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They both look up when I walk in, Mimi’s eyes glowing in excitement.
“Mommy,” she says
“What’s going on?”
"He bought me comic books, Mommy!”
I glance at Maddox. He shrugs. "I used to love reading these when I was younger. Figured she would too."
"I do," she says, and he smiles at her with that same intensity shining in his eyes.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. A weird discomfort tightens my stomach. It’s been doing that for weeks now, every time I see them together. A voice I quieted for most of Mimi’s life starts rising again.
“Plus, he says he can take us to the aquarium tomorrow.”
“Don’t you have work?” I ask Maddox.
He shakes his head. “They can handle a day without me. If not, then nobody deserves to work there."
“But it’s your company—"
”If my company can’t survive without me, then it deserves to collapse.”
I nearly gape at him. Unbelievable.
Is Maddox really saying this about his company, the thing he worked so hard to build, that he protects with his life? He's obsessed with being on top and he should be over there making sure that everyone is working their asses off, and not here spending time with my daughter.
But here he is.
And then when they look back at each other, I see the truth behind the bond that has formed between them, something that I never anticipated.
Something that frightens me, confuses me, and makes me regret their meeting.
I never meant for this to happen.
Because the guilt is eating me alive.
Guilt of knowing that there is one secret that I haven’t told Maddox yet.
Even thinking about it causes my chest to squeeze uncomfortably.
I remember the conversation where he told me he can’t have children. My chest aches. I don’t know what his doctor told him exactly, but a miracle must have happened because he got me pregnant all those years ago.
Mimi is Maddox’s daughter. There is no question whatsoever because he was not just my first, he was, and remains until today, my only. The only man I’ve ever slept with.
I’ve kept them from each other for so long.
I was happy when she was born looking like me instead of him. It meant that I could hide the secret even better. Still I lived in fear that he would find out and take her from me.
No one but me knows the truth. I told everyone else it was some guy I met at the bar, which was true because we did meet at that bar, but I told them he didn’t want a baby. I told myself I only hid Mimi’s identity to protect my daughter, but now I’m seeing there was nothing to protect her from.
I was wrong to believe the worst of Maddox. I was wrong to rob him of his daughter’s infancy. I was wrong about everything.
He needs to know how wrong I was for this relationship to continue.
And I try to tell him. Several times I start saying the words, but they get stuck in my throat. I’m not ready to end this thing between us yet, not ready for the affection in his eyes to turn to hate.
He’s going to hate me when he finds out. I just know it. And there’s nothing I can do about it, because I can’t even blame him.
