“She’s a fighter.”
“The poor thing. It’s going to be so hard for her to never know her mother.” She turned to him. “You can’t let her lose her father, too. You just can’t. You’ll need to fight with everything you have to keep your daughter.”
“I’m hoping once the Reaves see the results of the paternity test, they’ll come to their senses and change their minds.”
She sighed. “They won’t. To them, it doesn’t matter who the father is. What matters is that sweet baby is their flesh and blood.Their property.”
He stared at his baby for a long moment, lost in his thoughts. She reached for his hand, letting him know she was there for him. She had to help him. She couldn’t stomach the thought of him losing his precious little girl.
“I just can’t help wondering if she might be better off without me,” he admitted.
“Stop that,” she snapped. “Push that thought out of your mind and never let it back in. You are her father. You love her and want her, and that is all that matters, not how much money you have, not anything else. Do you get that?”
He turned to her, surprise filling his face along with a slow smile. “Welcome home, Gillian. I’ve missed you.”
His words warmed her. “So, you’ll fight?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then let’s get started.”
“How? I haven’t a clue what to do. What can I say that would convince the Reaves that I love her? When I hold her and smell her little baby smell, I love her with such fierce emotions it’s terrifying.”
Something tender moved within her heart as she watched him. It was the first real emotion other than fear and anger she’d felt in weeks. “It’s not the Reaves you need to convince that you’re the best parent; it’s the courts. First things first, we are going to change your image.”
He looked at her, his eyebrows quirked. “What’s wrong with my image?”
“Bad boy who’s never grown up isn’t exactly father material.”
“I am not a bad boy.”
“Doesn’t matter. We are going to make you look like a successful business owner who is completely capable of taking care of his child.”
He laughed. “You have a genie in a bottle I don’t know about?”
She grinned and held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Gillian, and I’m about to make your wishes come true.”
He shook her hand, then dropped it and leaned down and hugged her. “It’s so good to have you home,” he whispered.
She hugged him back. It felt good. He felt good. He pulled up just a fraction and looked into her eyes. She pulled in a deep breath.She tilted her chin upward, staring into his green eyes, mesmerized as he moved closer. She could almost taste him, could certainly smell the mint on his breath as it caressed her cheek. “Um,” she murmured.
“Oh, Lord.”
She heard the gasp and looked up to find an older couple staring at them, shocked disbelief filling their faces. “Nick Carr, I can’t believe you have so little regard and human decency that you would behave in such a manner mere weeks after our poor Shelley is put in the ground,” the woman said, outraged.
The man with her shook his head in disgust. “Cavorting with another woman right here in front of little Audrey.”
Gillian’s eyebrows rose. This must be the Reaves.
Nick looked at the couple dispassionately. “Bailey.”
“What?” the woman asked.
“Her name is not Audrey. It’s Bailey,” he said.
Gillian wanted to cheer out loud.
“I’d appreciate it if you’d just stay away from our granddaughter. She doesn’t need her life spoiled by the likes of you,” Mr. Reaves said.