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She froze with a bite halfway to her mouth. A little war raged in her eyes until she sighed and put the fork down. “I’ve been better.”
“Is every—”
“Things haven’t been all sunshine and daisies the past eight years, but we’ve gotten through.”
His mind stuck on the word we. He didn’t even know if Maggie was married. His gut tightened. She wasn’t wearing a ring, but that didn’t mean anything. A memory of Maggie being the kind of girl you married hovered in the back of his mind. Not that it would bother him if she were. He choked a little on the word. “We?”
With her gaze firmly on his, she said, “After Luke’s graduation, I found out I was pregnant.”
The blood flowed heavy in Brady’s ears and the air left the room. “Pregnant? But we—”
“Used protection. Yeah, that was my first thought, too, as I was holding five positive pregnancy tests.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Brady asked quietly, too numb to be angry. A child? How could he have not known? He’d lost track of a lot of people, but someone could have reached out. It’d been eight years. Why keep the child a secret?
She bit her lip. “I wrote you a letter. It was childish. I should have called, but I was scared. We weren’t anything more than one night to each other.”
“I would have wanted to know that you were pregnant. I don’t shirk my responsibilities.” He automatically defended himself, but then her words sunk in. Brady’s fork hit the plate. “I never got the letter.”
“I know.”
His brows drew together. “Then why didn’t you try to reach me?”
Maggie’s cheeks brightened and her eyes flashed. “I didn’t know then. Shortly after I sent the letter, I started receiving money. I figured you wanted nothing more to do with me or Amber.”
A headache started behind his eyes. “Money? I never sent—”
“A week ago, Sam stopped by. He’d been the one receiving my letters and sending me the money.”
“Sam?” Brady felt as if his world was crumbling in on itself. Eight years of lies. He’d been across an ocean, but never out of reach. Brady had sent Sam money for the farm and always included his address and a way to reach him in an emergency. His older brother had always been controlling but this went beyond that. His thoughts stumbled. “Wait. Amber?”
“Our daughter.” Maggie pulled a photo out of her purse.
Brady was afraid to take it, afraid to touch it, afraid of making this real. She set the photo in front of him.
“Amber is seven. She’s in second grade with Mrs. Mason. She plays softball and takes gymnastics. She’s a good kid.”
Brady glanced at the photo, meaning to take a peek. But his gaze settled on a face so familiar, it broke his heart.
“She looks like my mom.” Brady’s hand trembled as he lifted the photo. Tears choked in his throat. It had been ten years since Mom died. When she became sick, it had changed their household. After she died, it had been the three of them. Angry, confused teenagers hell-bent on going their own way. Now his mother had a grandchild she’d never be able to spoil. Finally, a girl.
Maggie gave him a wary half smile. “She looks like you. Every time I see her, I see a little of you.”
He had a daughter. His phone clattered in his pocket, insistent for his attention.
He ignored it, trying to grab on to one of the emotions flying around in his head. Anger at not being told, frustration that he couldn’t ignore work for even an hour to discuss this with Maggie, confusion over the still-vibrant connection he felt for Maggie and uncertainty on how to process all this.
He had a daughter.
Maggie sat across from him with her usually emotion-filled face as serene as the pond in the back field of the Ward farm. He had a daughter with this woman that he barely knew. A daughter who didn’t know her father.
The bubble of a grin threatening to expand on his face burst as his phone once again vibrated violently. Taking it from his pocket, he glanced at the screen.
“Damn.” Setting down his daughter’s picture, he scrolled through the three new emails. One from Peterson and two from the production leads in response to Peterson’s email. “Give me a minute.”
He didn’t look up as Maggie shifted slightly in her chair. Her outgoing breath was a little harsher than normal. He read Peterson’s email and held back the vulgar word that came to mind. Peterson was taking over his project and trying to write his name in Brady’s blood all over it.
He couldn’t regain his focus as Sam and Amber floated through his mind, each vying for his attention. One with anger and the other with curiosity. And then there was Maggie. He connected with her hazel eyes, and he stopped to take a breath. His chest tightened. “I’m a complete ass. Here I am trying to multitask while you’ve been doing that for the past eight years. Seven years old?”
