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He was done making decisions that ended up hurting the people he loved.
An hour later, after he’d signed all the paperwork at the brokerage firm and made arrangements to set up new bank accounts, he headed to Deidre’s house, relieved that all of that was finished for a while. There would be further decisions to make later, but the urgent details and paperwork had been settled.
Now was the time for him to prove to Grace and to Emma that he loved them and would care for them. It was his job to prevent any further damage to Emma. And to Grace.
Watching Emma this morning before she left the house had cemented his determination to be a good father. With her bright red curls and blue eyes, her instant smile and the adorable way she talked and played with Lisa, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.
It was true that, so far, she’d avoided any direct contact with him, but he believed with all his heart that, given time, he could change that. He looked forward to the day he could hold her and play with her the way Lisa did. Until then, he would take it slow, be there for her and make certain that her life was as close to normal as possible. That meant staying here for a few days to get everything organized. It might even take a couple of weeks. He should have explained that to Grace, to make it clear he wanted to resolve the issues they faced, but from here. Not at their home, where he couldn’t establish a relationship with Emma. But between Grace’s anger and his inability to cope with her anger, he had, once again, mishandled their conversation and gotten it all wrong.
He heard the back door open and moved off the kitchen stool he’d been sitting on. Emma came in, tugging on Lisa’s hand, a ready smile on her face. When she saw him, she slowed, stopped and stared at him. Without saying a word, he smiled at her. She gave him a tiny smile back, and his heart soared. He was making progress.
Lisa put the knapsack on the counter, then went to the fridge. “What would you like for a snack?” she asked Emma. “What about pita and hummus?”
Aidan had never eaten hummus in his life, but he was certainly willing to try. If eating hummus would give him a starting point with his daughter, he’d eat a gallon of it.
He waited to see what Emma would do. She rushed across the room to the fridge and took the food from Lisa’s hands. “I’m hungry,” she said, placing the food on the counter and climbing up on a stool next to him.
“Let me help you with that,” he said, reaching toward her.
She looked anxiously at him out of the corner of her eye, her lower lip jutting out. Was she going to cry? He hoped not. He’d seen enough tears for one day. “Can I have some of that?” he asked.
Emma blinked. A slight smile slowly turned up the corners of her mouth. “Mommy says we should all eat healthy,” she said, popping her thumb into her mouth as her eyes moved to Lisa, who was putting the food on a plate.
“Your mom is right. We should all eat healthy,” he said.
“Can I have juice, please?” she asked.
“Certainly,” Lisa answered, going to the cupboard and returning with what seemed to Aidan to be a lot of similar small boxes with colorful cartoon characters on them.
Emma reached for the plate and slid it across to him. “We can share.”
His heart beat hard in his chest at the kind gesture. Obviously, Deidre and Lisa had been teaching Emma to be polite and kind. “Thank you. I’d really like that.”
They settled in to enjoy the snack while Lisa started to prepare dinner. Watching Emma eat and chat with Lisa, Aidan spent the most enjoyable time he’d had since coming here. He had to believe that everything would work out. He’d make sure it did. And the hummus wasn’t half-bad, either.
He was laughing at Emma’s antics with a piece of pita when Lisa spoke. “Aidan, we need to talk.”
