Chapter 3
Brett
“Come on, baby girl,” I coo to my daughter, who is seated in her high chair while I try to feed her this mushy rice cereal.
Maylee gives me an unimpressed face and spits the cereal back at me, moving her tongue around like she finds the texture gross.
That’s okay, little one. I get it. “My nephew, Asher, didn’t like his food at the beginning,” I assure my baby, then I start to sing, “The itsy, bitsy spider went up the waterspout.” She smiles and I take it as encouragement. I also up my game and sing the whole song, making funny faces while shoveling cereal in her mouth. She pushes half of it out with her tongue but I’m sure I got some food in her. Plus, she had the bottle of breast milk. Willow said not to worry too much about the cereal because she is just learning to eat now, so it’s more about routine.
The door leading from outside into the kitchen opens, letting in a cool breeze.
I make a shivering sound and I puff out my cheeks and blow raspberries.
“What the fuck is he doing with Maylee?” It must be one of Willow’s brothers. Jacob is standing beside him with his arms crossed in front of his chest. He winks at me with a grin.
“I’m Brett, nice to meet you,” I say, despite the rather unpleasant introduction. Jacob is continuing with his attitude but I don’t give a shit because I am spending quality time with my daughter, and no one is going to rain on my parade.
“Why is Willow leaving him alone with her?” the brother I don’t know asks Jacob.
“Because she must trust him.” Jacob shrugs and then he walks off and opens the fridge door.
“Where is Willow?” the dude barks.
“I told her to sleep. She clearly needs it. She’s exhausted,” I say.
“What the hell would you know about that? You show up now, after all this time,” the guy rants.
“Look, your beef shouldn’t be with me. If I’d known Willow was carrying my child, I would’ve been in the picture much sooner. We had one hell of a mix-up. I’m the one who lost out on being around her when she was pregnant. I missed the delivery and the first months of my daughter’s life. It’s me who should be pissed, but I’m not because it was a series of unfortunate events. I’m here now for Willow and Maylee, so it’s best you drop the tude because I’m here to stay.”
The guy’s brows raise and he looks at Jacob, who still looks amused.
“Mornin’, Maylee. You having a good morning?” Jacob coos, leaning forward and smiling at my daughter. Maylee smiles back, batting her dark lashes at him.
The other brother gives Jacob a WTF look and Jacob shrugs. “I was there for their whole miscommunication. It was some messed-up shit. I told you. You can’t go and make that stuff up,” he says to his brother.
“Fine,” the guy says. “I’m Lev, Willow is my big sister and if you do anything to screw with her or Maylee, you’ll be answering to me.”
Jacob laughs.
I stand from the chair I was sitting on and I extend a hand to the guy. “Like I said, my name is Brett and no one is going to be messing with my girls, but I do appreciate that you have their backs.” I’m used to being in charge and making sure everyone is good, so I appreciate what this guy is doing.
“Does Willow know she’s your girl?” Lev asks, looking confused.
Jacob elbows him in the stomach and he keels over. “Fuck, Jacob.”
“Language,” I chide, looking at Lev.
He winces.
“No, Willow hasn’t gotten the memo yet, but trust me, with time she will,” I assure Lev.
“Well then…” He chuckles deep and loud. “Welcome to Sugar Meadow and the Heaton farm.” He shakes my hand.
“Thanks,” I reply.
Maylee begins to cry, kicking out her legs.
“Come here, baby girl,” I turn away from Lev and pick up my daughter. “Don’t cry.” I bounce her a little and keep her close to my chest as I saw Maddie do with Asher.
I watch the brothers smirking at each other. “Look, guys, I got a nephew of my own and my sister was a single mom until recently. My nephew’s dad never owned up and I’m not that guy. I’m here to stay. So I get you feel protective of Willow but like I said, I am not going anywhere.”
“You’re a hockey player. You’ll eventually have to go back on the road,” Jacob states as he builds himself a meat sandwich. It’s only 7:00 a.m.
“I’m here the next two weeks. Just because I’ll have to get back to work does not mean I will be leaving them. Plenty of players on my team have families. Willow and I will work something out.”
