by Bailey B
“Ugggh,” Sarah groans, taking the lounge chair on the other side of me, the one meant for Danika. “That man is gonna be the death of me. Have you seen Dani?”
I shield my eyes with my hand, wishing I hadn’t lost my sunglasses yesterday. I should check with the front desk before we leave and see if anyone has turned them in. “She’s grabbing a drink at the bar.”
Sarah sits up and scans the crowd, a mix of beach goers, hotel guests, and lingering wedding party people. “How in the hell did you get her in a bathing suit?”
I chuckle. “I think the better question is, am I gonna get her out of it?”
Sarah rolls her eyes and leans back into the chair. She opens a magazine, flipping to some article I hope she’ll read so she can stop talking to me. “Fat chance she’ll never let you see her—”
“Scar?” I ask, incredulously.
Sarah gasps and sits up again, nearly throwing her magazine onto the person beside her. The girl has always had a flair for the dramatics. “You know?”
“Yeah, I saw it this morning.”
Sarah’s mouth hangs open. She looks around, not for anything in particular except maybe the words she’s trying to find. She reaches over and touches my leg. “Are you okay? You’re taking this way better than I thought you would.”
I push her hand off me. The last thing I need is for Danika to think there’s something going on between Sarah and I. I’ve finally got a chance again, one I never thought existed. I’m not about to let her blow it. “I’m fine. Are you okay?”
Sarah snort-laughs and crosses her arms. The sound isn’t nearly as cute coming from her as it is from Danika. “I’m great, but I’m not the one who just found out I’ve had a kid all these years.”
I’ve what?
Glass shatters behind me. I turn to see a pale faced Danika staring at us. Her eyes wide, chin is quivering, frozen peach drink at her feet.
I slip my flip-flops back on and stand. Taking slow, measured steps. My mind races a million miles a minute. Kid? She kept our kid? “What is she talking about, Danika?”
18
Logan
“I…” Danika looks from me to Sarah to me again. “I…”
“Shit, Danika,” Sarah mumbles from behind me. “I’m sorry. I thought he knew.”
I take a step closer. Rethinking everything Danika said about the baby. She didn’t make things easy. Everything will be taken care of. She never said how. She never actually said she was having an abortion, which means Danika said she in the shower because we have a daughter.
I have a daughter.
“We have a kid?”
Danika swallows hard but stands up straighter. This can’t be easy for her, but it’s not easy for me, either. Every January I think about how Danika walked out of my life. How I was too young and stupid to say the things she needed me to say. Every time I see a toddler, I can’t help but wonder what our kid would have looked like. Feel the pit in my stomach grow because our baby never had a chance at life.
But it did.
She did.
“I’m not having this conversation with you.” Danika turns to walk away. I grab her arm. She tries to yank herself free but I hold on tight, probably too tight. “Let go, Logan.”
“No, you need to tell me about my daughter,” I demand.
Something inside Danika snaps. She slaps me across the face and yells, “Molly’s not yours. She’s mine. You didn’t care what happened to her back then, you don’t get to care about her now.”
“I didn’t care?” I boom. “You didn’t give me a chance to care!”
Melody Fox, the Hotel’s poolside manager, hurries over to us. She puts her hand on my shoulder and plasters on that fake smile of hers. “Guys, can we take this elsewhere? You’re disturbing the other guests.”
“Gladly.” Danika jerks free of my grip and turns.
“You don’t get to walk away, Danika. Not again.” I side step around Melody and chase after Danika, who has kicked her heels off and started running into the hotel.
I pick up the pace, but only make it a few steps before I’m jerked back by my shirt. “Logan!”
I stop for a second and look over my shoulder. Piper releases the back of my shirt and rests her hands on her big hips. “Let her go.”
Let her go? Is she crazy? Danika has taken my child from me, hidden my child from me for almost four years, and I am supposed to let her go? No. I can’t. “I have a kid, Piper. A fucking kid.”
“I know,” she says before I finish taking my first step.
