Chapter Three #3
But I have the sense that not much will send my daughter into a tailspin. She seems to be an all-around happy kid, which I owe to Aurora’s good parenting. If she wants to take it slow, I trust her judgment. But if anyone is traumatized by my sudden presence in their lives, I know it is Aurora.
“Traumatize who? Aurora or Leah?” Jade asks, causing me to let out a laugh.
“Twinning,” I mutter. Despite not being identical—in fact, in looks, we are polar opposites—we often think the same way. “Aurora’s more unsettled by all of this than I think Leah will be.”
“Speaking of Aurora, what is it you want from her? Just access to your daughter?” Jade rises from her seat. “Can I get you anything to drink? I’m going to get some soda. I need caffeine—it’ll help my head.”
I nod. “Sure. I’ll have a Coke.” I follow her into the kitchen, hoping I can avoid her first question since I’m still trying to figure out the answer.
Jade stops at the refrigerator and takes out two cans of soda, handing one to me. “A glass? Ice?”
I shake my head. “I’m fine, thanks.” I pop the top and take a long sip.
“You didn’t answer me. What do you want from Aurora?
What made you show up on her doorstep the morning after running into her?
It’s not like you knew you had a kid before you knocked on her door, right?
” My twin raises an eyebrow, calling me on my bullshit.
And letting me in on the fact that she’s already drawn her own conclusions.
“Since you’ve already decided what my intentions are, why don’t you tell me?” I take another sip of my drink, letting the bubbles go down my throat.
She smiles at the chance to give her opinion.
“What I think , is that you like her. Mr. Three Dates and I’m Out wants to throw his rulebook out the window.
” Jade nudges me with her elbow and grins wider.
“You think she’s gorgeous, you want to kiss her, you want to do her,” she sings in the tune from Miss Congeniality .
Yeah, so I watched the movie with Jade during one of her migraines.
“Quiet, wise ass,” I mutter to my sister. “Yes, I want to get to know Aurora now and see what could happen between us. And yes, I wanted that before I knew we could be…a family.” I almost choke on the word. And for good reason.
After all, I have four siblings. My biological mother, who had mental issues, ran off when Jade and I were only two years old.
I don’t like to think about what she did next.
Our father then married the nanny, and Serenity had raised my siblings and me as if we were her own.
I even call her mom as she is the only mother I’ve ever known.
She also has four kids with my father, triplets from fertility treatments, and an oops baby afterwards.
After being surrounded by so many kids for most of my life, I crave solitude and the idea of settling down, getting married, and having children of my own has never really occurred to me.
Jade is silent, obviously contemplating everything I told her.
She lets out a long breath. “Aurora has been through so much. I’m glad she ended up with a good family who has her back.
But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have issues from growing up in foster care and being abandoned by the people who were supposed to take care of her. ”
“What are you saying?” I ask.
“Just that you’re used to women falling at your feet. I don’t see that happening with Aurora.”
I raise an eyebrow, wondering if I should be insulted .
Before I can decide, my sister continues. “I’m also saying, the Dare charm might not be the answer to getting what you want, in this case. You shouldn’t have any problem building a relationship with your daughter but maybe, you should temper your expectations with her mother.”
I dip my head and put my can on the counter. This isn’t the advice I want to hear.
She places a hand on my shoulder. “On the positive side, being a Dare has its benefits. We’re a persistent bunch. And you, more than the rest of us, know how to get what you want.” She rises and presses her lips to my cheek. “You got this, little bro.”
I roll my eyes at the familiar sentiment. “Just because you were born ten minutes before me, that doesn’t make me your little brother.”
She laughs. “Do you want to hang out for a while? We can talk some more…or not. Whatever you want.”
I nod, grateful for the support. “Maybe you can help me figure out what to pick up as a birthday gift for a little girl who doesn’t even know I’m her father.”
We throw our soda cans into the recycling bin and return to the family room to watch some television. And for me, it’s the chance to do some soul searching as well.
** *
Aurora
I sit on the closed toilet seat, watching as my daughter plays in the tub.
“Mommy, would you read me Cinderella for my bedtime story?” Leah asks, letting me soap up her hair with shampoo.
That choice will mean more questions about the prince, I think wryly. “Sure, honey.”
“Who’s Mr. Nick?” Leah asks, playing with the cup I normally use to rinse the soap from Leah’s hair.
Nick. I expected Leah to have questions about the man who had breakfast with us. I’m actually surprised it has taken this long.
“I told you this morning. He’s someone I knew when I lived in Florida. Tip your head back so I can rinse the shampoo.”
