Chapter 7
seven
. . .
Archer
My cousin Bridger had chartered a private jet large enough to accommodate our entire family to fly to Paris for the wedding. He owned his own plane, but it wasn’t the type of aircraft that could travel this far.
Melody had started out seated beside me and moved to sit in the seat across from me, beside Winnie, for the second half of the flight, and they’d both fallen asleep. After we’d all grabbed our bags, a car service was waiting to take us to the hotel.
Once we arrived, we made our way to where we were staying. I’d upgraded to a two-bedroom suite. This way, if I had plans in the evening, Winnie would stay with Melody, and she could put her to sleep in my room.
The level of stress that had been removed from my shoulders in just the first two weeks with this woman was surprising, to say the least.
She’d stepped up in more ways than I could have imagined.
She picked Melody up from school, and she handled homework, cooking, laundry, and taking her to her activities.
I hadn’t felt pulled in twenty different directions lately.
When I was home from work, I was able to just spend time with my daughter.
Everything around the house was taken care of.
Even more than I’d asked her to do, which surprised me.
And having her on this trip would be a game changer, because I could go out and have some adult time after I gave Melody her bath and got her ready for bed.
I struggled with giving up control, which had caught me off guard. I’d been doing this solo for such a long time that having someone consistently step up to the plate almost felt foreign to me.
Maybe I’d kept Mrs. Dowden on for so long because I’d been able to stay in control of everything.
Even though I desperately needed the help.
I’m sure there was some Freudian reasoning behind it.
But now that I had help, really good help, I realized how much I’d needed it.
I pushed the door open, and we stepped inside the room.
“Wow. I like this place, Daddy.” Melody hurried over to the window to see the view of Paris down below.
“This is gorgeous,” Winnie said as she glanced up at the crystal chandelier hanging over the living room area.
We were staying at the hotel where the ceremony was going to be held, which made it all very convenient.
We’d flown through the night, so we’d have the day to rest and recover before the rehearsal dinner this evening.
“How about I order some lunch while we unpack and we can get some food in our systems,” I said as I walked over to grab the room service menu.
“I’m hungry, Daddy,” Melody said, her voice sounding sleepy. She made her way over to the couch and curled up. Winnie grabbed the throw blanket and placed it over her.
“Rest your eyes, angel face.” I handed the menu to Winnie and asked what she wanted to eat, then quickly placed the call and ordered some food.
I dropped Winnie’s bag in her room, then took the luggage Melody and I had brought to our room to get us unpacked.
The food arrived shortly after, and the server placed the trays of food on the dining table.
“Should we wake her up?” Winnie asked.
“Let’s let her sleep for a bit longer. She’s got a long night ahead of her.”
“Listen, you can just text me, and I’ll take care of bath time and putting her to bed tonight,” she said as she picked up her burger and took a bite. “I’ll have my phone on me and will just wait here to hear from you, and I will come get her when you’re ready.”
I narrowed my gaze. “What? You’re coming with us to the rehearsal dinner.”
“Oh. I know you wanted me to attend the wedding, but I figured the rehearsal dinner was just family.” She shrugged.
“The wedding is basically just family, plus a few friends, and everyone is invited to both events. It’s like two weddings, which is very on par for Rafe and Lulu.” I laughed.
“Lulu showed me pictures of her dress, and it’s absolutely stunning. This is going to be a gorgeous wedding.”
“Yeah. This city has a special meaning to them, as they lived here for a while when they were first together. But I’ve been warned that her family is—a lot.”
She laughed. “She told me that, too.”
“So you said that you’re recently divorced,” I asked, because I was curious as hell about it. She was fairly young to be married, so I was guessing there was a story there. “Did you have a big wedding?”
“No.” She shook her head and sighed. “I married my high school boyfriend. We’d been together for years.
I went to college, and he didn’t. He had an issue with us doing the long-distance thing.
So he showed up and proposed my junior year of college, and we eloped when I was twenty-one years old. Not my best choice.”
“That’s pretty young. Did you just outgrow one another?”
“Yes. We were already so different, but I think I felt almost obligated to get married when he asked, you know? Like we’d dated so long, and he was so lost after I went away to school, and he was sort of floundering, and I felt bad about that.”
“So you married the dude because you had your shit together and he didn’t?” I gaped at her.
“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds crazy.” She chuckled. “But in a way, it’s the truth. Jaden has this great family, and I really loved them, and I think I wanted it to be this fairy tale—and it just wasn’t.”
“What happened?”
“We truly just grew in different directions. Or maybe I continued growing and he stayed still. He was the same guy he’d been when we were in high school.
But back then, me being a type A overachiever and him being a hipster, pot-smoking mellow guy was appealing to me.
But when you have bills and dreams and things you want to achieve, and your partner doesn’t want any of those things, or at least he doesn’t want to work for those things—it gets old quickly.
Probably a good reason to hold off on getting married until you’re older.
” She let out a soft laugh. “Anyway, the deal-breaker was when I got my first book published. He didn’t handle it well, and I just knew that I had to walk away if I wanted to chase my dreams.”
“What did he do when your first book was published?”
“I think maybe he felt threatened by my achievements? I’m not really sure.
But he told me it was a fluke that a publisher had taken a chance on me, and that I shouldn’t get my hopes up, because no one would ever read my books.
He thought it was a ridiculous dream, even after I’d written the book and signed with a publisher.
Interestingly enough, he didn’t mind spending the money that I received for the advance, all while telling me daily that I was going to fail. ”
“What a weak man,” I said before wiping my mouth with my napkin.
“Yeah, I can’t argue that. But I came to Rosewood River for a fresh start, and so far, it’s been a really good change.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” I reached for my water and took a sip.
