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“I know Nikolas isn’t back from his call yet but we don’t need to intrude on your day.”
“You’re not intruding,” Marlowe said.
Nova still couldn’t believe how well things were going. Or had gone, right up until Nikolas got a really weird, serious look on his face and excused himself. He’d looked upset, yet no matter how she thought back through the conversation, she couldn’t figure out why.
They’d been talking about her mother, Nova explaining to Marlowe how she’d learned the news of her paternity. And then they’d shifted to discuss Payne’s coma and Ace’s disappearance. Marlowe hadn’t been cool, but that initial wariness had softened a bit as they’d talked.
And then somewhere between Allegra’s secretive behavior and the latest on Payne’s slow recovery process, Nikolas had checked out. She’d actually seen it happen. One moment he was there, present in the conversation and clearly supporting her. He’d encouraged her to speak and had even patted her arm when she’d talked of Allegra’s passing.
And then he’d just...vanished.
Was something wrong that he suddenly had to leave and make a phone call? Especially since she wanted to know more about her father.
“Nikolas seems to have taken to you.” Marlowe’s voice was gentle. “He’s a good guy. I’ve known him for a long time and the company uses his services, as well. He’s honest and fair, which can be hard to come by. Especially in the secrets business.”
“Secrets?”
“In my experience, it’s rare anyone hires a PI for readily available information.”
“I suppose not.” Unwilling to come off in any way ungrateful for Nikolas’s help, Nova quickly added, “He’s been incredibly kind to me. My circumstances are a bit—” she hesitated before pressing on “—strained right now. Nikolas understood that without me needing to say anything.” She paused.
“My face may look like your brother’s, and my mother may have had an eccentric story, but I think we’d all be better off if we got a DNA test, just to know for sure. Do you have anything with my dad’s DNA on it, maybe at his condo?”
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Marlowe asked.
“It’s important.” Nova nodded. “For you and your siblings. For me, too.”
Her insistence on the DNA test seemed to shift Marlowe’s last bit of reticence. “My siblings are going to want to meet you, too.”
“I’d like that.”
Whatever she’d imagined in her mind, this quick push toward another meeting was almost too easy. Nova was hardly in a position to argue, but she had to question how she could stumble upon a man eager to help her, and a day later was sitting in the living room with her sort-of-aunt, who was ready and willing to do the same.
While she took pride in being a New Yorker—and knew that city dwellers often got a bad rap as being too tough—this was a bit different. She’d come bearing the news of a long-ago pregnancy and her long-lost family members were open to hearing her out?
Wasn’t it all just too good to be true? And hadn’t she learned that lesson with Ferdy?
Conscious of the lull in the conversation, Nova tried to suppress the increasing anxiety and focus on returning the kindness Marlowe had shown.
“How are you finding motherhood?”
“It’s wonderful. Tiring and the most difficult job I’ve ever had, but wonderful.” Marlowe gestured toward Nova’s belly. “When are you due?”
“Two months.”
“If the test comes back positive, Ace is going to be in for two happy surprises. A child and a grandchild.”
Happy surprises.
Goodness, she’d come bearing quite a lot.
Shifting to a more comfortable position, Nova leaned forward as far as she was able. “Marlowe. I am grateful for how kind you’ve been. More than I can tell you. But you don’t know me. My father doesn’t know me. Is he really going to do leaps of joy when he finds out I exist? That I’ve existed for twenty-three years?”
She stopped, searching for the words that wouldn’t make her sound ungrateful for the overt and ready kindness. “I’m just really aware of the fact that I’m dropping a sizable bomb into the middle of Ace Colton’s life.”
Marlowe cocked her head. Her expression wasn’t unkind, but Nova saw the hard resolve that likely made the woman a formidable opponent in the boardroom. “I can’t speak for other families, only my own. We take care of each other, Nova. We always have. It’s how my siblings and I were raised. Family matters, biological or not.”
“Yes, but—”