I whirl around, more pissed off than I was a second ago. I couldn’t have heard Piper right. She wouldn’t keep something so important from me. “What do you mean you know?”
We’re family. Family doesn’t keep secrets. Not anymore.
Piper drops her arms to her side and reaches out to me. She takes my hand in hers, squeezing it, and looks me dead in the eye. “Her name is Molly. She’s three years old but will be four in a few weeks because she was premature. And she’s beautiful, Logan. The perfect mixture between you and Danika.”
I stare at Piper dumbfounded, a million thoughts running through my head. The world spins. I want a drink but can't make my feet move. She knew. This whole time, she knew and didn’t tell me. Why?
“Logan?” Walter asks, setting his hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“I’ve got to go.” I push past him and unzip the pocket on my bathing suit, reaching for one of the two room keys I’ve stashed.
Piper cries out, “Logan!”
I don’t want to care about what Piper has to say. I’m pissed at her and need to catch up to Danika before she leaves again but as mad as I am, Piper is family. I look over my shoulder.
Piper’s pale faced, standing in a puddle. “My water broke.”
Shit. I turn and take three big steps over to her. “Walter!” I yell taking Piper’s outstretched hand. She winces, holding her belly with the other. “Where’s Rex?’
“He and Cooper went for a beach run twenty minutes ago.” She groans and squeezes my fingers.
I rest my other hand on her back and rub small circles. I have no idea how to help. Rex should be here, not me. I didn’t get to have these new dad moments. I sure as hell am not about to steal his. “I’ll go find him.”
“No!” Piper yells. “Don’t leave me.”
“Oh, my god. It’s time!” Mom squeals. She looks around excitedly. “Where’s Rex?”
I usher Piper to a lounge chair. She holds her belly while Walter coaches her through a breathing activity. I look around the deck searching for Melody. “Running with Cooper. Call them. Find them and tell them to get their asses back here. Now.” I leave mom without a goodbye and run across the deck. “Melody!”
Melody stops talking to her employee and turns to greet me with yet another fake smile. “Hey there, handsome. Get things worked out with Danika?”
I’d momentarily forgotten about her and our fight. For now, things between Danika will have to wait. “Piper’s water broke.”
“Well, shit.” Melody frowns. “That’s gross.”
“Seriously?” I stare at Melody in disbelief and silently thank God no one ever knocked her up. She was a shit person back in high school who grew up to be a selfish adult. I can’t imagine what she’d be like as a mother. “We need an ambulance here. Now!”
“All right. All right.” Melody radioes the front desk. When I hear her actually convey the message, I don’t trust her as far as I can throw her, I run back to Piper.
“Rex and Cooper are ten minutes away, give or take,” Mom announces when I return.
“An ambulance is on the way. You guys move Piper to the lobby. I’ve got to go find Danika.”
“No!” Piper shouts, reaching for my hand. “Don’t leave me, Logan. I need you here. What if Rex doesn’t make it in time?”
“He will.”
“But what if he doesn’t?” Piper insists.
I exhale and crouch down, wrapping my
arm around Piper’s waist to help her to her feet. She groans again, probably from a contraction. As much as I want to chase Danika down, family comes first. Always.
19
Logan
2 months later
We need to talk.
I text Danika for the tenth time this week. My phone signals me that she’s read the message but like all the others, it goes unanswered.The plush leather chair in my dad’s office makes that distinct rubbing sound as I shift in it. I hate that it’s come to this, but I’m out of options.
“You tried, son.” My dad sounds empathetic, but I know his emotions aren't genuine. He doesn’t care about me or Molly. This is an act he gives his clients. “It’s my turn.”
I lean my elbows against my knees and rest my head in my hands. This doesn’t feel right, threatening Danika with kidnapping charges if she doesn’t bring Molly back. She’s going to hate me. “Is there any other way?”
