Chapter 7
Seven
Kenzie wearily sank onto her sister’s lounge and leaned her head back.
‘Well, at least it’s done now,’ Brook said sympathetically.
Kenzie had come straight over after her last appointment had thankfully been cancelled by the client, only stopping to pick up Poppy from her childcare centre on the way.
She accepted the glass of wine Brook offered, grateful that Poppy was happy to entertain herself in Brook’s spare room with the toys left here for exactly this purpose.
‘What do you think he’ll do now?’
‘I have no idea,’ Kenzie said, dragging herself upright. ‘I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He was shocked, of course, but I’m not sure what he plans on doing.’
‘I guess he needs time to let it all settle in.’
‘I suppose so.’ Although until she either heard from him—or not, she thought—she was going to be jumping every time the phone rang.
‘Maybe he won’t want the responsibility and everything will just go on like it has been,’ Brook said, then took a sip of her wine.
‘What if he does want it?’ Kenzie asked worriedly.
‘Well, would that necessarily be a bad thing?’ her sister pointed out. ‘I mean, let’s say he decides he wants to be part of Poppy’s life. Now she gets a dad. You get some support. It may not be a terrible thing?’
‘What if he wants to take her away from me?’ The thought had been going around her head all afternoon.
Brook wrinkled her nose. ‘Why would he do that?’
‘Well, he’s getting married. Her family is mega-rich. They’d be able to afford the best lawyers. He could take Poppy.’
Kenzie felt ill. She’d seen how demanding Sasha had been over the time they’d been working together. If she wanted to push for her husband-to-be’s parental rights, then her indulgent father wouldn’t stop until they won.
‘Yes, but why would her family want to get involved with something like that? If I were her, I’m not sure I’d necessarily want to sink my family’s fortune into a custody battle with my husband’s ex-one-night stand. Sorry,’ she added, with a small wince.
Kenzie knew her sister was trying to help, but even though it was all true, phrasing it like that still made her feel a little bit trashy.
‘Let’s just wait and see what he does before we start stressing, okay? There’s nothing else we can do for now.’
‘Do you think I did the right thing telling him?’ she asked, biting her lip anxiously.
‘I do. I think you had to.’
It didn’t feel like the right thing. It had, in the immediate aftermath, before she’d started to overthink all the ways it could go wrong.
And maybe one day it would feel like the right thing again, but right now, all it felt like was that she’d just exposed her child to a complete stranger, and she had no idea what he might do.
When she arrived at the office the next day, Kenzie received a frostily worded email from the Delsantos.
Not a lawsuit, which she had half expected, but a notification that her services would no longer be needed.
The fact that she’d already withdrawn her services was apparently irrelevant—obviously, this was the Delsantos’ way of letting her know they were in charge.
It was brief, to the point and totally not what she had been expecting. Where was the threat of ruining her business and personal reputation? Where were the hysterics and temper tantrums, the screaming and threats? Maybe Sasha was a lot more adult than she’d given the woman credit for.
‘I don’t think you should be questioning it,’ Brook said when she called her. ‘Just take the win. Your reputation is intact.’
‘It’s just … weird. Maybe she’s waiting until she’s made a public announcement or something,’ Kenzie said on a long sigh.
‘Maybe he didn’t tell her?’ Brook suggested after a beat.
‘Who knows.’ It was none of her business. She was just glad she was no longer stuck in the middle of it all. ‘Of all the wedding planners in the world, why the hell did they have to pick me? None of this would have happened if they’d just gone to someone else.’
‘That’s what you get for being the best in the business,’ Brook chided lightly. ‘Serves you right for all that hard work and dedication you’ve thrown at your career.’
‘This is serious, Brook. I’ve just potentially ruined two people’s lives.’
‘You’ve done nothing,’ Brook reminded her firmly. ‘This was always going to blow up if you found out who this guy was. It’s just no one really believed after all this time it would happen. This isn’t on you.’
‘I still feel bad.’
‘Well, at least you don’t seem to be getting any blowback, so it’s the best outcome you could hope for. Just wipe this one and move on. Forget it ever happened, is my advice.’
Somehow, Kenzie wasn’t so sure this was going to be the end of it. She may have dodged the ruin of her business, but there was still the matter of Ewan Campbell, the father of her daughter, and that was left very much unresolved.
Ewan sat on an empty beach and stared out at the angry grey sea. It wasn’t often you managed to find a beach completely deserted around here, unless it was a cold, wet, miserable, midweek day and you were the only one crazy enough to be sitting out in it.
There were a handful of surfers, of course—this kind of weather and dangerous surf conditions attracted them—but as far as the beach went, he had it all to himself.
The weather suited his mood to a tee. He was nursing a hangover from hell after spending the night facing the fallout from his heart-to-heart with Sasha. In one conversation, he’d lost his job, his fiancée and his home.
He’d had no choice. Sasha deserved to know that he had a child. He wasn’t sure how or what kind of part he was going to play in his daughter’s life, but he wasn’t going to turn his back on a kid he’d helped create, even if she’d been unknown to him until the day before.
A kid. He was a father. That thought still managed to suck the breath from his lungs. He’d reached the decision that he wanted to be part of this child’s life mere seconds before he’d told Sasha.
He wasn’t sure how he’d expected her to react to the news though, deep down, he’d probably known it would be badly, but part of him had hoped that after the shock wore off, she’d be open to talking about it and possibly accepting that he had responsibilities.
She hadn’t. She’d made it perfectly clear that she wanted no part in someone else’s child’s life, and she wasn’t about to get tied to a man who was going to put a child he didn’t even know before her.
He had never been blind to Sasha’s immaturity and self-centredness, but she could be so much more than a spoiled brat, and it was because she could be loving and funny that he’d always tried to make excuses for her.
Not this time, though. He couldn’t, in good conscience, bring a child into a relationship with one person so bitter and unyielding.
He could have chosen to ignore the child’s existence, he supposed—like Sasha had given him the ultimatum to do—but the instant repulsion that evoked in him told him everything he needed to know. He wanted to know his child. He wanted to be part of her life.
He closed his eyes and let the rain drip down his face. The decision may have cost him everything, but he felt at peace.
He’d made the right decision. He just had no idea what he was going to do next.
‘So, you’ve told him?’ her mother asked after Kenzie filled her in.
‘Yep.’
‘And you haven’t heard back from him?’
‘Not yet. What do you think that means?’ she asked, unable to keep the anxiety that had plagued her ever since she’d told Ewan the truth from her tone.
‘I’m sure he’s just processing everything. It’s only been three days.’
‘I guess.’
‘How do you feel about it?’
‘Honestly? I’m terrified.’
‘That’s understandable,’ her mother said calmly. ‘But maybe don’t start stressing until we have something to stress about.’ Easier said than done. Still, her mother was probably right. No news could mean that he’d simply decided not to get involved. If only it could be that simple.
‘Why don’t you come home for a bit?’
‘I’ve got too much on at the moment.’ But home did have a nice ring to it.
Despite the fact Burrumba had never really been her home—it had been her grandparents’ home and was now her mother’s—it still held a special place in her heart.
She’d moved down there prior to having Poppy, and lived there for the first six months of Poppy’s life before making the move back up to the Gold Coast. And she could use one of her mother’s hugs and a bit of TLC.
‘Actually, Mum, maybe Poppy and I will come down for a few days.’
‘Good. I think it might do you some good to get away.’
Kenzie said goodbye, then made a few phone calls to rearrange her schedule. A long weekend would be enough to recharge her batteries and get some much-needed perspective. By the time she got back, maybe Ewan would have worked out what he wanted to do moving forward.
If he wanted to move forward.