Maggie nodded. Seven birthdays. What would his parents think about him not knowing about his child growing up in Tawnee Valley without him? How could he not know? Anything he said or did would feel inadequate for the time he’d missed.
He put down the phone without finishing his response and reached out and took her hand in his. “I wish I’d known. I wish I could have been there for you and Amber. To have to do that all on your own…”
Maggie flushed and dropped her gaze. “My mom was there for us when she had good days.”
“Good days?” Brady couldn’t remember much about Mrs. Grace Brown, but she’d always been nice to all the kids at the town picnics.
Maggie looked back at Brady. “Mom had breast cancer. She underwent treatment while I was pregnant and we had a few good years before…”
With the revived memories of his own mother still battering his heart, Brady lifted a napkin to the tear that trailed down her cheek. “I’m sorry to hear about your mother.”
They both froze at his action. Maggie shifted back and he pulled away quickly, looking at his hand as if it were the hand’s fault. He’d stepped over a line. They hadn’t ever been emotionally involved.
“She fought it to the end.” Maggie’s smile was distant, as if she caught a glimpse of some memory that strengthened her. Ten years ago he’d been devastated by his parents’ absence from his life. He couldn’t even stand to be in the community he’d grown up in.
He had no idea how he would have reacted at twenty to Maggie’s pregnancy. He glanced at the posed, smiling face with a few scattered freckles across her nose. Amber. It felt as if a fist squeezed his heart. Had his daughter ever needed him? He winced at the thought of not being there for her.
“I want to see her.” The words burst out of Brady before he could stop himself.
Maggie’s mouth dropped open.
“I want to be part of her life.” A sense of rightness went through him. It’s what his parents would have wanted. It’s what he wanted. “If you’ll let me.”
Chapter Four
Maggie’s heart raced, but she drew in a deep breath to steady herself. Just because Brady wanted to get to know Amber didn’t mean he wanted anything more to do with Maggie. Nothing had to change.
“I’d like that.” She tried to smile, but it faltered on her face. “I mean, Amber would love that. It’s been hard telling her about you when I thought you didn’t want any part of our lives.”
Brady’s blue eyes narrowed. “I’ll never forgive Sam for doing that to you.”
“No,” Maggie rushed out. Her cheeks warmed. How much of it had been her fault for not trying harder? “I’m not saying what he did was right—”
“It was damn conceited.” Brady leaned back in his chair. “He always thinks he knows what’s best.”
Maggie didn’t argue. Brady had been twenty when Sam had made the decision for him. Eight years had added a roughness to Brady’s boyish face. If anything, he was more handsome now than when she’d mooned over him in high school. His dark suit and blue tie lying against the soft-gray pressed shirt made him feel less approachable than when he’d been on top of the high school food chain dressed in denim and a worn T-shirt.
His face softened. “I’d do anything to take back those years and give Amber the father she deserved and you the support you needed.”
His words irritated her. “We got by fine on our own.” He smiled. “Always the fierce one, Maggie.”
The intimacy of the statement hit her below the belt and reminded her why she’d slept with him in the first place. If she hadn’t thought he was patronizing her, she might have even liked him saying that. She cleared her throat and lifted her fork to toy with her rapidly cooling food.
He reached for his BlackBerry again and started pressing buttons. “I might be able to get away for a day or two…”
His lips tightened as he glared at the small screen. Whatever was on the screen wasn’t making him happy.
“The project I’m working on is a multimillion-dollar deal. But I should be able to get away in a month, maybe a Sunday.”
“A month?” The food sank like a lump in her stomach.
“If everything goes according to plan. I should be able to make it out and back in a day.”
“It might take longer?” Maggie crossed her arms over her chest. “Amber has waited seven years for a father I didn’t think wanted her. What am I supposed to tell her? Your father is a busy man and when he finds time, he fully intends to come meet you for the first time? Am I supposed to string her along with promises of her father indefinitely?”