“Well,” Dad says, twisting a pen between his fingers. He leans back in his chair, the spring in it rocking. It’s hard to process this version of my father, civil and professional. I’m so used to the hard ass who raised me. He’s like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. “We could go the traditional route of filing for custody, but we’d have to prove Danika is an unfit mother for Molly to come home.”
That won’t work. Knowing Danika, she’s probably a fantastic mother. She instinctively knew how to take care of me. I can only imagine how great she is with our daughter. “We won’t actually charge her with kidnapping, right?”
Dad smirks. “It’s only a threat. If she doesn’t move back home then we can discuss the next step.”
He pulls a small stack of papers from the manilla envelope on his desk and spins them to face me. I stare at the inked letters, not bothering to read them. I wish there was another way, but I have to know my daughter. “Give me a pen.”
Danika
“Excuse me, are you Danika Winters?” a chipper voice calls from behind me.
I stop looking through the never ending envelopes demanding money and peer over my shoulder. “Yes.”
The girl, who barely looks older than sixteen, finishes stepping out of her green Toyota Corolla. She leaves the driver’s door open, jogs up the driveway, and hands me an envelope. I feel the color drain from my face as I read the black printed letters. An invisible noose tightens around my neck. My chest is tight to the point I can barely draw in a breath. I think I might be having a panic attack.
“I'm sorry ma’am.” The girl snaps a picture of me with her phone. “But you’ve been served.”
I hear her footsteps disappear behind me but everything besides my name on the cream colored eight by eleven envelope is a blur. My legs give out and I fall to the curb outside Nona’s apartment complex. I’m sure my ass will be bruised tomorrow, but I can’t feel anything because my whole body is numb.
I’ve dreaded this moment since leaving Florida. Logan’s called me daily since I returned home, texted me on multiple occasions, too. I had hoped that if I ignored him, he’d think he had the wrong number and give up. I should have known better.
With shaking hands, I tear the seal on the envelope. I slide the snow white paper out and attempt to read but the words blur together through tear filled eyes. I drop the letter in my lap and wipe pooling tears away. I don’t need to read the papers, I already know what they say.
Logan wants shared custody.
He wants to be a part of my daughter's life and my biggest fear is that once he realizes how much work she is, he’ll walk away.
I force myself to take a breath and count to three. I need help and Nona doesn’t have the kind of money legal representation costs. Knowing Logan’s dad, he’s going to fight me tooth and nail every way he can. A case like this would drain all of Nona’s retirement savings and while I know she will offer, I can’t do that.
I fish my phone out of my purse and dial the only person who can help me. My dad. Even though we haven’t talked since the wedding and I know he’s going to be mad at me, I’m his daughter. His only daughter. He has to help.
“Hello?” he answers after the first ring.
“Dad, I need your help.” My voice shakes. Then again, so does the rest of my body.
“What’s wrong, princess?” Dad asks, his tone hard with worry but before I can answer, we’re interrupted.
“I see your papers came,” Logan says and I can almost see him gloating through the phone.
Fire courses through me, singing any tears that hadn’t yet escaped. He’s there with my dad. That means Dad knew all along what Logan’s plan was. That he and Tessa gave Logan my phone number and address. I assumed it was Piper, since she’s avoided my calls, but knowing it was my Dad that betrayed me is a thousand times worse. “How could you!”
Logan laughs in the background, confirming my suspicion that I’m on speaker.
“How could you hide something like this from us, Danika? From me?” Dad asks.
“I didn’t have much choice. How many times did you tell me not to make you a grandfather?” Too many. That was the deciding factor to leave, I knew I wouldn’t have Dad’s support. But the moment I told Nona I was pregnant, she had my back. She offered no judgement, just possible solutions.
I can practically see my dad shaking his head on the other side of the line. His silence spoke volumes when he was mad at Mom. Their fights were always one sided because he refused to engage, it only pissed Mom off more.
“What did you expect us to do, princess? You wouldn't answer Logan’s calls, wouldn’t tell him anything about Molly. He had no choice.”
