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She put her fork on her empty plate and reached for her milk before she answered. “That’s what I did wrong,” she said. “I used my credit card to pay for the DNA test. And I lied about my age.”
My daughter didn’t really have a credit card. She had a prepaid card that I made sure was always in her backpack. Maya was intelligent enough to understand that it was only for emergencies.
Now that she was almost done with third grade, she definitely knew she wasn’t to use it unless she had to. “That’s for emergencies,” I told her. “You know that.”
She nodded. “I know. It was wrong. But I really wanted to know who my dad was.”
I lifted a brow. “And you couldn’t have just asked me?”
Her eyes welled up with tears, which nearly broke me. Maya hadn’t exactly had a happy childhood so far, and that was entirely my fault for marrying someone like Marco.
“I wanted to ask, but I don’t think you like him, whoever he is. Like I said, you always looked sad when I mentioned my real dad. And I don’t want you to be sad again. We’ve been sad a lot. And we’re pretty happy now.”
My own tears threatened to fall, but I blinked them back because of my ingrained instinct to remain stoic. Even though I’d tried to shield Maya from the scandal of Marco and his family going to jail, and the long trial that put him there, she’d been exposed to ridicule and the stress I’d tried so hard to hide.
The Marino family had been well known in San Diego. And she hadn’t been spared from the gossip.
It had been a relief when I’d been able to move away from the city, back to Citrus Beach, where most people wouldn’t even ask her about her stepfamily.
She’d told me that third grade in Citrus Beach was her best year ever.
And I’d hoped she could finally live a normal life.
But she’d obviously been hiding her questions.
“We’re very happy now,” I reassured her. “I’m disappointed that you used your card. But I understand why you did. Just don’t do it again, okay?”
She put down her empty glass and shook her head. “I won’t. I swear.”
Maya had been through enough. I wasn’t going to punish her for being curious. Especially since I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with her in the first place.
But how could I tell her that her father lived right here in town, yet he didn’t really communicate with her?
That was a lot to put on an eight-year-old, but I’d had to come back to Citrus Beach. I needed to make a go of the café so that Maya could have a decent life. I hadn’t been able to go to college, and making the restaurant fly was the only way I could actually earn a decent living.
“I’m so sorry all this has been so hard for you,” I told her earnestly.
She shrugged. “I’m okay. I have you. I don’t really need a dad.”
Maybe she didn’t need one, but she was entitled to know who he was. I’d just never wanted her to be disappointed.
I have to tell Aiden the truth.
If he truly didn’t know that Maya was his daughter, then he had a right to know, too.
What if he really had never gotten my letter explaining that I was pregnant, and I didn’t know what to do?
When I’d told my mother that I was pregnant with Aiden Sinclair’s child, she’d pretty much disowned me. The only option she’d given me was to marry a man from her church, a guy old enough to be my father.
It was either that, or I’d end up homeless and pregnant.
Maybe I’d been young and stupid, but I had loved Maya from the moment I’d discovered that she existed. I’d wanted her to be safe.
I’d left with Marco, but I’d never given up hope that Aiden would come for me.
And when he didn’t, I’d been destroyed.
My daughter had been the only thing I’d lived for once I’d realized that Aiden wasn’t going to come and get us.
“I’ll tell you about him soon, okay?” I told my daughter. “I have a few things I have to do first.”
Maya nodded her dark head. “Do you think he lives here, too? If I have an aunt here, do you think they live in the same town? I saw another person on the site who was related, but he was only a part uncle. I didn’t write to him, though.”
Evan? It had to have been Evan Sinclair, the oldest Sinclair brother on the East Coast and Jade’s half brother.
I let out a sigh of relief that Maya hadn’t contacted him. Jade adored her half brother, but I’d always found him to be pretty intimidating. The East Coast Sinclairs had grown up filthy rich, unlike Jade and all her siblings. But taking a DNA test had given Jade a second family when she’d matched with Evan—and the fortune that went with being related to the wealthy Sinclair family that originated from Boston. Maybe Jade’s father had been a bully bigamist, but at least he’d been a very rich one.
I had to at least like Evan because he’d been fair about distributing the wealth to all of his half-siblings—once he’d learned of their existence—here in California.
I grabbed my mug and took a large gulp of my coffee before I asked, “How did you get into that site, anyway? You should be blocked.”
My daughter had her own tablet, but there were only certain places she could access.
Maya looked sheepish. “I had to kind of borrow your laptop.”
“Kind of?” I said disapprovingly.
She looked down at her empty plate. “Okay, I did borrow it. A couple of times. Lena falls asleep on the couch sometimes when you’re working late.”
Lena was one of Maya’s college-aged babysitters.
Rather than being angry, I felt a pang of guilt that my daughter had to spend so damn much time with babysitters. “You’re shut down on my computer, Sugar Bug,” I warned her.
“Mom, I’m too old to be called that nickname. And I already deleted my membership. I won’t use your computer again. I already promised I wouldn’t.”
I believed her. Maya was a curious kid, but she’d never been deliberately disobedient. In fact, she’d been easy to raise so far. She was kind, considerate, loving, and the sort of child all mothers everywhere wanted to have. “It doesn’t matter how old you get, you’ll always be my Sugar Bug,” I said fondly. “And yes, your father does live here.”
Her eyes lit up, and I wanted to kick myself. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything until I talked to Aiden.
But now that I was committed to talking to him about Maya, I was hoping he’d want to know her.
I’d always known I was at least going to have to tell Jade that she had a niece. She was my best friend. I’d just never figured out how to tell her without revealing that Aiden didn’t care if he had a child or not.
But maybe that’s not true. Maybe he really never knew.
Now I was almost sure that was the case. And it was a scary thought.
What if he wants his daughter? What if he tries to take her away from me?
Since I couldn’t even cope with the thought that Maya could go anywhere but home with me, I pushed the negative voices out of my head.
“Will I be able to meet him?” Maya asked hopefully.
“We’ll see. I have to talk to him first.” I didn’t want to tell her that her dad might not even know that he’d fathered a daughter.
