empathy since he was there for her and Grayson when I couldn’t be, or sympathy as someone who always can extract a laugh from anyone in the room.
Kieran falls silent, and I realize with utter clarity that he can’t lie to me.
Before I know what I’m doing, I blurt, “She needs new clothes.”
Kieran barks out a laugh. “I just dropped a bomb on you that I have a three-year-old and that’s all you have to say?”
I can’t help but shrug. “Well, she does. They’re too tight.”
“All of her clothes that I was given are the same.” He turns to Bella. “I don’t suppose you have anything?”
Bella winces. “I don’t exactly have clothes for children lying around.”
“I can go to the store and pick up some things for you if you want. She seems the same size as my cousin’s kids,” I offer.
Bella jumps to stand, rushing to Kieran as she claps her hands with a squeal. “You know what, Kieran, that sounds like the perfect opportunity! Why don’t you drive Layla?”
She moves to take Emmy off his hands, her going willingly, but I know my best friend and I know that tone. I eye Bella, mouthing, What are you doing?
She pretends not to see me and all that does is let me know she absolutely is up to no good.
“I can go myself. It’s—”
“No,” she blurts, sitting on the deck beside Grayson and already ignoring Kieran and me as they both start to fuss over Emmy. “Kieran will take you,” she says, leaving no room for argument.
She shoots Grayson a look, and his eyes widen before he nods along. “Yeah, that’s the best idea.”
Kieran frowns, putting his hands on his hips. “What are you two doing?” Their seething eye rolls has Kieran straightening. “Oh shit, yeah.” Turning to me, that charm dials on and Kieran flashes me a smile that has my core clenching.
God, this man is attractive. No wonder women drop their panties so quick for him.
He grabs a hat that was on the table and slides it on backwards, solidifying that thought as he winks. “Come on, Red, let’s go.”
Groaning, I drop my head back. “You did not just call me Red. Do you have no imagination?”
Ignoring me, he picks up his keys, only to pause by Emmy.
Grayson’s gruff voice snags Kieran’s attention. “She’ll be okay. I promise, Kieran. I won’t let anything happen.”
Kieran’s body locks tight before he forces out a breath, along with the tension. “I’ll be quick.”
“Take your time. You could use a breather.”
Spinning on his heel, Kieran puts his hand on my lower back, leading me toward the front door. I take a large step away from his touch as I feel the early onset of a shiver from just the mere graze of his hand.
“I know where to walk,” I clip.
“I see Berlin didn’t take that spark from you.”
I glare at him over my shoulder. “Hard to take something away when it’s only brought out by your presence.” Returning my gaze to the front door, I come to a stop, my nose wrinkling as I take in the driveway. “Where’s your car?”
Kieran’s brow quirks as he gives me a shit eating grin. “Miss I know where to walk suddenly confused?”
At my glare he clicks his tongue, jutting his chin to the front gate. “Parked it on the street.” Walking past me Kieran clutches his chest, his charisma returning the farther we get from the house. “I’m flattered that I bring out a new side in you though.”
Snorting out a laugh as we step through the front gates, Kieran opens his passenger door for me, allowing me to slide into the seat of his truck.
As he jumps into the driver’s side and turns on the ignition, I drawl, “Trust me, it’s not something to boast about.
” He backs out of the driveway, his arm slung behind my chair, and I have to pointedly ignore the veins rippling down his biceps.
“Speaking of new facets in our personalities, Daddy Ashford,” I say pointedly, “seems you left a few things out in your text messages.”
His brows flick up as we turn off Grayson’s street. “Oh, so you did receive them. I thought your phone broke.” He turns to me with a grin. “You know, considering you never responded.”
“Nice deflection.”
“Right back atcha, Red.”
“No.” I hold up my hand. “Absolutely not. You will not call me Red, and stop ignoring the elephant in the room.”
“Truck.”
“Semantics much?”
“Persistent much?”
“When there’s a literal child involved, absolutely.”
Kieran bites the inside of his cheek before sighing. “I got a call this morning from a foster home in the city.” His eyes darken as a shudder rolls through him. “Emmy’s mom passed away. Heroin overdose.”
A gasp escapes me as horror slices through my veins.
Kieran’s head bobs up and down as if he’s agreeing with my reaction.
“I feel like the biggest piece of shit there is because if I’m entirely honest, I don’t even remember her mom.
I’ve been racking my brain all day, searching my memories for even a slither of resemblance but I’ve come up with nothing. ”
I chew on my bottom lip. “Are you sure she’s yours?” I ask gently.
He flicks his indicator on as he rolls to a stop at a red light. “I’ve seen the DNA results. She’s all mine.” He barks out a short laugh. “Honestly though, I didn’t need to see the results. She looks like a mini version of me.”
“Except for the eyes.” Her eyes are all her. Shaking my head, his words finally process as he turns into the Target parking lot. “How did they run the DNA test so quickly if you only found out today?”
His body tenses immediately.
“Kieran?”
His head flops against the headrest. He laughs, but it doesn’t hold any humor. “Pulling out all my deepest secrets today it seems, Red.”
“Layla,” I correct before fully turning to him. “You don’t have to tell me,” I offer softly. “I mean, you owe me nothing.”
He takes a deep breath before lifting those ocean eyes to mine, searing me to the spot. “They had my DNA on file because I…grew up in the foster home,” he whispers. “I was brought there when I was four.”
If I thought my heart had dropped before, it is nothing compared to this moment.
It feels like I’m riding a rollercoaster and we just plummeted down the face of the hill, my stomach rising into my chest.
I would have never known, would have never guessed by looking at him.
Although, isn’t that hypocritical of me?
I’ve suffered from an invisible illness.
Most people would never be able to guess that I’ve seen more hospital waiting rooms than I’ve celebrated birthdays.
I know more than anyone that you should give people the benefit of the doubt because you never know what they’re battling.
And yet here I am, shoving Kieran into the box of a playboy because it scares me how I feel around him.
Peering at Kieran, with his heart on his sleeve as he reveals a secret he no doubt keeps close to his chest I whisper the only thing that comes to mind, “I had no idea.”
“It’s not something I go around telling people.”
“God, Kieran, I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “Today must have been—”
“A lot,” he finishes for me.
His weary tone has my heart pinching. His world just turned on its axis and if that wasn’t enough, having to pick up the daughter you had no idea existed from the same orphanage you were abandoned at would have sliced open every ugly wound that he’s tried to keep buried.
I sit up a little straighter. “You know what, you’ve probably been hounded with enough questions today. Mine can wait. Let’s go get your mind off things.”
I open the door but when I notice he doesn’t move, I peer over my shoulder at him. He’s put his chin on his fist, a smile toying along his lips.
Frowning, I mutter, “What?”
“That was an adorable declaration, but we are here to buy clothes for my daughter. I don’t think that will get my mind off it.”
Right.
My cheeks flush scarlet. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
He winks. “Never.”
Hopping out of the truck, I turn to him before I close the door, my nose wrinkling. “You seriously found that cute?”
He shakes his head on a laugh as he jumps out, shutting his own door, but not before I hear him whisper, “You have no idea everything you do is cute.”