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“How long?” he asked, his eyes on her stiff back.
“Sixteen years now. Thanksgiving weekend. Turkey, pumpkin pie, and a good old-fashioned disowning.”
He still stayed a few feet from her. “Because of Emma?”
From what he knew, the girl was fifteen and a good reason for those two to cut one of their children from their lives. Only they would feel a grandchild was something less than a blessing. If he and Sera ever got together, both of Sera’s kids would be smothered in nothing but love by his mom, and she wasn’t even their actual grandmother.
“No, not really. I had already decided to marry Bradford. He was beneath me, you see.” She finally turned from the window and used finger quotes for beneath. “But Emma was already on the way, although my parents didn’t know about her. I’ve been grateful for that over the years. They don’t deserve to know her or Violet.”
“Did you think they would come around back then? That they would forgive you for marrying Bradford and want to be a part of your life?” He wondered if there was another side to Gaines and Marlo that he had missed over the years, a forgiving side.
“No, I know Mother. If Bradford was beneath me, so was any child born to him. I have never tried to contact them, and I never will.” She shrugged.
“Do you miss them?”
“No. I wouldn’t trade a moment of my life today for their money. The only thing I ever learned from them was how to parent. Or how not to parent. I never want to let my girls know if or when I’m disappointed in them. I will support them through everything, always. I raised them with love, not money,” she said.
“Your kids are great, Sera. I barely know them and can tell you’ve done so well with them.”
“I think so also. I do sometimes think that I’m the only one who knows how great my girls are.”
“Nope, you’re not alone. Emma warned me away from you, trying to protect you.” He hadn’t planned to tell her, but the smile his words caused was worth it.
“She’s like me, but don’t ever tell her that. She’ll be happier when she’s older. The teenage years were hard for me also.” He could hear the smile in her voice, just talking about her daughter.
“I won’t say a word,” he replied, wanting to be back in her and her daughters’ lives.
“I got the paternity results from Kylie Nash’s doctor. That’s why I was down at your office. You’re not the daddy.” She abruptly changed the subject. Was it because they were talking about her kids, and she didn’t want him to be a part of their lives? “But the father is a close relative of yours.”
“I don’t have any relatives. My mother was an only child, and my father’s been out of the picture for years,” Harrison stated.
“Out of your picture, but in someone’s.” She walked to her desk and opened the crushed file on her desk. “The results said it was possible the father is your first cousin or half-sibling.”
“My mother has no other children.” He grabbed the file from her hand. He had to see this. Though when he looked at the results, the words made little sense.
“You do have another parent,” she said, letting him look it over.
“Not really.”
“Well, Jesus, then you’re a miracle!” She said sarcastically but wondered about the man who had fathered him and walked away from his life.
“Can I take this to my mom?”
“I can send you a copy. I need the original for my records,” she replied as she shuffled through her papers.
“Thanks. I think I’ll run out there tonight. What happens now?” he asked.
“Now I’m going to go talk to Kylie again and see what she says about this.” She tapped the paper.
“Thanks. I know you didn’t have to tell me.” It was true—she could have held on to the information. Or she could have sent him an impersonal email about it. After the way he treated her, he would have chosen not to tell her in person.
“You needed to know. This is more than about a lawsuit, Harrison. This is a life.” She dropped the folder on her desk.
“I know that, but not a life I helped create.” He pointed to the folder as if it were the child itself.
“Not this time,” she said and turned back toward the window and looked out at the city.
“Not ever, Sera. Thanks for the reminder.” Turning, he stormed out of the office. Somehow, she still didn’t believe the results printed on a document in her own file.
When he got back to his office, the Hawthornes were gone. Beth chuckled as she told him what lawyer she had recommended. The man also worked for Rodgers and Associates, but only because he was married to the boss’s daughter. The last time he got an important case, he had lost so badly that he hadn’t been given another. Harrison couldn’t help but laugh as he went back into his office. Sitting in his chair, he looked at the will that was still on his screen. Seraphina’s name popped out at him immediately. Seraphina Marlo Hawthorne. He noticed her birthday had been just two weeks before. Glancing at his calendar, he realized her birthday was the day she had interviewed Kylie Nash for the first time—the day she didn’t come back.
She had turned thirty-six, just like she had told him in the car when she was soaking wet and sexy as hell, and he hadn’t even known. He assumed her friends had taken her out; they seemed like they’d show her a good time out on the town.
But still, it nagged him that he had missed her birthday, even if it had been before they had started seeing each other. He would have liked to have known.
Closing the file for the eccentric couple that had created Sera Lovely, he was happy she had found a way to raise her kids differently from how she had been raised. Marlo would have died if Sera had brought up her sex life like Emma and Violet had on Saturday. He would take her kids any day over the kind of kids Marlo had tried to raise. All except Sera; she’d turned out perfect.
All he had to do was get past this case so he could prove to Sera that he wanted her just as she was.
