AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It usually only takes a week or so,” Rafe said, “but I know you have other concerns so I will ask them to put a rush on it.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate that.” And then she handed Ollie a photograph. “This is a picture I took of Sigrid just before Christmas. She’ll be three in April.”
Oliver took the photo and stared at it. The little girl was sitting on a merry-go-round and waving at her grandmother as she took the picture. She had blonde curly hair like her mother’s, but her bright blue eyes were a mirror for his. And that’s when it hit, a feeling of utter wretchedness that he’d let her down. He’d left his daughter unprotected and alone.
His chest tightened and his tears fell. “She’s beautiful.”
A cool, gentle hand cupped his cheek and Mrs Mulligan’s voice was filled with sympathy, with pity. “You really didn’t know, did you?”
He shook his head. “Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Ella had her own way of doing things. She could be stubborn, and never knew when to ask for help, but she was a good mother. She loved that little girl with all her heart.”
And I will too.
“What happens if he’s not the father?” Mulligan asked Rafe, and Ollie wanted to punch him for even thinking it.
“If the test is negative and Oliver is not the father, then there’s little else we can do for you outside of putting you in touch with child protection services. They should be able to help you locate Ella’s ex, but they won’t force him to take a paternity test. He would need to volunteer.”
“Then I’ll pray for a positive outcome,” Mrs Mulligan said, a flash of anger flitting over her features. “I don’t want that abusive prick anywhere near Siggy.”
Oliver’s heart thumped against his ribcage and his temper resurfaced. “Abusive? Ella never told me that either.”
“Speculation isn’t going to help at this point,” Rafe said. “Let’s get the tests done and wait for the results. If they’re positive, then we can set up a meeting with a child psychologist and get a transition schedule in place. At her age, she may not need as much transition time as an older child would, but I’ll leave that to the experts.”
“And if the tests are negative?” Mrs Mulligan pressed. Ollie wanted to know the answer to that question too.
Sensible as ever, Rafe said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Mia grinned when she heard Ollie enter the house, the tread of his work boots distinctive on the timber floorboards. But when she looked up from the box she was sifting through and saw his face, her grin slipped.
“Babe, what’s wrong?”
He then laid out everything that had happened in Rafe’s office plus his trip to the clinic for the DNA test, all while Mia sat curled in his lap and listened.
Because, honestly, what else could she do?
“If you want to rescind your offer to move in together, I get it,” he said, looking utterly miserable.
Oliver was a protector through and through, so the thought he’d not done his duty by his own kid, that he hadn’t protected her when she needed him most, was ripping him up inside. Mia could see it in his eyes, and in the way his shoulders slumped.
His heart was breaking.
She was not okay with that.
Tightening her grip on him, she said, “I’m not rescinding anything. You, my DILF, are stuck with me.”
“DILF?”
“You know,” she said, waggling her eyebrows. “Dad I’d Like to Fuck?”
She managed to pull a small smile out of him but it didn’t last long. “But what if I’m not her dad?” he said, and pulled a photo of a little girl out of his shirt pocket.
From the way he was staring at that picture, Mia could tell he was already head-over-heels in love with her. And why wouldn’t he be. Such a pretty little thing. Then she noticed something and took the picture, stared at it.
“She has my eyes,” Ollie said, his voice gentle.
