Her friend watched with interest as Harper continued to pat Mo’s back. Finally she turned to me. “And you?”
I hadn’t had time to look at the menu.
“Our special is mahi-mahi.”
“Sounds good.” I wasn’t a big fish fan, but I didn’t want to bother reading the menu.
Harper’s friend left.
"I can see that you aren’t buying what I'm telling you. If you call Bran, I'm sure he will come clean just like he did with me. He can be an idiot but when confronted he usually tells the truth."
Mo burped and then began to fuss. Like she knew what she was doing, Harper cradled him, this time in her other arm, and picked up the bottle to feed him.
I schooled my expression from suspicious to impassive. I unhooked my arms and rested them on the table. As I watched Harper, I again found it difficult to hold onto my anger and resentment as she so tenderly fed Mo.
That wasn't an act. She genuinely felt something for him. She bent her head over him, kissing his forehead and once again my heart turned in my chest. Why did she have to be so fucking beautiful and nurturing to my son?
"You have to admit, it's a pretty crazy story,” I managed to respond.
She looked up at me and if I didn't know her as well as I did, I might have fallen for the concern in her eyes. "Remember, it's Bran we’re talking about. When our parents died, he was only nineteen and was thrown headfirst into the deepest part of the business pool. He learned to get what he wanted by manipulating and coercing and doing whatever had to be done. I don't think he's ever broken the law, but he's definitely willing to push the envelope, especially if he thinks he’s doing it for someone he loves. I don't know how much you know about him and Anne, but whatever you're willing to do for Mo, he's willing to do for Anne a hundred times over. And he’s been willing to do it for me, which is why he sometimes acts so crazy."
It was odd to hear her defending her brother considering all the times I'd heard her rail against him. It was clear she didn't mind his extraordinary tactics when they were used against other people. She just didn't like him using them against her. But even in this situation, I couldn't be sure if she was an innocent pawn or an active participant in whatever Bran had up his sleeve, which most surely couldn't be that he wanted me to be a watch model.
"I'm telling you what he told me, and I believe him because why else would he have done all this?" she finished.
That was the question. What other motive would Bran have to put his sister next door to me as well as cameras and bugs in my house? It definitely couldn't be because he wanted me to model his wife’s watches. The only thing I could come up with was that he set his sights on Saint Security.
Last year, I bought Archer’s company, and put him in charge of the daily operations. I was so eager to get out and get away that I'd probably put too much on Archer, who had excellent security experience, but not so much in business management and as a result a few mistakes had been made in Harper's protection.
Perhaps Bran saw Saint Security as being a company in trouble and therefore would be easy pickings to take over. Initially, I had retired without telling anyone, and so perhaps the cameras in the bugs were to find out if I was really out of the business or perhaps something to use against me to convince Archer to sell.
Or, Archer had proven himself to be an excellent businessman, but perhaps Bran felt that if I was disconnected from the business it would be easier to swoop in and get it from Archer.
Hadn't Harper told me when we arrived here what a small world we lived in? The woman that owned the restaurant we were now eating in was the sister of the man who worked with Dane MacLeod, who did business with Bran and was best friends with Archer.
I studied Harper, trying not to be swayed by the sweet scene in front of me as she gently rocked Mo. His sucking waned and his eyes drooped.
She looked up at me. The concern in her eyes morphed into something that looked more like resignation. "I know that this is hard to believe. My goal today was just to apologize to you for accusing you of being in cahoots with my brother when now I know you weren't. And while I don't think you believe me, I wasn't in cahoots with him either. That's it. I just wanted to apologize."
A strange surge of panic filled me. What about the talk about this thing between us? Clearly that topic wasn't going to be covered. I suppose I couldn't blame her.
Why would she want to talk about this thing between us when she knew I didn't believe her. And even though I was skeptical of her story, the need to know what she was going to say in regard to the attraction between us overpowered my concern about her being a liar. Asking her about it though wasn't going to give me any answers. Not when I could see she was withdrawing from me.
Mo fell asleep, but she continued to hold him as I put his bottle back into the diaper bag. Only when her friend arrived with our meals did Harper put him back in his stroller making sure that the cover blocked him from the sun.
She picked up her fork and began to poke at her salad. "Mo seems much more settled now."
This was the cue that we were going to change subjects. I was still dying to know what she thought of this thing between us, but now wasn't the time to ask. In fact, her words brought back the memory of her accusing me of not being Mo's father. The truth was a part of me wondered as well. At least biologically.
"He's mine, you know."
She lifted her gaze at me. "I know you’re his father."
The way she said it, I wasn't sure if she meant she thought he was mine biologically or like me, understood that I loved him regardless of whether the DNA that ran through his blood was mine or not.
As I studied her, for once I believed her. She accepted that I was his father.
Once again, she had something shifting in my chest. It rattled me how much the things she said or did hit me right in the center. It meant she was a dangerous woman. The trouble for me was I liked danger. Even in taking care of Mo, there was a part of me that missed living on the edge.