“Sounds good to me, Noble,” Jacob says. Lev is preparing a sandwich beside him. “Maylee’s got some toys in that big chest there in the other room. Should be able to occupy her for a bit.”
I nod to the guys and walk over to the chest. There’s a floor gym inside so I lay it out on the ground and place Maylee on top of it. She’s clearly happy with my choice because she kicks out her legs while gnawing on her fingers and smiling. I just sit and watch her. My life has done a one-eighty in the past twenty-four hours, but as I look at my daughter with her head of dark hair and blue eyes the same shade as mine, I’m a goner. I may never have wanted to settle down, but Maylee is my game changer. I want to give her the best of everything and that means a family with parents who love her.
My phone buzzes with more texts from Maddie and then Henry, my brother, also starts to text.
I know they aren’t going to let up, so I get them both on a FaceTime call. Maddie shrieks when she sees me.
“Brett, I told you something was up over Christmas. My gut is never wrong,” Those are her first words.
“But your gut didn’t say that Brett was a father,” Henry replies.
“Do you both want to meet my daughter?” I ask my siblings. Funny how my heart turns warm when I say the word “daughter.”
“Show me, show me,” Maddie gushes excitedly.
I turn the phone on Maylee, “Maylee, meet your crazy aunt, Maddie, and your uncle, Henry.”
Maylee kicks out her feet and Maddie gushes over her while Henry tells me I did good.
When they start to ask about how I didn’t know of her existence, I cut them off. Those are not words I want her to hear. Instead, I tell my siblings that it’s a story for another day.
When Maylee’s face turns red, I’m pretty sure I know what is happening.
“Okay, I gotta go change her diaper,” I announce.
“Gotta say, Brett, those are words I never thought I’d hear you say about your own child,” Henry chuckles.
“He changed Asher’s diapers all the time,” Maddie retorts.
“Because I felt bad you didn’t have someone helping you,” I clarify. “Not like I enjoyed cleaning shit.”
Maddie and Henry fall into a fit of laughter.
“’Kay, don’t want to leave my little princess in a situation,” I inform them.
“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?” Henry jokes.
I can’t even be angry or give him a good comeback. I am just too smitten with my daughter right now.
“Bye, gotta go.”
I end the call as I watch Maddie protesting. That should hold them over for a while. I’ll have to call Mom and Will her longtime partner later too.
I pick up my little munchkin off the floor and walk her over to the couch. Willow has a bunch of diapers, wipes, and bum cream set up on a coffee table right next to where I’m seated. Maylee is a happy baby and she grins at me, still kicking her feet and chewing on her fingers. I unzip her little sleeper. I already know there’s going to be a situation from the smell and I gag a little.
“For a little bundle of cuteness, I think you made a big stink,” I ramble to her.
“Same could be said about you,” Willow’s mom’s voice startles me. I whip my head to see her standing in her robe with her hair sticking up.
“I didn’t make a big stink. I made a bundle of cuteness,” I correct her.
“For a burly looking guy, you sure are a softie.” She laughs.
“I’m not really a softie. Maylee’s just gotten under my skin,” I confess.
“Well, that’s a good thing. Hopefully you don’t have a short attention span,” she says, and I realize what a number Willow’s dad did on this family.
“My attention span is just fine. I’m here to stay, ma’am, you might as well get used to me,” I inform her.
She raises her brows and bounces her head. “Where is my daughter?” she asks, but before I answer she turns to the coffee machine and pours herself a cup.
“Sleeping.”
She sips her coffee. “My husband didn’t help at all when the kids were young. He’d pretend to work so he could run out of here like the place was on fire.”
“My dad was an alcoholic. He just died last month.”
“Shit. Sorry.”
I wave her off.
“Is there a stroller or something I can use to take Maylee for a walk? It seems mild outside today,” I say.
“Stroller’s on the porch. Her snowsuit is in the front closet. Make sure you put a good hat on her and use a blanket to block the wind,” she instructs.
“Will do.”
I pick up my daughter and bundle her for outdoors. I then head up to her room to grab my jacket.
Willow has just woken up and she is walking toward the bathroom.
“Good morning,” I greet her.
“Hi, baby girl. How was your morning?” she coos at Maylee.
