38. Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Juliet
“ M ommy, watch!”
“I’m watching, baby,” I say as Piper dances around in the living room to match the cartoons dancing on the television. It takes everything in me to muster some happiness into my voice.
Piper giggles and jumps around.
I wish I could be that happy right now, but my heart won’t stop hurting. I told Leo the truth last night, and he hasn’t texted me once. He might never reach out to me because of how I handled things.
Can I blame him ?
I kept the biggest possible secret from him and cost him so many years with his daughter.
If he leaves me heartbroken again, it’ll be my own fault. But I won’t have my mom around to help me heal this time. Even Frank will pass soon, and it’ll just be me and Piper.
We’ll be alone, and I have no idea what I’m going to do with my life. I might have to go back to the hospital if losing home care patients becomes too hard.
I’m not certain about anything, and it’s driving me insane.
Piper stops moving when we both hear a knock. “Who’s that?”
“Stay here,” I tell her before heading to the foyer, figuring it’s just a delivery guy.
I unlock the door and open it, proving myself dead wrong.
Leo stands on my front porch with a serious expression on his face that makes my heart rate spike.
This can’t be good. Can it?
I cross my arms, but I feel small. “I didn’t think I’d see you again. ”
“I thought about leaving,” he says as he steps closer. “I thought about a lot of things. And I finally figured out what I’m going to do.”
Dread seeps into my soul as I gaze up at him. “What?”
“I’m going to sell my penthouse in New York City. Then, I’m going to have my CFO run the office there while I build a new headquarters for High Rise Construction and Development in Evergreen Heights.”
My jaw drops, my hand lifting to cover my open mouth. Is he really saying what I think he is?
“I’m going to run Galloway Logging, and I’m going to live in the house that I grew up in,” he continues, taking another step forward until he’s inside of my house. “I’m going to take back what’s mine. That includes fixing the worst mistake of my life and letting go of the love of my life.”
Shocked, happy tears fill my eyes.
“I want to be with you. I want to be a father to our daughter,” Leo says as he cups my face. “And I want you to trust me when I say that I’m not leaving again. Not now. Not ever. ”
I take a deep breath, reeling from every word that he’s saying. “You’re really fine with doing that? Leaving behind your life in the city for us?”
“I’m proud of what I built over there, but what I could have with you and Piper here is so much better,” Leo assures me. “All I want to do is make both of you happy for the rest of my life.”
“This is a pretty great start,” I say with a light laugh, tears rolling down my cheeks.
Leo brushes them away with his thumbs. “I’m never letting you go again. I never should’ve in the first place.”
I went through so much pain in the past after he left, but the happiness I feel right now is so much stronger than anything I ever felt back then. This level of joy consumes me to the point where I feel like it’s radiating from me.
“I love you. I’ve always loved you,” I whisper to him as I hold his wrists.
Leo smiles and presses his forehead against mine. “And I’ll always love you, Juju. ”
I lift up on my toes and crash my lips against his, my eyes fluttering shut as my chest fills with happiness and relief. It’s almost painful.
Leo tilts his head slightly, our lips perfectly slotting together for a kiss that makes my heart skip a few beats.
I could stand there and kiss him forever.
Until I hear a gasp.
Leo and I pull away from each other and turn to see Piper standing behind me with wide eyes. I immediately tense up, preparing for her to be upset or confused. This might be too much and too confusing for her to understand.
“Yay!” Piper cheers, thrusting her fists up.
Shock ripples across Leo’s face as he flashes me a quick look.
I can only shrug, not expecting it either.
Piper runs toward us. “I wanted this to happen! I knew it!”
Leo starts laughing as he bends over to sweep Piper off the ground and rest her against his side. “What? Are you a psychic or something?”
I smile and lean against him as I rub her back .
“You make Mommy smile,” Piper tells Leo.
His face immediately softens. “I always want to make her smile. I want to make you smile too.”
“I do!” Piper says, beaming for him.
Leo glances over at me, an obvious question in his eyes.
I nod as my heart pounds. She should know the truth too.
“There’s something I want to tell you, Piper,” Leo says.
“Okay,” Piper replies as her arms rest around his neck.
Leo breathes in, nervousness written all over his face. But there’s hope in his eyes.
“I’m your dad,” he tells her, making her eyes go wide. “I’m sorry I wasn’t around when you were little but I’d really like to stick around and be your dad if that would make you happy.”
“My dad?” Piper repeats.
