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She jolted a little at the sound of his voice reverberating through the big kitchen, but recovered quickly enough. Throwing him a quick glance, she set several cookies on a plate, then said, “In Swan Hollow? I grew up here.”
He already knew that, thanks to the internet. “So you’ve always lived in this house?”
She took one mug out of the machine, reset it and set the next mug in place. “No, my brother Chance lives in the family home now.”
One eyebrow lifted. Truth be told, as soon as he’d discovered who Belle was and where she lived, he hadn’t looked any deeper. “You have a brother? Wait. Yeah. You said uncles earlier.”
She gave him a wry smile. “I have three older brothers. Chance, Eli and Tyler. Fair warning, you’ll probably be meeting them once they find out you’re here.”
Fine. He could handle her brothers. “They don’t worry me.”
“Okay. The three of them live just up the road. My parents had a big tract of land, and when they died, Chance moved into the big house and Eli and Tyler built homes for themselves on the land.”
“Why didn’t you? Why live here and not closer to your family?”
She laughed shortly. “In summer it takes about five minutes to walk to any of their houses. It’s not like I’m far away.” She carried a plate of cookies to the table and set them down. Homemade chocolate chip. When she turned to go back for the coffee, she said, “I wanted to live closer to town, with Caroline. She has school and friends...” Her voice trailed off as she set his coffee in front of him and then took her own cup and sat down in the chair opposite him.
“Big house for just the two of you,” he mused, though even as he said it, he thought again about his own home. It was bigger than this place and only he and his housekeeper lived there.
“It’s big, but when I was a girl, I loved this house.” She looked around the kitchen and he knew she was seeing the character, the charm of the building, not the sleek appliances or the updated tile floor. “I used to walk past it all the time and wonder about what it was like inside. When it went up for sale, I had to have it. I had it remodeled and brought it back to life, and sometimes I think the house is grateful for it.” She looked at him and shrugged. “Sounds silly, but...anyway, my housekeeper, Edna, and her husband, Marco, my gardener, liv
e in the guest house out back. So Caro and I have the main house to ourselves.”
Outside, the dark pressed against the windows, but the light in the room kept it at bay. Wes had a sip of coffee, more to take a moment to gather his thoughts than for anything else. He was at home in any situation, yet here and now, he felt a little off balance. It had started with his first look at Belle after five long years. Then seeing Caroline had just pushed him over the edge. He really hadn’t taken in yet just how completely his life had been forever altered. All he knew for sure was that things were different now. And he had to forge a path through uncharted territory.
When he set the mug back on the table, he looked into her eyes and asked, “Did you tell Caroline who I am?”
She bit at her bottom lip. “No.”
“Good.”
“What?” Clearly surprised, she stared at him, questions in her eyes.
“I want her to get to know me before we spring it on her,” Wes said. He’d had some time to think about this, during his long day of waiting, and though he wanted nothing more than to go upstairs and claim his daughter, it wasn’t the smart plan. He wanted Caroline to get used to him, to come to like him before she found out he was her father.
“Okay,” she said. “That makes sense, I guess.”
She looked relieved and Wes spoke up fast to end whatever delusion she was playing out in her head. “Don’t take this to mean I might change my mind about all of this. I’m not going anywhere. Caroline is my daughter, Belle. And I want her to know that. I’m going to be a part of her life, whether you like the idea or not.”
Irritation flashed on her features briefly, then faded as she took a gulp of her coffee and set the mug down again. “I understand. But you have to understand something, too, Wes. I won’t let Caroline be hurt.”
Insult slapped at him. What was he, a monster? He wasn’t looking to cause Caroline pain, for God’s sake. He was her father and he wanted her to know that. “I’m not going to hurt her.”
“Not intentionally. I know that,” she said quickly. “But she’s a little girl. She doesn’t know how to guard her heart or to keep from becoming attached. If she gets used to having you around, having you be a part of her world, and then you back off, it will hurt her.”
He was used to responsibility, but suddenly that feeling inched up several notches. Wes couldn’t have a child and ignore her. But at the same time, he was about to break every rule he’d ever had about getting involved with someone. There was danger inherent in caring about anyone, and he knew it. But she was his daughter, and that single fact trumped everything else.
“I’m here because I want to be,” he said, then tipped his head to one side and stared at her. “I’m not dropping in to get a look at her before I disappear. Yes, I have an important product launch coming up and I’ll have to return to Texas, but I plan on being a permanent part of Caroline’s life, which you don’t seem to understand. It’s interesting to me, though, that suddenly I’m the one defending myself when it’s you who has all the explaining to do.”
“I didn’t mean that as an attack on your motives,” she said quietly. “I just want to make sure you understand exactly what’s going to happen here. Once Caroline gives her heart, it’s gone forever. You’ll hold it and you could crush it without meaning to.”
“You’re still assuming I’m just passing through.”
“No, I’m not.” She laughed shortly, but it was a painful sound. “I know you well enough to know that arguing with you is like trying to talk a wall into falling down on its own. Pointless.”
He nodded, though the analogy, correct or not, bothered him more than a little. Was he really so implacable all the damn time? “Then we understand each other.”
“We do.”
