“Hooray! We’re finished!” Giles clapped his hands while Lily joined him, putting her tiny hands together.
Mya blew them a kiss. “I told you you’d get the hang of it.”
Giles proudly pushed out his chest. “What now?”
“Wet a paper towel and wipe her face. She always drinks water after her meals. Please get the playpen from the family room and put her in it. I’ll get her sippy cup for you.”
Mya filled a cup from the fridge in-door water dispenser and handed it to Giles. She knew it would take a while for him to become familiar with the routine she had established to meet her own and Lily’s needs. There were mealtimes, bed, nap and playtimes. In between, she set aside time for grocery shopping, laundry, housecleaning and preparing meals.
Time had become a precious commodity and she jealously guarded the little she had for herself.
* * *
Giles placed Lily on the floor, watching as she crawled over to a stool and attempted to pull herself up by holding on to the legs. He moved quickly when the stool tipped precariously, catching it before it toppled over. Now he knew why Mya told him to put Lily in the playpen. He put her back in the high chair, retrieved the playpen and placed it between the kitchen and dining area. Lily took several sips from the cup before tossing it aside and redirected her attention to gnaw on the gel-filled teething ring, as she babbled what sounded like mumum.
Giles walked over to Mya and rested a hand at her waist. “I don’t know how you do it.”
She tilted her chin, staring up at him, and he suddenly found himself drowning in pools of green and gold. His eyes moved slowly over her high cheekbones. He smiled when she lowered her eyes, and charming him with her demure expression.
“Do what?”
“Take care of Lily, cook and keep the house clean.”
“I’m no different from other mothers, whether they stay-at-home or work outside the house. We do what we have to do to keep from being overwhelmed.”
Giles splayed his fingers over her back. “Don’t you know some young woman looking to make some extra money, willing to come in and help clean the house?”
“I really don’t need anyone to help me clean the house. There’s only me and Lily, so aside from dusting, vacuuming and cleaning the bed and bathrooms, there’s not much to do. I get a lot done when Lily’s sleeping.”
“What’s going to happen when she doesn’t sleep as much?”
“By the time she’s five, I’ll enroll her in kindergarten.”
“Do you plan to go back teaching once she’s in school?”
“If I do, then it has to be locally. I’ll apply for a position at the high school. All of the schools in the Johnson County school district occupy the same campus, which makes it convenient for teachers and staff whose children are enrolled there.”
He leaned closer and inhaled the lingering scent of Mya’s perfume. Giles felt her go stiff and then relax against his hand. “So you have it all figured out as to Lily’s future.”
“No, I don’t. If you want to eat, then you’re going to have to let me go. I need to take the pot roast out of the slow cooker. Thank you,” Mya whispered when he dropped his hand.
Giles wanted to tell her that if he had a choice between eating and touching her, he would’ve chosen the latter. He felt more comfortable and relaxed around Mya than he had with any other woman he’d met or known. At first, he’d contributed it to her connection to Lily but after spending time with her, he realized it was the woman herself.
There were so many things he admired about her but it was her sense of loyalty that had won him over. She had willingly sacrificed her career to care for her terminally ill sister and raise her niece. And she had become the perfect mother when she put Lily’s needs above her own.
Jordan had revealed that his investigators had not come up with anything in regard to a man or men in her life. There was no record of her having been married or divorced. And he wondered if she’d been involved with a man before she resigned her position at the college to become her sister’s caretaker and Lily’s adoptive mother.
Giles thought of Mya as a superwoman as she quickly, with no wasted effort, put dinner on the table. Along with the pot roast, carrots au jus, garlic mashed potatoes, an escarole salad with orange and grapefruit sections and red onions tossed with red wine vinegar, she also included corn bread and pitchers of chilled water and sweet tea.
“Oh my goodness,” he crooned after swallowing a forkful of potatoes seasoned with a subtle hint of garlic and rosemary. “These potatoes are to die for.” He raised his glass of tea. “I’m ready to enroll in cooking school.”
Mya smiled. “When do you want to start?”
“What about tomorrow?”
“Okay. If you come early enough, I’ll show how to prepare a traditional Southern breakfast with grits, sausage or bacon, with eggs and biscuits.”
“What about lunch?”
“Lunch will be dinner leftovers. We’ll vary it with pulled beef sliders. I’ve put away some of the mash potatoes and gravy for Lily’s lunch.”
Giles glanced over at Lily in the playpen biting on a rubber duck as he took a sip of sweet tea. Mya told him she preferred agave to sugar to sweeten the beverage. “What do you plan for dinner?”
“Chicken with a brown rice pilaf.”
“Who taught you to cook?”
“I’m proud to say it was my mother. Mama earned a reputation as being one of the best cooks in the county. Whenever there was a church potluck dinner or PTA fund-raiser, her pies and cakes were the first to go. I used to come home after school and sit in the kitchen to do homework so I could watch her cook. The year I celebrated my twelfth birthday, she allowed me to assist her—but only on the weekends. Mama refused to let anything come before our schoolwork. She wanted me and Sammie to have careers—something she regretfully gave up after she married my father. She’d gone to college to become a math teacher but wound up keeping the books for Daddy’s company after the longtime bookkeeper retired.”