Leo nods as they gaze at each other. “Would that make you happy? ”
Piper finally cracks a smile again and nods. She squeezes Leo from around his neck, and I can hear the air leave his lungs. “Yes!”
Leo laughs breathlessly as he hugs her back. “I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you.”
The sheer gratitude and relief in his voice brings even more tears to my eyes. He wanted this so badly, and I didn’t even know. I was so blinded by my own fear that I didn’t see how obvious it was the whole time.
He has always cherished her, made her feel special, and did whatever he could to make her smile. He was meant to be her dad.
We were meant to be a family.
“Does Frank know?” I ask Leo in a quiet voice.
Leo looks over Piper’s shoulder at me and nods. “I told him earlier. I think he’d really like to see his granddaughter.”
“You hear that, Piper? That means Mr. Frank is your grandpa,” I tell Piper.
Her mouth falls open. “Really, he is?”
I laugh a little and nod. “Really. Do you want to see him? ”
“Can I call him Grandpa?”
“Absolutely,” Leo answers. “I think he’d really like that.”
I share a warm look with Leo, unable to find the words to explain how much all of this means to me. How happy I am. How relieved I feel now that so much weight has been lifted off my chest.
This is the best thing that could’ve possibly happened.
Once we load Piper up in the car, Leo gets in the driver’s seat and I hop into the passenger’s seat, our hands joining in the middle.
“By the way, I talked to Devon,” Leo comments as he pulls out of my driveway and heads to the estate.
My eyebrows lift. “Oh, really? How did that go?”
Leo nods. “I’m sorry about last night. I freaked out when I should’ve just taken a breath and talked things out, but I did hear everything that you said.”
“It’s fine. I dropped a bomb on you on top of everything else you’re dealing with. ”
He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear. “I heard that you called him a selfish creep. Did he say things to you to make you uncomfortable? Lay a finger on you?”
“He flirted in a way I didn’t like and wanted me to reach out to him. I always had a bad feeling about him,” I tell him, wrinkling my nose at the thought of entertaining his advances.
“I threatened him and told him not to step foot in this town again.”
My eyes widen as I nudge his shoulder. “You threatened him?”
“He’s not going to make this town better. He’s going to sap the resources from this place to put more money in his pocket,” Leo replies. “And he’s not going to say a single word to you from now on. I’ll make sure of that.”
I have to say that the whole protective attitude is incredibly sexy, but I keep those thoughts to myself for now. Our daughter is still in the car.
“Safe to say you’re not doing business with him anymore.”
He smirks. “Not a chance. I’m going to take Galloway Logging back to its glory days. ”
“While still running High Rise?”
He nods. “I’ll have to lean on my CFO and some of my other executives for help managing everything, but I can do it. Just think of how many people around here I can employ if I open an office here and expand the logging business.”
The sky is the limit.
If anyone can pull this off, it’s him.
When we arrive at the estate and release Piper from her car seat, she immediately runs right into the house.
“Grandpa! Grandpa!”
Leo and I share a laugh as we pick up our pace to follow her. We jog up the stairs and step into Frank’s bedroom just as Piper hops up on the bed next to him.
“There she is,” Frank chuckles lightly, opening his arms up to her.
Piper leans into them and hugs him. Thankfully, she knows to be gentle, even if she’s really excited.
I stop at the foot of Frank’s bed and give him an apologetic look. “I should’ve said something sooner. ”
Frank shakes his head as he still holds her. “It happened when it needed to. I’m just happy to know now.”
Leo steps up beside me and wraps his arm around my waist. He kisses my temple. “There’s no other person I’d want to be the mother of my child.”
I place my hand over his and squeeze, grateful that he has looked past my mistakes. We’ve all made them, and we’ve all changed.
We all needed to change.
“I never want to lose you again,” I tell him.
Leo brushes my hair away from my face. “You never will. I want to stay here with you and Piper.”
He has seven years of time to make up for, but I have a feeling that won’t be hard. They’ve already bonded, and I can only see them getting even closer than they already are now.
It’s going to be incredible to watch. Just like getting to watch her and her grandfather smile and talk to each other with the new knowledge that they’re family.
It just makes all of this even more special because I always wanted to be part of the Galloway family. I grew up here. His mom treated me like a daughter. His family treated my mom like one of their own.
And I was so in love with their son that he made me forget to breathe, still does.
Maybe, after everything we’ve survived, I finally get to stop wishing for forever and get to start living it.