“How about you?” she asked, her honey-brown gaze meeting mine. “I haven’t heard anything about Melody’s mom. Is she in the picture at all?”
“No.” I blew out a breath. I didn’t talk about Scarlet much.
There wasn’t much to say. I would eventually tell the whole story to Melody, but for now she knew that she had a daddy who loved her more than anything in the world.
“She came to town for a year to work remotely, and we started dating. We were both very career-focused and spent all our free time together. Seemed like a fairly normal love story up until then. Until it wasn’t. ”
She studied me as if this was riveting information. “And then what? She robbed a bank? Went on the lam?”
“‘Went on the lam’?” I laughed, then glanced over to see that Melody was still sleeping on the couch.
“Yeah. You know, she traded small-town living for a life of crime.” The corners of her lips turned up, and it was hard not to stare at her pretty face.
She’s your nanny.
She’s far too young for you.
She’s newly divorced.
“You’re definitely an author. And by the way—the girls are all big fans of your work, apparently. We’ve been hearing about these books for months.”
She wagged her finger at me. “Nope. You don’t get to deflect with compliments. I gave you my sordid details—let me hear it, Archie.”
Archie.
It was the first time she’d called me that.
“She found out she was pregnant when she was pretty far along, and when she told me, I was thrilled. It wasn’t planned, but it was a child conceived from love, and I’d always known that I wanted to be a dad at some point.
” I cleared my throat. I could still remember the conversation.
The panic in her eyes. The realization that we were on completely different pages.
“She told me she did not want to be a mother. She’d had a tough childhood, and she was very career driven, which I respected, but we’d never had the conversation that probably should have been had before getting to that point. ”
“So what happened?” she asked, eyes wide and filled with empathy.
“She told me that we had two options. She would have the baby, and together we could give the baby up for adoption, or I could keep the baby, but she would not be involved.”
“She knew what she wanted, and it’s good that she gave you the option, but I’m sure it was very painful.”
“It was. And there was zero hesitation on my end, because I also knew that Melody was mine, long before she’d even entered the world. The day she shared her pregnancy news was the day I became a father.”
“You just knew it was your path, huh?”
“I did. And she was very determined to be the best home to our daughter while pregnant, and she left Rosewood River the day after Melody was born. Our relationship had obviously ended months earlier, when we both realized we’d be going in different directions.
But I appreciated that she stayed until after she gave birth so I could be involved, and be present in the delivery room. ”
“And you don’t keep in touch?”
“Nope. It was part of the deal. No contact. She left town to head back to New York, and we said our goodbyes. There was no drama or hurt feelings by the time Melody entered the world,” I said, keeping my voice low.
Winnie’s eyes welled with emotion. “Wow. I love that you knew without hesitation that you were supposed to be her dad. And you aren’t resentful about her leaving?”
“No. I mean, it hurt at first, just like a normal breakup would hurt. I loved her, and she didn’t want the same things that I wanted. I couldn’t fault her for that. And she gave me my greatest gift, so I can’t be angry about it.”
“That’s really incredible. People come into your life for a reason,” Winnie said with a sigh. “And she really stuck to the agreement and never reached out?”
“Nope. We agreed it would be better that way. It’ll be up to Melody if she wants to find her when she’s grown up and able to make that decision for herself.”
“That had to be scary. A single guy becoming a father and doing it all on his own,” she said, shaking her head with disbelief.
“The beginning was overwhelming. I didn’t know what I was doing. But I have a very supportive family, and I learned as I went. All that really matters at the end of the day is that I love my little girl. The rest I’ll figure out.”
“She’s lucky to have such a good father,” Winnie said as a single tear trailed down her cheek.
I leaned forward and swiped it away with the pad of my thumb. Her skin was soft beneath my touch. “Trust me, I’m the lucky one.”
“Well, I’m glad I’m here. So now you can start having some fun. The girls told me you hardly ever go out. You’re still young—you’ve still got it.” She wiggled her eyebrows, and her cheeks pinked.
“I’m still young?” I laughed. “What about you. You’re plenty young. I don’t see you going out much.”
“I’ve been separated for a year, divorced for six months. Honestly, I’m just happy to be by myself. I have no desire to go out. So use me in the evenings. I’m happy to stay with Melody while you whoop it up.”
“‘Whoop it up’? Aren’t you twenty-four?”
“Your point?” she said with a sexy smirk.
“Aren’t you supposed to say ‘get lit’ or something hip like that?” I teased.
“My dad says I’m an old soul. So no one is getting lit over here,” she chuckled.
“Looks like we’re two old souls, then. But I’m probably going to be forced to go out tonight, so I’ll take you up on the offer to stay in with Melody tonight.”
“Yeah, I heard that there’s a woman who works for Lulu’s company here in Paris who wants to meet you.” She raised a brow. Damn, she was cute. “A little French romance does not sound like a bad thing.”
“And you’re sure you don’t mind staying in after Melody goes to sleep? We are in Paris, after all.”
“I’m your nanny. You literally pay me to stay in,” she said over a full-bodied laugh.
“All right. But you’ve got my number if you need anything. Her sleep schedule is going to be off with the time difference, so she may not go to sleep as easily, especially this first night.”
“We’ll binge-watch Disney and eat snacks. You need not worry about us,” she said. She set her plate on the tray as she stood up. “I’m going to go grab a shower and a nap, if that’s okay?”
“Of course. We don’t have to leave for a few hours.”
She smiled at me, then disappeared into the second bedroom and pulled the door closed behind her.
I’d need to rally tonight, as everyone would be excited to be out in Paris.
But a part of me wished I could stay in the hotel room bingeing Disney shows and eating junk food.
Of course I wanted to be with my daughter.
But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I enjoyed hanging out with my new nanny, too.