“Amber should come first. You’re right—” Brady met her gaze “—but my career is hanging on this project. Can I fly her and you out here?”
“She has school. No one can cover for you for a few days? you don’t have vacation time?”
“Of course I have vacation time. I have a few months’ worth of vacation time saved, but—”
“But you aren’t willing to take them.” She stood and clasped her shaking hands together. “I don’t have vacation time, but I came here on my weekend off to tell you as soon as I found out you didn’t know.”
Brady glanced around them. Some of the nearby diners had stopped talking and stared at them with unabashed interest.
“Will you please sit?” Brady asked softly.
She wanted to leave and forget she had ever come to New York, but she had a duty to Amber. For the past seven years, she’d been the one that Amber turned to, the one she relied on. But every now and then, Amber asked about her father. Maggie wasn’t willing to disappoint her daughter because her father was turning out to be an ass. She dropped in the seat and crossed her arms.
“I can’t tell Amber that her father might be able to make it to Tawnee Valley to see her sometime this year. She’s seven. She’s never met her dad and doesn’t know her uncles. Her grandmother died a few months ago. I’m all she has left.”
Brady laid his hand on the table. The surrounding diners went back to their food, but they seemed to lean a little closer in the direction of Maggie and Brady’s table.
“I’m not trying to blow you off, Maggie.” He ran a hand through his hair and looked up to the ceiling before returning to face her. She had a feeling he said that to every woman in his life. “I want to see Amber. The project I’ve taken on is important—”
“And we’re not.” Maggie didn’t like the hurt in her voice, but she’d worked hard to be everything to Amber. Now someone else had a chance to be part of Amber’s life. This man that Maggie had always found fascinating. He’d been her hero in high school, and it was hard not to be disappointed in the man he’d become. She took in a deep breath and closed her eyes briefly, trying to think rationally. “I know that this is a lot. I know I just told you that you have a child. I know your work is important, but is it the only thing that’s important?”
“I’m not saying that.” Brady closed his eyes and sighed. “What do you want from me, Maggie?”
Everything. The thought startled her into silence. She bit the inside of her cheek and tightened her lips. Romantic dreams were for other people. She had to be rational. “I’d rather not tell her about you at all if we can’t work out something definitively.”
“I found out I have a daughter ten minutes ago. I’m dealing with the information as best I can.” He looked at the photo of Amber and his eyes softened. “I want to do what’s right, but I’m eight years too late. Tell me, what should I do?”
Maggie uncrossed her arms and laid her hand on top of his. His heat gave her comfort. She knew what Amber needed, what Amber deserved. What Maggie wished she’d had from the father she barely remembered. She took a deep breath before meeting his eyes.
“Two weeks. Give us two weeks of your time. Let Amber get to know you and adjust to having you in her life. If you decide you only want to be around occasionally after that—” Maggie swallowed the lump forming in her throat “—we can work something out.”
His lips tightened into a thin line and she wondered if he would try to bargain more with her. He let out his breath in a puff. “I’ll have to work while I’m there…”
Joy welled within Maggie, but it was tainted with concern. What if he didn’t love Amber the way she deserved to be loved? What if he decided he didn’t want to be a daddy to their daughter? What if Maggie accidentally drove him away and Amber hated her for the rest of her life?
She shook the doubts from her head. “We’ll make it work.” Realizing she held his hand, she released him and tucked a stray hair behind her ear.
“I’ll need a few days to straighten things out, but then we can head back,” Brady said.
Maggie’s smile slipped as she focused on what Brady was saying. “We?”
“You don’t think I’m going to let you go without me?” His half smile reminded her of the high school Brady she’d known. It was the same smile he’d given her when he’d caught her staring at him during gym class. The clanking of plates pulled her out of the small bubble she’d been in, bringing her back to the diner. Back to reality.
The reality was she needed to go home. “My plane ticket is for tomorrow. I have work and I need to take care of Amber—”
“All important details, but Sam obviously owes us. My assistant can take care of the ticket.”
“I can’t afford to stay at the hotel another night—”
“Stay with me.” He cleared his throat. “I meant stay at my apartment.”