They know Molly’s name, which means Piper has told them everything. That explains why she’s avoiding me. She probably thinks I’m mad at her. I am, a little, but in the grand scheme of this mess, her admissions don’t matter. “You had a choice, Dad. You didn’t have to tell Logan where I was or give him my number. You promised you wouldn’t. Remember?”
“I gave it to him,” Tessa says into the speaker. I should have known she was near. That the three of them had become one big happy family without me. “Now that Logan knows about Molly, he deserves a chance to be in her life. I respected your wishes the last two years. I can’t anymore.”
Two years? Tessa and Dad have had a relationship for two years, and I only found out about it a few weeks ago because of the wedding! My stomach ties itself into a sailor’s knot. I was foolish to think Dad would help me if he’s been on their side for two years.
“I didn’t say anything before,” Tess continues, “but if my son wants to know his daughter, I’m not going to deny him that right!”
Frustrated, I hang up before I say something I regret. Being a mom, I understand where Tessa comes from, so I can’t be too mad at her helping her son, but that doesn’t mean I’m ready for Logan to come barging into my life again. I washed my hands of him when I was eighteen. I walked away from him after the wedding, and once again he’s worming his way back into my life.
I pick up my phone to text Sarah. She got me into this mess, she needs to help get me out of it.
Me: I need your help.
Sarah: Anything. What can I do?
Me: Can Molly and I stay with you for a few weeks? Logan served me.
Sarah: Absolutely. Stay as long as you need.
20
Danika
I chew on my thumbnail, the peach paint completely picked off. My feet have paced across the entryway tile of Sarah Archer’s house so many times, it’s no longer cold under my toes. We moved here on Monday, two weeks after being served kidnapping papers. I thought Logan was gearing up for a custody battle, but no. He brought out the big guns. Can’t say I’m not surprised.
Sarah’s letting us stay in her too-big-for-one house until I can get on my feet. I have one more semester of classes until I graduate with my Bachelor’s degree in Education. Hopefully, if I play nice with Logan, I can delay our inevitable custody battle until I have a job and can afford a decent lawyer.
I glance over my shoulder at Molly. She lays on her stomach in the living room, attempting to complete a Doc McStuffins puzzle. Sarah’s cross legged on the floor beside her, intervening before Molly’s frustration gets the best of her.
She’s just like her dad. Stubborn. Short tempered. And cute as hell.
The knock I’ve been waiting on startles me. I jump, whipping my head around so fast my hair slaps me in the face. My throat closes, making my next breath almost impossible, but I manage. I tug the long strands that got stuck in my lip gloss free and take a deep breath.
I can do this.
We can do this.
I pull Sarah’s front door open but refuse to smile. This is one of the days I’ve dreaded since Molly was born. A living version of one of my recurring nightmares. The next one I’m dreading is when Logan can’t handle the pressures of being a father and bails, breaking Molly’s heart.
And mine.
Logan looks as amazing as he did the last time I saw him. I was hoping his freakishly good looks were distorted drunken memories, but no. A simple white tee clings to his chest and arms, hanging loose around his stomach, falling at the belt line of his Levi’s. Beautiful brown eyes that seemed to be stuck on the floor climb their way to my face.
Logan grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Hey.”
I swallow the knot in my throat, freeing the trapped air through my nose. “Thank you for not ringing the doorbell. Molly doesn’t like how loud it is.”
I step to the side, opening the door wider. I’m not convinced I can do this but maybe if I keep things between Logan and I civil, today won’t be a disaster. We can do this co-parenting thing, not like I have any other choice.
“Of course,” he says wiping his shoes on the mat. “You asked me not to ring it.”
Right. In one of a dozen messages I sent this afternoon. Don’t wear sneakers, don’t wear red, don’t ring the doorbell. Don’t bring gifts. I think I sent Logan ten texts filled with random things as they crossed my mind, and then a few changing my mind about the things I said. Oddly enough, he never asked why. He simply replied “okay” to every request no matter how strange it was.