Giles listened, transfixed when Mya revealed how much her mother resented spending hours in an office above the factory floor tapping computer keys and writing checks. After twenty years in a childless marriage, she convinced her husband to adopt a child. Graham Lawson finally gave in and they adopted Mya.
“Before my adoption was finalized, Mama had trained a high school graduate to replace her, and at the age of forty-five, she finally become a mother. Then they adopted Sammie and years later, Mama told me that she’d felt complete for the first time in her life. By the time Mama was finally an empty nester, her perfect world crumbled when Daddy called her to say he was working late, but when he didn’t come home, she called the foreman and asked him to go by the factory to check on him. They found him slumped over his desk. An autopsy concluded that he’d died from a massive heart attack.”
Mya’s eyelids fluttered. “Mama kept saying she had nothing to live for, while I tried to reassure that she still had her girls. Less than a year after Daddy passed, Mama died in her sleep. The doctor claimed it was heart failure, but I knew she’d died of a broken heart. She was an incredible mother and I’m certain if she was still alive she would be a spectacular grandmother.”
Giles pushed back his chair and rounded the table when Mya’s eyes filled with tears. He eased her up and pulled her into his arms. Everyone she loved was gone: mother, father and sister. He buried his face in her hair. “Your sister and parents are gone, but you still have a family. You have Lily.”
She nodded. “I know that.” Mya lifted her chin and met his eyes; her eyes were shimmering pools of green-and-gold tears.
“I promise to stay in this relationship for as long as it takes for Lily to grow up and walk across the stage at whatever college she chooses to accept her degree.”
“Please don’t make promises you’re not certain yo
u’ll be able to keep.”
Giles’s hands moved up and cradled her face. “I never make a promise I can’t keep.”
Her hands covered his. “What if you meet a woman, fall in love and want to—”
Giles placed a thumb over her mouth, stopping her words. “Don’t say it, Mya. Lily doesn’t need a stepmother when she has you.”
“You’ve lost your mind if you believe I’m going to agree to a twenty-year relationship with you just so we can raise Lily together.”
His lips twisted into a cynical sneer. “What’s the matter, Mama? Are you hiding a secret lover?”
A noticeable flush suffused her face with his gibe. “If I had a lover, I definitely would’ve married him within days of discovering you were Lily’s father, because you showed your hand when you threatened to sue me for custody. And marrying the son of a local family court judge would’ve definitely stacked the cards in my favor.”
“You were engaged?”
The seconds ticked as Giles held his breath and waited for Mya’s response. How, he chided himself, had he been so self-absorbed that he hadn’t considered perhaps there had been a man in Maya’s life? After all she was the total package: looks, brains and poise—everything a most men would want in his woman. And he was no exception.
Mya lowered her eyes. “No. I was seeing someone for a while, but we broke up when I had to take care of Sammie.”
“Why did you break it off?”
“I wasn’t the one who ended it. He didn’t believe me when I told him that my sister was ill. Even before that, we were seeing less and less of each other. A few times he’d go off on a waitress who’d mix up his order, or he’d exhibit uncontrollable road rage because he’d believed another driver had cut him off, and when I tried to tell him that he needed to seek counseling to manage his anger he’d accuse me of not having his back. After a while, I realized I didn’t want to deal with his explosive temper and told him it was over. Four months later, he called to tell me he was in counseling and wanted to see me again. We went out a few times, but that’s after Sammie returned to the Falls to tell me she was pregnant. When I told him about Sammie, he accused me of using her as an excuse to see other men. He hung up and I never heard from him again.”
“Where does he live?”
“Charleston.”
Giles brushed his mouth over Mya’s slightly parted lips. “He’s far enough away so you don’t have to run into him. And if he bothers you, then he’ll have to deal with me, and that’s something I don’t think he’d want to do.”
She blinked slowly. “What would you do?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“I don’t like violence, Giles.”
“I don’t, either,” he retorted, “but I’m certainly not going to cut and run if he bothers you.”
“Now you sound like a former marine.”
“Wrong, baby. Once a marine, always a marine. One of these days I’ll tell why I enlisted the Corps instead of going to work for the family business.”
Lily let out a loud shriek and Giles and Mya turned to find her standing up while holding onto the mesh netting covering the sides of the playpen. “Mumum,” she repeated over and over as she jumped up and down on the thick padding.
“What is she saying?” Giles asked Mya.
She shook her head. “I don’t know. Usually when she wants me to give her something, she’ll open and close one hand and say it. She’s probably trying to say me.”
“When is she going to start talking?”
“That all depends on the child. Some kids talk early and others wait until they’re almost two and then speak in complete sentences. Lily is a chatterbox, and I’m sure that when she begins, she’ll never stop.”
“How about walking?”