The background noise faded again as she met his eyes. If only she were eighteen and willing to throw caution to the wind, to have one more night in Brady’s arms. If only she’d let Penny pack her pretty nightgown. With her mother’s illness and taking care of Amber, Maggie hadn’t had time for anything else. She opened her mouth to say no, but the words stuck in her throat.
The girl she’d been would have been happy to let him take control of the situation, but now…“My flight is already booked. Penny is expecting me. Amber is expecting me. I should go home.”
“I have a guest room,” Brady said. “It will be easier if we head back together. That way you can make sure I get out of here. And you can get to know me better. You can fill me in on the last eight years.”
“What do you mean?” Maggie asked, suddenly filled with nervous energy. Time alone with Brady Ward? Her inner teenager squealed with delight. She had to get ahold of herself.
“It’s been years, Maggie.” Brady sat back and looked for all intents and purposes to be a big-shot CEO as he stared down his fine nose at her. “We don’t know each other that well. I’ve missed so much already. Birthdays, Christmases, her favorite color. All these things a father should know. I don’t even know her birth date.”
That twinge of guilt for her part in his missing Amber growing up picked at her conscience.
As if reading that she was wavering, Brady added, “You might decide I’m not the type of guy you want to bring home.”
Given that he’d insisted that he wanted to meet Amber, Maggie suspected this was his way to make her feel comfortable with his plan by making it appear that it was in her best interest.
She wasn’t eighteen anymore. Guilt or not. “And if I decide in the next few days that I don’t want you to come meet Amber? You’d be fine with that?”
His eyes narrowed, but that cocksure smile of his told her that he had every intention of making sure that didn’t happen. He leaned in conspiratorially and suddenly the air surrounding her was sucked away. “Of course. I’d respect your wishes. But you have to promise me something.”
She returned his smile, wary but willing to play the game. “We don’t make promises. Remember?”
His smile only faltered for a second. “That was years ago. Surely we can make a few promises now.”
“Okay.” She leaned away, ready to negotiate. “A promise for a promise.”
He stroked his chin as he contemplated her. “You drive a hard bargain. Ladies first.”
“You won’t make any promises you can’t keep to Amber. No promises of gifts or time unless you fully intend to live up to that promise.”
Brady nodded. “Fair enough.”
“And that extends to parenting,” Maggie added.
“How so?”
“I’ve been with her these past seven years. You can come to visit, but she is my daughter. What I say goes.”
“All right. No promises I can’t keep and no going over your head on parenting.” Brady’s eyes twinkled mischievously though the serious look on his face never changed. “That sounds like two promises.”
“Take it or leave it.” Maggie shrugged. He’d either accept her decision or he could stay out of their lives. She expected him to ask for two promises, but instead he looked at her with something like…respect. Warmth blasted through her.
“Accepted.” Brady moved in close and the diner faded into a distant rumble. “Now for your promise to me.”
She squirmed in her chair. Whatever he was about to say she could walk away from if she needed to. She held that thought close to her heart as she gave him a nod to continue.
“You promise you’ll give me a chance.”
Her eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. “Would I be here if I wasn’t ready to do that?”
“I don’t know.” Brady stroked his fingers along his jaw. “I don’t know you any more than you know me.”
“We grew up together,” Maggie protested.
“We grew up around each other and except for one night, we never talked that much. We’ve both changed over the past eight years, Maggie.”
He didn’t have to remind her of that. Everything about him had changed. Clothes, hair, even his attitude. Eight years ago he’d had a haunted look about him. Even with his confidence, he hadn’t been able to hide that look from her. For a brief moment, she’d met a kindred spirit and she’d let her impulsiveness get the best of her.
She definitely wasn’t that girl anymore. Her first one-night stand had given her a daughter and a taste of responsibility she’d only toyed with before that. She was as firmly planted as the oak in her backyard.
“Give me a chance to get to know Amber and give her a chance to get to know me. Trust me to accept responsibility for this child I never knew I had. Trust me to try my best to not hurt Amber’s feelings. Allow me to make a few mistakes without cutting me out of her life.”
