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He meets my gaze. “First of all, I want to apologize for being an asshole. I shouldn’t have gone off like that. It was wrong to dismiss you like that.” He wears his most sincere face. Everything about him feels and sounds like a lie. His reaction when I told him about Ivy had been an honest one.
“Can we talk about it again,” he asks. “We have a daughter, Vanessa.”
I harden my heart. I gave him a chance and he blew it. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Please, Vanessa. I made a mistake and I’m sorry,” he says. “You took me by surprise. How would you have reacted if you had been in my shoes?”
“I would have listened and considered the possibility that I had a daughter,” I say.
“Now you are lying,” Gabriel says growing solemn. “An ex-girlfriend shows up almost a year since you last saw her saying that you have a daughter, and you’d believe her?”
When he puts it that way, it does sound a bit ridiculous, on my part. I let out a sigh.
“I’d like us to start again. Please,” he says. “Tell me about her. What’s her name?”
I search his face for signs that he’s pretending but all I see is a man interested in learning about his daughter. I remember how Logan is with Emma and my heart melts just a little bit. Maybe Ivy will be lucky too and have her biological father in her life.
“Her name is Ivy and she’s the sweetest little girl,” I say. I tell him a little bit about her but I’m still a little worried. I don’t trust that Gabriel will go through with this. I’m finding it hard to believe that his attitude could have done such a turn. From outright denying that my daughter could be his to wanting to know about her.
“I can’t wait to meet her,” he says. “But there’s something we need to do first, Vanessa.”
My insides stiffen. “What’s that?”
“We have to do a paternity test. We both need to be a hundred percent sure that she’s mine,” he says. “It’s only fair to me. We won’t do it in a lab or anything. It’s just for our purposes. We’ll get the home kit, and I can do it myself.”
A home kit doesn’t sound so bad. Then the lioness in me wakes up and as I stare at him, it dawns on me that I don’t need to do any of that. I don’t have to dance to Gabriel’s tune. I’m not going to be rushed into making a decision. This weekend is big for Logan and me. That’s what I need to focus on. Not what Gabriel wants.
“I need time to think about it. I gave you a chance and what did you do? You threw it back in my face and now you walk in here and expect me to give in to your demands?” My face heats up with my rising anger.
“Not demands,” he says softly. “Requests.”
“I’ll let you know next week after I’ve had time to think about it,” I tell him.
“Okay then, I’ll be waiting.” He gets up, blows me a kiss which I ignore, and leaves as quietly as he came.
Eva comes to my office. “Are you okay?”
I tell her what Gabriel wanted.
“That is weird after how vehemently he reacted when you told him,” she says. “Something
must have happened to make him change his mind.”
I shrug. “I don’t even care about that. What worries me is how long he’ll be in Ivy’s life before growing bored and leaving. I can’t forget the complete lack of interest when I told him about Ivy.”
“Yeah, it’s worrying.”
I don’t tell Logan about Gabriel coming to my office when we’re together that evening. I don’t want to take attention away from Emma. It’s Logan’s moment and I won’t have my issues with Gabriel overshadowing that.
“How was your day?” Logan says from the side of the bathroom where he’s watching me bathe Ivy.
“It was fine, but I couldn’t settle down. All I could think about was tomorrow. Emma is coming home. She’s going to get to live with her daddy.” Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.
“I know and thanks to you and Ivy, I feel more or less equipped to handle it,” he says. “It would have taken me another five years to get here.”
I laugh. “I don’t think so but thanks for saying that.”
Ivy chooses that moment to slap the water and send it flying everywhere but mostly my face. She erupts in giggles, and I can’t help but laugh too.
“Let me help while you wipe your face,” Logan says.
“Thanks.”
I rinse off my face and dry it by which time, Ivy is warmly wrapped up in a towel and Logan is carrying her to her room. He lays her on the bed, and I take over dressing her.
