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He stepped over and kissed her. “And who says it won’t be you?”
“You have.” She plucked the locket from her throat. “This does.” When he gave her a confused look she said, “We’ve known each other our entire lives. We’ve spent a good bit of the past few weeks together. I’ve fallen in love. You’ve fallen, too. But not in love. In lust. And this,” she said, displaying the locket one more time, “is the best you can give me.”
When he didn’t reply, she drew in a shuddering breath as her eyes filled with tears. “In a way you’re saying exactly what David said when he left me at the altar. I’m fun to have around, but I’m not a keeper.”
She handed the baby to him, then reached behind her and removed the locket. Tears streaming down her cheeks, she gently placed the locket on his palm. “Goodbye, Dominic.”
Head high, she walked out of the foyer. She prayed he’d come after her, and say all the right things to make her realize he did love her. But when she had enough time to call a cab company and have a car arrive to take her home, she knew he wasn’t going to.
Dominic awakened the next morning feeling incredibly out of sorts. When he opened his eyes and saw his old bedroom, he had a flash of sensation that his life was good. That everything that had happened in the past months had been a dream. His parents weren’t in Florida. Peter and Marsha were alive. His life was back to what it was supposed to be.
Then a soft cry issued from the baby monitor on his bedside table. He remembered he was sleeping in his old room because the nanny had left. He’d expected to come home with Audra, drink champagne and make love until dawn. Instead, because Mary met him and Audra at the door with Joshua, somehow his entire life had been turned upside down, and he’d spent a big part of the night calming a cranky baby.
He tried not to think of Audra pressing his locket into his palm before she walked out of his life. He could still feel the heat of the little gold heart, still feel the pain of rejection that sliced through him.
Joshua cried again.
He rolled out of bed, determined not to let this get to him. Peter’s death had devastated him, nearly ruined him. He was finally getting himself back on track, understanding his place, loving Peter’s son the way he should—the way he had to. Running the company as himself, not second-guessing what Peter would do. He couldn’t let Audra’s rejection take him down. Joshua needed him.
He entered the nursery, pajama bottoms low on his hips, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. “Hey, buddy.”
Joshua sniffled at him.
He reached into the crib and pulled out the sobbing baby. But instead of Joshua’s crying stopping, the little boy stretched around him as if looking for something—or someone.
He’d done it every day the first week Audra had been gone, and Dominic was smart enough to figure out that after seeing Audra last night, he was looking for her again today. That was why he’d jumped into her arms from Mary’s the night before. He had missed Audra.
“She’s not coming back.” Saying the words caused a tsunami of disappointment to flood Dominic’s chest, but he squelched it. How could he be upset when he didn’t even understand what he’d done? They’d talked about having a relationship, but she’d somehow jumped them the whole way to marriage. He’d thought she understood what he wanted. But seeing her mother had changed everything.
He snorted a laugh. That was Mary. Strong enough that she barely had to say two words to get her point across. She didn’t want him with her precious daughter. He got it.
“But we’re okay. We can do this. We’re family.”
He changed the baby’s diaper and took him downstairs to Joyce. “I understand the drill is that you watch him while I dress?”
Surprised, Joyce reached for Joshua. “It’s the joy of my day,” she said with a laugh. “But where’s the nanny?”
“She quit. Mary was caring for him last night when I got back from dinner.”
“Maybe we should call Audra?”
“Audra is gone and we’re not bringing her back.”
With that he turned and walked out of the room to the master suite, pretending nothing was wrong. He canceled his work schedule so that he and Mary could again interview nannies, and by the end of the day the tension in the room was so thick he couldn’t take it anymore.
“Go ahead,” he said, leaning back on the office chair in the den. “I know you want to ask.”
“It’s not my business.”
“Normally I would agree, but since this involves your daughter, we’re in a different situation.”
