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Cole almost stopped breathing when he realized Hope was uncomfortably waiting for him and that he was at her home. If Mia was his child, how on earth was he going to break this news to his father or to the family? What would this all mean now?
“I don’t think I can come immediately,” he said after much thought.
“What? Are you kidding me? What could be more important than this? This is our future, Cole. You know the Jacksons have been trying to bury our family’s reputation for decades. Dad probably wants to set things straight.”
“I know,” Cole said, his lips then pressed together as he pondered what to do. “And there’s still something he’s not telling us about the family secret he’s got hidden. We need to know. I wonder if he’s trying to clear things up with old man Jackson first before he tells us.”
“We’ll see. But you really should be here, Cole. I think Jake Jackson’s coming to the house, too. Dane, Brandon and Chase are already there.”
“I’ll be there later.”
“Later? What are you in the middle of? What can be more important than a family crisis, Cole?”
“I can’t answer that question now. I’ll explain later.” Cole really wanted to be there, too, but since his very capable brothers were all present at his father’s side, this would buy him more time to sort out this situation with Hope.
Hope probably couldn’t help but overhearing as she walked back out of the kitchen with another bottle of water. She had gotten up when she saw the conversation getting heated and wanted to give Cole some privacy.
“Is everything okay?” she asked with concern after he’d finished his call and offered him a bottle of distilled water. A concern that almost caused the usually cool Cole to melt. The truth was he never stopped loving Hope. And he couldn’t believe the way he felt after all these years. But this was all wrong. She owed him a lot—like a good explanation about what she’d been up to these past few years. And who Mia’s father was.
“Just something I need to take care of. Thanks,” he said softly as he took the bottle from her. “You still haven’t answered my question.”
Hope swallowed hard. He could just imagine how much her heart was pounding fiercely against her chest wall.
“Cole,” she sucked in a deep breath and continued as Cole waited, looking deeply into her eyes with cool anticipation, “Mia is your daughter.”
Chapter 5
Cole’s body stiffened. The truth hit him full force. He couldn’t believe the words that traveled to his ears. He had to regain his composure. He gave much thought to what Hope had just told him, though he half expected it. To actually hear the words, “Mia is your daughter,” was a whole different ball game.
“Mia is my child?” he asked incredulously. He gave a nervous chuckle. He was usually unflinching—but this? This situation made his heart turn over in his chest. He’d been just reduced to a pot of muddled emotions that he couldn’t quite explain.
The reality was confirmed. He was a daddy. He was a parent. He had a child. A living, breathing human being who was a part of him. And he held her for the first time today. Three years after her birth.
Mixed feelings swirled through him.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Confusion.
Hope.
He was a father. He had a child. And that child hadn’t been in his life during the first three years of her own life?
“Yes,” Hope reconfirmed. He could tell she didn’t know how he was about to react.
“So…when were you going to tell me that I’m a father? After Mia graduates college? Or when she’s about to get married and needs to have someone walk her down the aisle to give her away to her groom?”
“That is so not fair, Cole,” Hope shot back. “We broke off long before I even knew I was pregnant.”
“And you’d forgotten how to use a phone to call me? How the hell could you think of keeping something like this from me?” His voice hardened. He could feel his heart muscles squeeze in his chest.
Cole got up and paced. Heartbreak and pain overcame him. “How could you not get a hold of me, to tell me? I had a right to know.”
“It wasn’t that easy, Cole. Trust me. There were times, many times, I really wanted to tell you but we’d left on such a bad note…I....”
Cole didn’t think he could hear any more.
Cole knew where this was going to lead and he didn’t want to go there. They both glanced towards the far corner where Mia’s sleeping area was, as if cautious not talk too loudly for her to hear them or to disturb her sleep.
This freaked out Cole more than ever. All of a sudden, he was this other person. A caring daddy. But how could that be? He didn’t even get a chance to bond with his little girl. Or did he just bond with her hours ago at the food bank?
Of all the places to first meet his offspring.
He could see that Hope was just as distressed as he felt. How on earth did this evening turn out this way? He had agreed to help out at the local church to shell out food to the needy ahead of his Christmas Day and Christmas Eve schedule and this was the last thing he’d expected. But to be reunited with the woman who’d walked out on him three and a half years ago…and a child he never knew he had?
Another thought struck Cole.
His family.
What would his family say? The tabloids would have a feast on this one. Especially if word got out that his child and the mother were receiving handouts at a local food bank and living out of a garage apartment.
He shook his head.
Cole turned to Hope. He could tell she was hurt and knew she must have had a good reason to flee Belmont before she even knew she was pregnant, but his heart was broken right now. Crushed to pieces in a fog of disappointment.
He had a lot to absorb at the moment. His life had just changed in one fell swoop. He’d been determined to never marry after Hope left him but now he had to rethink his plan of action. It wasn’t so easy, was it?
Right now, he still had to deal with trouble back home. Something Hope knew nothing about. What a holiday season this was turning out to be.
He walked towards the wall divider to the makeshift bedroom to peek in. Mia was still sound asleep.
My little princess.
My daughter.
My own flesh and blood.
Emotion climbed into Cole’s throat, his heart ached for his little girl, and all those missing years. But he knew there was a whole lot more missing that Hope wasn’t telling him.
“Does your father know?”
“No!” Hope said with alarm. “No,” she said, more quietly the second time. “He can’t know. Please don’t say anything, Cole.”
“And why not?” He was dismayed. “He has a right to know he’s a grandfather, Hope,” Cole said, after he walked away from his daughter’s room back into the living area. “Is there a reason you want Mia to grow up without knowing who her family is?”
“No, Cole. It’s… a little more complicated than that.”
“Wait a minute.” His expression hardened. “Has your father tried to hurt you?”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that.”
He eyed her with skepticism then let it go.
Just then, a red long-stemmed rose laying on the countertop by the kitchen island caught his eye. Memories of the night he’d brought her those fresh roses, along with the fake one, flooded his thoughts.
She still has that fake rose?
The rose might have been fake, but his love for her was real. And it seemed as if she cared enough to keep it. A surge of heat raced through Cole. He felt warmth and all sorts of emotions overcome him. But the nerve of her. Why would she still have kept it and not even breathed a word to him about his daughter? He had a lot of unresolved issues to take care of with Hope.
He combed his fingers through his hair. “I’m going to get my car. I’ll be right back. Then we’re going to have a good long talk.”
“Sounds good to me.”
Cole then hesitated before leaving. He didn’t want to leave Hope for even a split second but he’d better take that five minute walk back to the church parking lot to get some fresh cold air and then he was going to try and plead with Hope to at least leave that godforsaken garage apartment and come with him to the Belmont Palace. That garage was no place for his little girl and Hope. He couldn’t possibly leave them there after tonight.
Hope felt as if her heart had just been ripped apart by an oncoming freight train. She shook her head as she closed the door behind Cole. What had she done? Cole knew about Mia now. Would he make arrangements to take Mia from her? But why would he do that? She looked around her garage apartment and could just imagine what he felt knowing his daughter was living there—in somebody’s garage. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn’t want to leave her child there.
She reached for her phone to call Jewel but her cordless phone already started ringing.
“Hello?” she answered anxiously.
“Hey, girl, what’s up?” Jewel said. “Why do you sound like that?”
Hope was too choked to speak. Silence lingered in the air for a brief moment.
“Hello? Hope, you still there?”
“Um. Yes. I…I’m sorry, just a bit preoccupied. Jewel, you’ll never guess who just left here.”