Could she trust him? What choice did she have? He was Amber’s biological father. Maybe part of her had actually hoped he’d leave them alone and want nothing to do with them.
Maybe that’s why it had been such a shock when Sam had delivered the money. Sure, Brady had been in London, but he probably would have wanted to be involved, somehow. Or maybe he would have been like Maggie’s father and tossed her away.
“Maggie?”
She pulled herself from her past pain. This was a new future.
“Can you give me a chance?” Brady asked.
“I’ll try.” She gave him a halfhearted smile.
“And you’ll stay with me until I can get away?”
How could she say no? She needed to get to know this man before she introduced him to her daughter. And she owed him the chance to learn about Amber.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea.” Insane was what it was; she was actually considering spending the next few days in Brady’s apartment. Alone. With him. Certifiable. But if it meant Amber got to meet her daddy…
“It’s a large apartment and I barely use it. I bought it as an investment.” He glanced at his watch. “There’s time to get your things and set you up in my apartment before my next meeting.”
“You won’t take no for an answer, will you?”
He winked. “Definitely not.”
Chapter Five
One meeting rolled into the next, keeping Brady from focusing on the fact that he had a seven-year-old. Amber was never far from his mind as he went over the numbers with the team in London. Neither was Maggie.
When he finally managed to find time to sit at his desk, it was already quarter to five. On his return from lunch, he’d asked his assistant to order some groceries and have them sent to his apartment. As far as he knew, the refrigerator and cabinets were empty. The clock seemed to be marking every second he had left to get things straightened out. If he wanted to talk to Kyle before he left for the game tonight, Brady needed to get over to his office.
“Brady, I have those numbers you asked for yesterday.” Jules appeared in his doorway. She looked up from the reports and frowned. “Are you going somewhere?”
Brady walked toward Jules. “Can you talk me through it on the way to Kyle’s office?”
“Is there a meeting?”
“No.” He waved off her concern. Though he knew in the past things had been done behind her back, that wasn’t the way Brady worked. “I need to talk to Kyle about a personal matter before he leaves.”
She nodded, though she still had a crease between her eyebrows. They started down the hall, and she handed him a page from the top of her papers. “I’ve been going through the preliminary budgets we set up. It looks like Peterson has made some changes without giving us notification.”
Brady stopped abruptly and gave the sheet his full attention. Funds allocated to construction had been moved to another account. “Dammit.”
“I can change it back, but—” She bit her lip and glanced at her watch.
This could take hours to resolve with Peterson and that’s probably why he’d done it. If Jules went into his office now, she’d be in there for hours arguing about why it was correct in the first place. All the while, Peterson would be suggestive without being overt enough for her to press sexual harassment charges against him.
Brady took the papers from her. “I’ll take care of it.”
“Thanks.” The tension drained out of Jules’s face and shoulders. “I owe you.”
“Don’t think I won’t hold you to that.” Brady left Jules and knocked on Kyle’s office door.
“Come in.”
Kyle stood behind his desk, putting his laptop in his bag. His cell phone was cradled between his cheek and shoulder. He gestured for Brady to come forward.
“No…” Kyle said to the person on the other end of the line. “Thursday won’t work. Yes, see you then.”
He tucked the phone into its holder and gestured for Brady to take a seat. “If you’d been two minutes later, I would have been out the door.”
“Glad I caught you, then.” Brady took the offered seat and waited for Kyle to sit.
“What can I do for you today, Brady?”
Brady swallowed. “I know this is the worst timing, but I have a family emergency and need to take some time off.”
Kyle leaned his elbows on the desk. “Is everything okay?”
“I honestly don’t know.” Brady chuckled, suddenly aware how absurd the situation sounded. “I recently found out I have a seven-year-old daughter who knows nothing about me. Her mother thought I knew, but I didn’t.”
“Congratulations.” Kyle leaned back in his chair and it rocked with him. “So what were you thinking? A day? Two?”
Brady released the breath he’d been holding. “I have vacation built up, but I’m planning to continue working on the project while I’m in Illinois.”