Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever Afters Collection (Eight Fun, Romantic Novels by Eight Bestselling Authors)

by Violet Duke

  “You have no rights to her. You can’t just walk back into her life like the past eight years never happened.”

  “Maybe. We’ll see. But rights or no rights, I am her mother. And, believe me, a little girl always wants to know her mother.” With that statement, Lacey turned on her heels and started down the walkway.

  “You forgot your presents,” he called after her.

  “Those are Emily’s. Not mine.” She placed her sunglasses back on her head as she walked around a brand-new Mercedes and opened the door. “I’m staying at the Lighthouse B&B. I’ll give you a few days to get used to the idea, but believe me, Eddie. One way or another, I will know my daughter. Call when you’re ready to talk. If I don’t hear from you by midweek, you will be hearing from my attorney.”

  Eddie watched as the silver luxury car pulled away from his house and sped down the street.

  Lacey was back.

  He had to go get Emily.

  *

  HALEY WATCHED FROM the doorway of the kitchen as Eddie slammed the front door and took the steps two at a time. She had no idea what to do.

  Should she follow him upstairs? Give him space? Leave?

  At a complete loss, she walked like a Zombie over to the stove and picked up the pan, dumping the eggs down the garbage disposal. Her appetite was gone and she really didn’t think Eddie was in the mood for eggs. As she began rinsing off the frying pan, she heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

  “Eddie,” she called as he headed towards the door.

  When he turned around and looked at her, it felt as if he didn’t even see her at first. He had a wild, panicked look in his eye. After a moment, his vision cleared and he shook his head. “I have to go get Emily. Lock the door when you leave.”

  Without another word, he was out the door, slamming it in his wake.

  Haley stood completely still, staring at the door. For how long, she had no idea. Then she turned and walked up the steps—the same steps she’d walked up hundreds of times, the same steps Eddie had carried her up after they’d made love against the wall. This time though, with each step she took, she felt like she was walking through quicksand.

  When she finally made it upstairs, she walked into Eddie’s bedroom and picked her dress up off the floor. As she put it on, she turned away from the bed. She didn’t want to look at the place where she’d slept in Eddie’s arms, where he’d cradled her and told her he didn’t know what he’d done to deserve her, where he’d made love to her so slowly, so thoroughly, so sweetly, that tears had fallen down her face.

  She slipped on her shoes and quickly left the room before tears once again overwhelmed her. As she hurried past Emily’s room, the tears that had been threatening to fall, slipped down her cheeks.

  As she made her way down the steps and out of the house, Haley tried to be rational. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe everything was going to be okay. Maybe Lacey showing up wouldn’t completely devastate not only her life, but Eddie’s and Emily’s as well.

  Yeah, and maybe she’d win the lottery.

  Taking a moment Haley inhaled deeply breathing in the warm summer day. The birds were chirping, the sun was beating down brightly on the pavement, the air smelled of freshly cut grass. People were out washing their cars, kids were riding their bikes, and there was a garage sale at Mrs. Archer’s house.

  Tears continued to flow down Haley’s face as she made her way across the street and up the drive. For some reason, the fact that the world was still spinning, completely unaffected by her devastation, bothered her much more than it logically should. All Haley wanted to do was take a shower, crawl into her bed, throw the comforter over her head, and sleep.

  She didn’t want to face the cruel, unforgiving, uncaring world today. She wanted to hide. Hide from it all.

  As she turned the corner on the landing of her stairs, she heard the shower already running. Great. Just what she needed.

  She plopped down in the hallway to wait her turn and slipped her heels off. She couldn’t believe that it was just yesterday she’d sat in the same spot, feeling optimistic and hopeful for the future. Oh, how much could change in a span of twenty-four hours.

  Her sister’s bedroom door creaked open and Chris stepped out, shoes in hand and shirt unbuttoned. He nodded to Haley in greeting, and she lifted her hand to wave. Then she watched as he did what she had just done—took the dreaded walk of shame.

  Krista appeared in the doorway and stretched her hands up over her head, yawning loudly. When she noticed Haley sitting against the wall, a small smile appeared in on her face.

  “Same clothes as yesterday. You dirty gir—” Her sister stopped when she noticed the tears running down Haley’s face. “What did he do?” she asked, rushing over and sitting beside Haley, pulling her into her arms. Haley cried against her sister’s shoulder, unable to talk.

  “I’m gonna kill him,” Krista said, her voice filled with fire and venom.

  “No,” Haley sniffed as she pulled away from her sister. “It’s not him. He didn’t do anything.”

  Krista’s brow furrowed. “Then what’s with the waterworks?”

  Haley sucked in a shaky breath. “Lacey’s back.”

  Krista’s eyes widened so big it looked like they were going to pop right out of her head. “Oh, shit,” her sister breathed.

  “Yeah. Oh shit,” Haley repeated.

  “When did she…? What happened?”

  Haley gave her sister the Cliffs Notes version of the sordid tale. “We were in the kitchen. Heard a knock on the door. Eddie opened it. And there she was.”

  “What did she want?”

  “To see Emily. She said she was here for her birthday.”