Leah tips her neck and head and scrunches her eyes closed. “I like Mr. Nick.”
“That’s good, because you’re going to be seeing him more often,” I murmur. And someday soon, I am going to have to tell my daughter that Nick is her father.
I fill the cup and pour the water over Leah’s soapy hair, careful to keep one hand on her forehead, blocking the soap from getting in her eyes.
I repeat the action a couple of times before adding conditioner to the ends of Leah’s hair, then rinse that out, too.
“Okay, you’re good. Head up, eyes open.”
Leah blinks hard a few times and rubs her eyes. “Is Mr. Nick coming to my birthday party?” she asks, not deterred from the subject on her mind.
“We’ll see.” Although Nick told me he’ll be there, I don’t know him well enough to set my daughter up for disappointment in case he doesn’t show up.
I pull the plug, letting the bathtub drain, then rise to my feet and pick up the towel, holding it up. “Careful getting out.” I help Leah with one hand and then wrap her up in the big towel.
“Brr. It’s cold!”
“Mommy’s got you.” I rub the towel over Leah’s arms and legs and wring out her hair with another towel.
“Mommy, Grandma Melly asked me what I wanted for my birthday!”
I smile at the mention of the grandmother I never thought my child would have. “Oh yeah? What did you tell her?”
“I want a pony!”
I briefly close my eyes and pray for the strength to raise this child. “No pony.”
I will have to make sure Melly knows that. With the money the Kingston family has, a pony just might seem like a reasonable request .
“Come on, honey. I forgot your pajamas. Let’s go into your room and get dressed. I’ll get the hair dryer ready.”
As Leah runs out, my thoughts turn to Melly Kingston.
What an amazing woman she turned out to be.
When I had first arrived in New York with Linc, pregnant and feeling very alone, Melly gave me a place to stay.
She treated me like a daughter and became Leah’s grandmother.
Not once has she treated us badly because I am her deceased husband’s illegitimate child.
I did go from rags to riches, much like the Cinderella story Leah so loves.
But my life hasn’t been anything like a fairytale.
It left me emotionally battered and scarred.
My real mother, Tiffany Michaels, got pregnant accidentally.
Like mother, like daughter, I think, shaking my head.
The difference is, Tiffany hated being a parent and turned over custody of her child—me—to her mother, my grandmother, when I was five.
One year later, my grandma suddenly passed away and I was sent to foster care.
Once Linc found me, I discovered there was more to my story, and it was even worse than anything I ever conjured up in my imagination. I hate to think about my early life—the abandonment, the neglect—because it only serves to remind me of how unwanted I actually was. By both parents.
Shaking, as I always do whenever I think about what my so-called parents did to me, I push them out of my mind.
I force myself to remember that my new siblings and their mother are different.
They welcomed me. Accepted me. They aren’t anything like Kenneth Kingston or Tiffany Michaels.
And that is why I legally changed my last name to Kingston.
I am part of a family now. Blowing out a deep breath, I will the shaking to stop just in time for Leah’s return.
Dressed in her pajamas, Leah walks into the bathroom and drops her damp towels on the floor.
All I have to do is look at my daughter, and love wells up inside me.
I would do anything for my little girl, to make sure she has the most amazing life possible.
She will always know she is loved—something I myself so desperately needed.
Just because I now have money, I have no intention of spoiling Leah. I’ll teach her values and help her understand the need to give back.
“If I can’t have a pony, I want a puppy!” Leah exclaims.
I sigh and bite back a grin because there is no way I can handle adding a dog to the chaos that is our lives. Still, I know I am kidding myself if I think Leah won’t be over-indulged by her aunts, uncles, and now her father.
Oh, God. Nick. He really is a part of my life now. I alternate between thinking I can handle it…then I br eak out in a full-blown panic attack.
I pick up the towels and hang them on the hooks behind the door. “Nothing that’s alive for your birthday present. We don’t have time for a puppy right now. You’re in kindergarten and Mommy’s busy with her charity.”
“Fine,” Leah says with an exaggerated sigh and drop of her shoulders.
“Come on. Let’s dry your hair so we can read Cinderella .” I pick up the hair dryer I plugged in.
“The part about the prince!”
By the time I finish with Leah’s hair, then tuck her in, read her the requested part of the story, where Cinderella slips her foot into the glass slipper and lives happily ever after with the prince, give her two sips of water because Leah is so thirsty , and she finally falls asleep, I fling myself onto my bed, exhausted.
I must doze off because the ringing of my phone startles me awake and I reach over to see Nick is Facetiming me.
Drawing a deep breath, I sit up and take the call.