“Now that’s she pulling up and holding on, I’m willing to predict she’ll be walking by herself by the time she’s ten months.” Mya glanced at the clock on the microwave. “It’s almost time for her bath. I usually sit in the rocking chair and read to her before putting her in the crib.”
Giles stared, complete surprise on his face. “You read to an eight-month-old?”
“Don’t look so shocked. Haven’t you heard about pregnant women reading or playing classical music for their unborn child?”
“No.”
“Well, there are studies that prove that these babies usually are more alert and display more creativity than those who don’t receive the same stimulation.”
“What do you read to her?”
“Nursery rhymes and Dr. Seuss. It’s the repetition that will make it easy for her to recognize certain words.”
Giles angled his head and smiled. “That’s why you’re the teacher and I deal with putting up buildings while focusing on quarterly earnings and profit margins.”
“Well, Mr. Hotshot Businessman, it’s time I clear the table and clean up the kitchen. You can hang out with Lily until I take her upstairs for her bath.”
* * *
Giles sat on a stool in the bathroom watching as Lily sat in the bathtub splashing water. Mya knelt on a fluffy mat and drew a washcloth over Lily’s face and hair. She claimed it was only a sponge bath and the warm water helped Lily to relax. Once the baby was dressed for bed, Mya cradled Lily in her arms and rocked back and forth while reading Goodnight Moon.
He suddenly realized there was much more to parenting than writing checks to the orthodontist or tuition for private schools and colleges. It went beyond providing clothes, food and shelter. It was about nurturing and making a child feel loved. And it was the love that was priceless. He’d led men and women into combat and found that easier than being a father. His heart turned over when he saw Mya kiss Lily’s head before placing her on her back in the crib.
She checked the locks on the windows and switched on a baby monitor and then placed a finger over her mouth and motioned for him to follow her. Mya flipped the wall light switch, and the night-lights plugged into several outlets provided enough illumination to move around the room without bumping into objects.
“She’s down for the night.”
Reaching for Mya’s hand, Giles cradled it gently. “It’s amazing how calm she was when you were reading to her.”
“I think she likes the sound of my voice.”
Giles wanted to tell Mya that her voice had a wonderful, soothing quality that he never tired of listening to. He silently applauded Samantha for choosing Mya to raise her child. He knew if he’d known of the pregnancy and his former lover had agreed to list him as the father on the birth certificate, he would’ve asked his mother to help him raise his daughter.
However, there were things a woman in her sixties wouldn’t be able to do for an infant that a thirtysomething woman could accomplish with ease. Amanda had raised three children with little or no input from her husband, and Giles knew it wouldn’t be fair to ask his mother to take on the responsibility of raising her granddaughter.
They descended the staircase together. “I’m going to be on my way so you can have some time for yourself.”
Mya laughed softly. “A man can work from sun to sun, but a mother’s work is never done.”
He squeezed her fingers. “I’m a witness to that.” Mya walked him to the door where he retrieved his shoes. “What time do you want me to come tomorrow morning?”
“Eight o’clock is good. By that time I’ve fed and bathed Lily.”
“Do you want me to bring anything?”
She smiled. “No, thank you. I have everything I need.”
Giles knew he was making small talk because he didn’t want to leave Mya—not yet. He wanted to end the evening sitting on the porch and enjoying the silence. It was something he’d found himself doing whenever he returned to his condo. He’d sit in the dark, staring out the window at the buildings across the river. That had become his time to get i
n touch with himself, to be still and listen to the beating of his own heart, while asking why he had survived when so many he’d known hadn’t.
It was also when he questioned his purpose in life. He knew there was more than buying and selling private islands to those to whom price was no impediment. And it was when he realized he didn’t see his mother, brother and sister often enough. That he spent too many hours in the office or in the air. His main concern was buying and selling land, while conferring with his Bahamian real estate broker Kurt DeGrom to work another deal. Lily had changed his life and his priorities. His daughter was now first and foremost in his life.
Resting his hands on Mya’s shoulders, he leaned down and brushed a light kiss on her cheek. “Good night, my lady.”
Her teeth shone whitely when she smiled. “Good night.”
* * *
Mya closed and locked the door behind Giles before he drove away. She exhaled slowly as she made her way into the kitchen. It felt as if she could draw a normal breath for the first time since she opened the door earlier that morning to Giles’s ring. Being around him made her feel as if his larger-than-life presence sucked up all of the oxygen in the room.
She’d always believed she had a monopoly on confidence, but interacting with Giles had her doubting herself, although he hadn’t exhibited any of the hostility from their first encounter. It was as if she was waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop. Whatever she had shared with Giles was still too new for her to lower her guard and trust him enough to let him into her life.
Mya knew how important it was for a girl to grow up with a father because Graham Lawson had become her father in every sense of the word. Whenever he came home, he’d called out for his girls. She and Sammie would race and jump into his arms while he spun them around and around until they pleaded with him to stop. Once they grew too tall and heavy and he more frail with age, they were resigned to a group hug.
She missed her parents but missed Sammie even more, because they were inseparable when growing up.
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