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Aiden turned his head toward me, and I shrugged as I said, “She wanted to start them three years ago, but I made her wait until they were age appropriate.”
“She’s already done with the first book?” he asked. “I’ve read them. They’re long and probably not easy reading for a kid.”
I hadn’t forgotten how much Aiden loved to read anything and everything he could get his hands on.
I smirked. “She’s read all of them several times already. She’s working on another read-through of the series because she’s gotten bored with The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. She’s read those two series so many times that they’re all dog-eared. She loves fantasy. I did tell you that she was a gifted reader. But she doesn’t get to read things that aren’t age appropriate.”
His eyebrows rose. “So she reads to you?”
I nodded. “She does. And we take breaks to talk about the stories.”
He turned back to Maya, who had already scrambled back under the covers. “Okay, then,” he agreed. “I’m lazy, so you can read to me.”
My daughter laughed. “This isn’t the way we do it. You and Mom need to come lie down with me and get under the covers.”
Aiden looked confused, so I moved to the other side and slipped into the queen-sized bed. It was so much bigger than her usual twin, and there would be plenty of room.
I snuggled next to her and pulled the covers up, and then I gave Aiden an encouraging look.
He shot me a relieved smile and followed my lead on his side of the bed.
When Maya was sandwiched between the two of us, she finally gave both of us a satisfied nod and began to read.
Aiden interrupted occasionally, and acted out some of the scenes with fictional voices, making my daughter chortle like a child, a sound I had rarely heard.
“You’re funny, Dad,” Maya told him with a giggle after he’d finished a dramatic voice of the villain. “You do good voices.”
I lifted my head as I saw the look of awe on his face.
Aiden had made it clear that Maya could call him Aiden. He obviously hadn’t wanted to pressure her into accepting him as her father until she was ready. And I could tell that he was incredibly happy that she’d acknowledged him as her dad for the first time.
“I used to read to my younger brother and sisters,” he told his daughter in a voice that was raw with emotion.
“Were you kind of like their dad, too?” Maya asked with curiosity.
“A little. I wasn’t old enough to be their father, but I was their older brother. I was there to protect them and take care of them,” he explained.
“I’d like to have a brother or a sister,” Maya stated. “Now that you and Mom are together, can I have one?”
Aiden shot me a panicked look, and I smiled. It wasn’t like I hadn’t warned him that Maya was going to ask questions. A lot of them.
Aiden had explained to her earlier that he hadn’t known that she existed until yesterday, and that if he had known, she would have always been in his life.
I’d been grateful that he hadn’t blamed me. Instead, he’d chalked it all up to a misunderstanding between the two of us just like he’d said he would, and, blessedly, Maya had accepted his explanation.
But that didn’t mean she was done asking questions.
I knew my daughter way too well to believe she was going to quietly be okay with the fact that we were all living in the same home.
“You’ll have to ask your mom,” he said in a husky voice.
I glared at him. “We aren’t ready to talk about that, Maya,” I answered. “We just want to enjoy time alone with you.”
She nodded her agreement. “I want that, too. For right now.”
Her words were a warning that she’d pursue the topic later. I knew how my child operated.
She was happy that we were apparently a family, and that bothered me, because we really . . . weren’t.
Yeah, Aiden and I were both here, but we were far from being a loving family unit.
Would it be enough that Aiden and I just loved her?
Maya returned to her reading, but my mind wandered.
It hadn’t been a bad day. In fact, it had been just the opposite. We’d spent the afternoon out by the pool, and then we’d barbecued outside for dinner.
It had been one of the most relaxing days I could remember.
But I could still feel the distance between me and Aiden, and it wouldn’t be long before Maya would be able to feel that, too. She was sensitive and easily tuned in to other people’s emotions.
Right now, she was over the moon about having a real father. But after the initial novelty wore off, she’d be bugging us to do everything together like a normal family.
I sighed. We’d have to cross that bridge when we came to it. But I had no idea what the solution would be.
Maya was the only thing Aiden and I had in common.
Maybe we can eventually learn to like each other. But I just can’t marry him. I never want to be married again.
My first marriage had been hell on earth, so I wasn’t about to step into the wedded state again.
It won’t be long before Maya starts pushing to see Aiden and me get married.
In my daughter’s mind, marriage would mean that she could have that coveted brother or sister.
Eventually, we’d have to tell her that a sibling was never going to happen. But I wanted her to get comfortable with having a dad and a new home first.
There had been way too much insecurity and sadness in my daughter’s life. Today, Aiden had brought out the eight-year-old in her, and I was grateful for that.
He’s good with kids.
Not that I had ever thought that he wouldn’t be. I’d seen Aiden with Jade when we were younger. He’d always been protective and supportive, and he’d given his siblings all the love he had to give.
Maybe that was part of the reason why I’d fallen for him so hard when I was eighteen.
He’d made me feel safe and important, too.
I startled as Maya closed her book none too gently. “That’s the end of the chapter,” she said with a yawn. “Can we read more tomorrow? I’m kind of tired.”
“Get some rest, Princess,” Aiden advised as he sat up. “Tomorrow is a school day.”
“I wish I could just be with you,” she told him hesitantly.
Aiden grinned at his daughter. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be here when you get home.”
The relief on my daughter’s face made me want to cry. Maya really was afraid that Aiden would suddenly disappear from her life as quickly as he’d entered it.
Don’t cry. I can never cry.
“I thought we could go to Disneyland next weekend,” he suggested.
Her face lit up. “That would be so cool. Mom took me when I was younger, but I’d love to go now that I’m old enough to appreciate it and do some bigger rides.”
My heart sank. Even though we were in fairly close proximity to the Disney park, I hadn’t been able to afford to take Maya there for the last several years.
“Then we’ll go,” Aiden said with a grin, looking just like a little boy himself.
Maya tilted her head. “When did you last go?”
“I’ve only been there once, a long time ago,” he confessed. “And it rained all day.”