  “Her birthday was yesterday,” Krista replied, pointing out the obvious.

  “I know. She also thought Em was seven.”

  Krista shook her head in disgust. “Stupid bitch.”

  Normally Haley hated it when Krista called people bitches, but in this case, she made an exception.

  “What did Eddie say?”

  “He said she didn’t have any rights to her and Lacey couldn’t just walk back into Emily’s life like the last eight years never happened.”

  “Damn straight,” her sister voiced in agreement.

  “Then she told him that, rights or no rights, she was still Emily’s mother and that one way or another she would know her daughter. If she didn’t hear from him within three days, he would be hearing from her attorney. Then she drove off in her brand-new Mercedes.”

  “Dang. Like that?”

  “Yep.”

  “What’s Eddie going to do?”

  “I don’t know.” Haley wished she had an answer to that question.

  “Well, what did he say to you after she left?”

  “Nothing.” Tears once again began forming in Haley’s eyes. Because that was the crux of what was really upsetting her, the part that had broken her heart into a million pieces. “He just slammed the door and ran upstairs. When I heard him come back down, he looked right through me. It was almost like he was a wild animal. Then he just said he was going to get Emily and for me to lock the door when I left.”

  “Oh.” Krista’s face fell. When she saw the tears slipping down Haley’s cheeks, she said brightly. “Look, I’m sure he was in shock. He probably just needs some time to work his stuff out. I saw the way he was looking at you last night Hales. He loves you.”

  It was a sweet thing for Krista to say. And Haley knew that her sister meant it because Krista never said things just to be nice. But even if it were true, Haley knew everything was different now.

  The door to the bathroom opened and Je
ssie walked out in a puff of steam. She looked down, and the moment her eyes landed on Haley, she said in a deadly calm voice, “I’m going to kill him.”

  Haley and Krista both looked at each other for a beat before they burst out laughing. Haley wasn’t sure if she was hysterical or had officially lost her mind, but she did know that she was lucky. Lucky to have sisters who loved her and had her back no matter what.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  “ALL RIGHT, SQUIRT. Time for bed.” Eddie came around the corner from the kitchen and leaned against the doorframe.

  “Okay,” Emily said quietly as she scooted off the couch.

  “Goodnight, princess. I hope I get to see you soon.” Lacey pulled their daughter in for a hug.

  “It was nice to meet you,” Emily politely said.

  Eddie’s heart was breaking for his little girl. He knew that she had no idea how to handle all of this. Hell, most of the adults he knew wouldn’t know how to handle this situation. It was fucked up.

  He was so proud of his daughter for being polite even though he could see how awkward she felt. After they’d eaten dinner, he’d given Lacey and Emily privacy—or at least the illusion of privacy—leaving them alone in the family room while he did the dishes. From what he’d overheard, their conversation had been very one-sided—Lacey talking about how great she was, all the things she’d accomplished, the men she’d married, and Emily listening. As he sat at dinner silently listening while Lacey told story after story, all centered around the theme that Lacey was incredible, it blew Eddie’s mind that he had not heard Lacey ask their daughter even one question about herself. Not one.

  As Emily came around the back of the couch, he leaned down to give her a hug goodnight and she melted into his arms. When he picked her up, she whispered in a small voice, “Will you tuck me in tonight, Daddy?”

  “Yep,” he said as he patted her back and carried her up the stairs, holding her tightly in his arms.

  He’d been sick to his stomach since Lacey had shown up on his doorstep yesterday. After going to Chelle’s and seeing how much fun Emily was having in the backyard with Riley, his sister had convinced Eddie to leave Emily with them while he went over and talked to her best friend Katie, who was a lawyer.

  His talk with Katie had not gone how he’d hoped it would. She hadn’t guaranteed him that there was no way Lacey could just waltz into Emily’s life and see her. In fact, her advice had been to cooperate with Lacey. She said that, although the likelihood of Lacey getting any kind of custody was slim, there was a significant chance that she would at least get visitation. And if this ended up going before a judge, the more it looked like Eddie was willing to work with Lacey, the better.

  He’d gone back over to Chelle’s, and while Riley took Mya and Emily out for ice cream, he’d had a heart-to-heart with his sister. She’d suggested that he tell Emily that her mom wanted to meet her and leave it up to her to decide if that’s what she wanted. That way, Emily knew that she had control of the situation and it would never come back on him that he’d tried to keep her mother away from her. He hadn’t like the idea—he’d actually hated it—but he had known that his sister was right.

  So, after sleeping on it—or rather tossing and turning on it all night—he’d made Emily breakfast this morning, told her about Lacey showing up, and asked her what she wanted to do. Her reaction took him by surprise. He’d thought she would have jumped at the chance to meet her mom, been more excited about it than going to Disneyland. Instead, she’d grown quiet and asked to be excused to go to her room. After an hour or so, she’d come out and told him that, yes, she would like to meet Lacey.

  Now, as he laid her down in her bed, she looked up at him and asked, “Do you think she likes me?”

  “Are you kidding me? She loves you,” Eddie assured his daughter. He wanted to add, Not as much as she loves herself, but that’s to be expected, but he held his tongue.

