There had been no contact between us, and that was entirely his idea. When I had finally worked up the courage to call him again, when I had just wanted to feel good about something in my life during a time when I had felt at my lowest, only to realize he had changed his number and I didn’t know what it was.
I was not the kind of woman to beg for attention from a man.
I was not the kind to fight for a man’s affection.
So I let him go. Three days after that, I had my shit packed, and was on a plane to Boston with my brother by my side. That was all.
Yet here he was now, taking me in just as intently as I had been taking him in, and I found a surge of irritation make its way up my spine. I opened my mouth—to say what, I didn’t know, but someone beat me to it.
“Daddy! Look! Dresses!”
I watched as Jensen turned his attention to the most adorable little girl. An adorable little girl who had just called him Daddy.
That was right.
Evelyn told me Jensen had a daughter, only no one knew who her mother was. I had a feeling Evelyn suspected that Jace knew, not that he told her. But I knew the little girl’s mother wasn’t in her life.
I searched my mind for her age. She had to be two years old by now. With thick brown hair that touched her neck and the biggest gray eyes I had ever seen on another human being, she was adorable in every way possible.
She was also a spitting image of Jensen.
I didn’t know why my heart was beating so fast, so hard in my chest at the sight of her, but it was. I almost didn’t want to look away, and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why she felt so familiar.
No…
Not familiar.
Similar.
She reminded me of someone.
Only I didn’t know who.
Jensen leaned down and picked the little girl up. She automatically wrapped tiny arms around his neck and leaned in closer to him. Then he walked over to where I stood. I resisted the urge to back away from them.
The little girl shyly hid her face in her dad’s neck before peeking one big eye at me. I shot her a smile, and she awarded me with a small one of her own, though she still stayed close to Jensen.
“Emilia, I want you to meet my—daughter,” Jensen said, and I must have imagined the catch in his voice when he said my daughter.
“Hi, there,” I said softly, so as not to scare her. “How are you?”
“It’s okay,” Jensen said to the little girl. “Emilia’s very nice. And she used to be a ballerina.” At the mention of my former status, the girl’s eyes widened almost comically, and Jensen shot me a humorous smile.
“Really?” she asked. Jensen nodded, biting his bottom lip, obviously trying not to smile.
I smiled encouragingly at her, even as I felt a pang of longing in my chest. I used to be a ballerina. I could no longer dance like I used to, and I wondered briefly, if that would disappoint her once she realized the fact.
Why I cared, I didn’t know.
“Elodie, can you say hi?”
“Hi,” Elodie said, waving at me before she caught herself and cautiously moved back to Jensen, one thumb going into her mouth.
My heart melted at the sight.
And here I didn’t think there would ever be another little girl as adorable as Ensley.
“Hi, Elodie.”