“If she could talk, she’d say I was the coolest dad. She ate well, played, met my siblings, and pooped. We’re all good. Going outside to get some fresh air now,” I share and then I pause and take her in. She’s wearing a sleep shirt that hits mid-thigh. My eyes run a trail down her legs and up to her pert nipples peeking through the shirt.
“Ah, you got a situation,” I say to her, waving my finger in front of her leaky breasts.
She looks down.
“Oops. They’re like a clock and I’m used to feeding her in the morning,” she explains.
“Did you want to feed her?” I ask to be polite.
“Nah, she ate. She won’t want more. I’ll just pump.”
“You could sleep some more,” I offer.
“Ellie called. She and Eden are coming by. The guys left early this morning.”
“Yeah,” I reply, and I don’t realize I’ve fixated on her boobs until she gives me a pointed look. “Uh, sorry, they just look so firm and full.”
“What?” she asks slightly alarmed.
My eyes widen. “Shit, sorry. I’m not used to all this.”
“You seem to be doing well. Maylee is happy.” She smiles at our girl as I hold her in front of me. She kicks out her legs.
“I’m happy too,” I respond.
Willow gives me a curious look.
“Okay, well, I’ll take that walk now.” I clear my throat.
Willow nods and goes to the bathroom.
I head out with my daughter. As I’m starting my walk, I see a car pull up. I pause because I see Eden and Ellie getting out of the car.
I stop in front of them. I don’t know Eden all that well, but Ellie is married to Connor, my teammate.
Ellie sees me and frowns.
“Brett, I didn’t know.” Those are Ellie’s first words. “Well, I knew Willow got knocked up, but I didn’t know you were the baby daddy. Like that would’ve been my last guess.”
“Really?” I ask, surprised.
“I mean, yeah, you guys hung out for a night and Willow isn’t a one-night stand kind of girl.”
“Yeah,” I sigh, thinking of how scared Willow must have felt.
“You’re here now,” Ellie says, rubbing my arm. Then she peeks into the stroller and says hi to Maylee. “I should’ve seen it. The dark hair, those light blue eyes. You look like your daddy, don’t you?” she asks Maylee, using an infantile voice. Maylee’s eyes begin to flutter. “Somebody is tired.”
I don’t know Eden all that well and she just waves. “Good to see you, Brett.”
“Did you know I was the baby daddy?” I ask Ellie. “At Christmas, did you know?”
“I didn’t.” She frowns. “I knew about Maylee but Willow was evasive about the paternity, but when you asked about her at Christmas I kind of thought maybe it was you. Then I convinced myself there was no way, but I did tell Willow you asked about her,” she says. “But really, this is a conversation you need to be having with Willow.”
“You’re right. I’m just trying to get my head around all the messed-up events that prevented me from being with Willow,” I say to both women.
“You’re here now,” Ellie says.
“That I am. Willow is inside, she’s just getting up. I’ll see you two later.”
I walk off with my daughter along a path covered in dirt and some snow. The wheels of the stroller are large so it maneuvers easily.
Maybe I should’ve done more when Willow didn’t respond to my calls. I figured it was just one night for her and she didn’t want to talk to me. Now I know that one-night stands weren’t her thing, which makes me feel both special and bad. Special because she trusted me, and bad because of my reputation. If I wasn’t such a ladies’ man, then maybe Willow wouldn’t have been so quick to jump the gun and think so poorly of me. She clearly didn’t tell her friends about me because she didn’t want to start shit. I could only imagine how angry Connor, Evan, and Liam would be if they found out I took Willow to bed then ditched her. Even though that isn’t really what happened.
I look down at my daughter sleeping so peacefully. I take in a deep breath of fresh air and I vow to be the best I can for Maylee, but I also need to do better by Willow. I really like her and I think we can be something more. I’ve never had a connection with a woman the way I did with Willow that night, and the sex was off the charts.
“I need to make your mama fall in love with me, Maylee. On a scale of one to ten, how hard do you think that is going to be?”
Obviously, my daughter doesn’t answer. She’s fast asleep and even if she wasn’t, I wouldn’t get a response. If there is one thing I know; it is I want to make Willow mine. I just need to win her trust and see where things go. That’ll be step number one.