CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Deacon
I have no idea what I’m doing. I mean, getting Amelia in the shower was the only way to avoid her being caught naked or nearly so in front of her family, but I have no plan beyond that.
I sprint out of her bedroom and into that room with the always closed door. Harper’s room.
Except I’m not supposed to know about Harper’s room. I’m not supposed to know Harper exists.
Her room is adorable. Most of it is taken up by bookshelves stuffed full of picture books, slim chapter books, and thicker books to be read to her or for when she gets older. I’m guessing Ellery has been a big influence on that.
The rest of the room consists of a bed with a princess comforter, a child-sized armchair, a dollhouse, and stuffed animals and toys covering every available surface. The room is clean, but messy.
Piecing together a reason for being in this room, I swing the door open just as footsteps approach.
An older woman shrieks and presses a hand to her chest, but I really only have eyes for the tiny little girl with Amelia’s eyes and blond curly hair.
She’s staring up at me without an ounce of fear. In fact, she looks fiercely angry. “Why are you in my room?”
I kneel in front of her, my plan for what to say changing. “Hi. I’m Deacon. Is Marmalade your cat?”
She nods, but she doesn’t look any less angry.
“I built the cat gym for him in the sunroom.”
Her face brightens with a smile. “He loves the cat gym. But I can’t pet him when he gets up high.”
Which is probably exactly what Marmalade wants. “Which is why I was thinking you might like to have a cat gym for Marmalade in your room. I was just taking some measurements.”
“Where is Amelia?” the older woman asks. She no longer looks scared. In fact, she looks like she wants to ask me fifty million questions.
“She’s in the shower,” I say, improvising fast. “She got muddy, um, chasing a dog.”
“She chases a lot of dogs,” Harper says. “What kind of gym are you going to put in my room?”
Thankfully, I’ve been spending hours looking at pictures of cat gyms over the past couple of weeks, hoping to come up with ideas that give me an excuse to spend more time with Amelia.
“How about if we build a walkway for him around your ceiling and a comfy bed for him?”
She nods enthusiastically.
“What are you promising my daughter?”
I stand to see Amelia dressed in her uniform, her hair wet and her smile tight. I have to play this exactly right or she’s going to push me completely out of her life.
“I’m just telling her about your idea to expand Marmalade’s gym into her room. I know we haven’t talked about the details yet, and if it’s too much—”
“It’s not too much, Momma,” Harper says. “I want the gym in my room.”
“I’ll have to talk to Deacon about that,” Amelia says. “But we can probably build Marmalade a nice place to play in your room.”
Harper is no dummy. She crosses her arms over her chest and glares up at her mother with an expression that mirrors exactly one I’ve seen from Amelia. “I want the gym like Deac said. I want the bed and the ceiling walk.”
“It won’t take more than a couple of hours to install,” I say under my breath.
“Okay,” Amelia says. “If Deacon wants to build that in your room, I’m okay with it, but Marmalade can’t be in there while you sleep, okay?”
Harper stomps her foot and pouts. “But his bed will be there.”
“It’ll be a daytime bed,” I say quickly, glancing at Amelia to make sure it’s the right thing to say. “He’ll have another place to sleep at night.”
“Perfect.” Amelia claps her hands once before Harper can come up with another argument. “Now, what are you two doing here in the middle of the day?”
“Grandma’s taking me shopping for your—” Harper starts.
The older woman, who I’m assuming is Amelia’s mother, puts a hand over Harper’s mouth. “Harper and I have a secret project,” she says with a mischievous smile, her eyes sparkling. “We came by here so she could change her clothes. We didn’t expect you to be here or for you to have company.”
“Lunch break,” Amelia says. “I had to deal with another gross crawl space, and I really needed a shower.”
I want to slap my hand over her mouth, but that would suggest a familiarity Amelia clearly wants to pretend we don’t have.
“Deac said you were chasing a dog,” Harper says.
Amelia cuts a sharp glance of annoyance in my direction. “A dog in a crawl space,” she says.
The older woman snorts and offers me a hand. “I’m Amelia’s mother, Doris Winfield. It’s lovely to meet you, Deacon.”
A different last name than either Asher or Amelia. Does that mean she’s their stepmother? Or that her husband is their stepfather? I shake her hand. “It’s very nice to meet you.”
“I have to get back to work,” Amelia says, sounding fully irritated. She bends with a smile and hugs Harper. “I’ll see you later, sweetie.”
“Catch lots of dogs,” Harper says.
“Mom,” Amelia says as she rises to stand. “I’ll call you when I’m on the way home.”
She turns to me. “Deacon, walk me to my truck?”
I smile at Doris, who winks at me with a delighted expression. She’s on my side at least.
“It was very nice to meet you both,” I say to her and Harper.
Amelia grabs my arm and pulls me toward the door. “Have fun, you two,” she says through clenched teeth.
“Is your birthday soon?” I ask as she hustles me out the door and down the stairs to the driveway where her truck is parked.
She spins, looking fully frazzled and disconcerted. “Aren’t you mad I didn’t tell you about my daughter?”
Shit. I’ve known about Harper for a few days, but as far as Amelia’s concerned, I should be beyond shocked at this revelation. “I’m not mad,” I say slowly. “You never promised to share the details of your life with me, but I am… disappointed?”
Somehow, she’s not fazed by my terrible delivery.
“That’s fair. You have a right to be disappointed.
” She glances back at the house before stepping closer to me.
“I won’t hold you to your promise to build the cat gym in Harper’s room.
I’ll tell her you got busy on another job, and she’ll forget about it…
” She glances back at the house, chewing on her lower lip. “Eventually.”
Is she pushing me away or just assuming I want out? I lean closer, my heart pounding with nerves. If I get this wrong, I’m going to lose her. “Does my knowing about your daughter mean we can’t see each other anymore?”
She crosses her arms over her chest. “Look, I’m going to be blunt here, because I don’t know any other way to be.
In my experience, once a man finds out I have a child, he either heads for the hills or he decides he needs to marry me and be a father to Harper.
I’m not interested in either situation.”
I smile down at her. I can work with this. “Neither am I. I’m not afraid of your daughter, and I’d never choose to get serious with a woman just because she has a child. You’re more than just a mother, and you have a right to do whatever you want with your free time.”
She doesn’t smile back or look relieved. “But now Harper’s going to know you, and if you build this gym in her room…”
“I’ll only work on it when she’s not here. In fact, I have some time this afternoon, and I can probably get most of it done in a couple of hours.” I absolutely don’t have time, and Sebastian’s going to kill me, but it’ll be worth it.
Her shoulders drop. “Can you stay out here until they leave the house?”
“I’ll head out for supplies and only go back inside if they’re gone.”
She nods and blows out a breath. “Okay. That works. I’ll leave the key under the mat. Just lock up and put it back when you’re done.”
I want to cheer, but I bite back my grin and nod. “No problem. I don’t want to make your life more difficult, Amelia. You’re calling all the shots, okay?”
She looks skeptical, but she nods once before getting into her truck without another word.