  “Okay,” Emily nodded.

  “Do you want me to read you a book?”

  Emily shook her head. “No.”

  “Are you okay, squirt? Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I’m fine,” she said before scooting her feet beneath the covers and rolling over on her side.

  Eddie hated seeing his baby like this. This wasn’t Emily. Normally, he couldn’t get her to stop talking about things. Now that he really needed to know what was going on inside her pretty little head, she had nothing to say.

  He figured he might as well get used to it. This was probably a sneak peek of her teenage years. Although he thought there was a very good possibility that there would be a lot more tears, door slamming, and eye rolling that was going to occur.

  Stepping over her toys, he switched the light off and was almost out the door when he heard Emily say, “I love you, Daddy.”

  His heart swelled in his chest. “I love you too, squirt.”

  He closed the door and made his way downstairs with renewed knowledge that they would be okay. As long as Emily knew he loved her, she would be okay. And if Emily was okay, then everything was right in the world.

  As he reached the bottom of the steps, he didn’t see any sign of Lacey. Figuring she must have taken off, he checked the front door, but it was still locked from inside. Moving into the kitchen, he saw that the bottle of Merlot he kept above the fridge was sitting on the counter top, wine opener beside it, and two glasses were missing from his mahogany wine glass rack.

  The screen door was open, and he saw Lacey’s black high heels lying in front of it. Feeling like he was following bread crumbs, he stepped onto the patio, and sure enough, there was Lacey, full wine glass in hand, sitting in Haley’s chair.

  Seeing her there pissed him off more that it should have. It wasn’t even technically ‘Haley’s chair,’ but it sure as hell felt like it was.

  “I see you made yourself at home.” He walked out farther on the deck, turned towards Lacey, and leaned casually against the wooden railing.

  “Have a seat.” Lacey gestured her head as if she owned the place. “Take a load off. You deserve it.”

  She had no idea what he did or didn’t deserve. “I’m good,” he said, remaining where he was.

  “God, Eddie.” She shook her head. “You were always so stubborn. I guess some things never change.”

  It infuriated him that Lacey was acting as if she still knew him. She didn’t know him anymore than he knew her, which was not at all.

  “I’ve got an early day tomorrow, so…” He gestured his hand towards the sliding door.

  “You’re not kicking me out, are you?” Lacey asked in a baby voice that had always sounded like nails on a chalkboard to Eddie.

  “Yeah, I am,” he stated flatly.

  Her face crumbled as if his words had somehow hurt her. Eddie had to stop himself from rolling his eyes.

  “Haven’t you missed me? Even a little?” Standing, she crossed the deck and stopped in front of him. Lifting her hands, she ran them up his chest. “I know I’ve missed you,” she purred.

  He grasped her wrists and leaned down, speaking deliberately. “I don’t know what you thought was going to happen here. But this isn’t it.” Removing her hands from his chest, he walked to the screen door. “Time to go, Lacey.”

  She planted her feet where she was and placed her hands on her hips. “I know you’re mad at me, Eddie. So just yell at me, scream, tell me off. Get it over with so we can move past this.”

  Eddie could not believe what he was hearing. Was she honestly so delusional that she thought there was even a shot that the two of them could get back together? “I don’t have anything to say to you except it’s time to go.”

  â
€œFine. But I want to see Emily tomorrow,” she said, her voice sounding aloof and detached as she brushed past him and slipped on her designer heels.

  “How long are you planning on being in town?” Eddie hoped she would hop in her car, make a left on Maple Drive, and keep driving right past the city limits…but he knew he wasn’t that lucky.

  “I don’t know.” Looking over her shoulder as she opened the front door, she said, a sly smile crossing her face. “As long as it takes, I guess.”

  The door shut, and Eddie wanted to bang his head against the wall. Her cryptic parting shot gave him a bad feeling. He had hoped that Lacey’s intentions were good and she was really just here to connect with Emily. But Eddie had a sneaking suspicion that that wasn’t the case at all.

  Nope. Lacey was here to connect with someone…but Emily wasn’t that person.

  *

  “HAVE YOU SEEN her over there?” Chelle asked as she shredded cheese, seated at the kitchen table.

  “Yeah. A few times,” Haley answered, glad that she’d chosen dicing onions as her task now that the ‘Lacey’ subject had been brought up. She’d shed more than one tear over Lacey’s arrival this week. At least now she’d have a scapegoat if a few decided to make an appearance.

  She’d almost bailed on her mom’s family fiesta dinner tonight. Haley was exhausted. This past week had been emotionally and physically draining. Haley had been working night and day to get ready for the grand opening at Tempting. The party was tomorrow night. And then the store officially opened on Monday. Haley didn’t know what she would have done if she hadn’t had the store to keep her mind occupied this past week. Well…mostly occupied. Actually, occupied just enough that she hadn’t gone crazy.

  The truth was that her mind had still been on Eddie and Emily even when she’d been setting up the computer system, pricing all the merchandise, going over her advertising budget, setting up her social media sites.

  “I haven’t seen her yet.” Amber seemed frustrated by this fact. “What does she look like?”