She sat and prepared to be entertained by the niece she had just met.
Zoe beamed with excitement at the prospect of new family. "Can we draw together?" she asked, her eyes bright with anticipation.
Kat laughed, charmed by her enthusiasm, and nodded. Cade watched the two of them, feeling a deep sense of gratitude as laughter bubbled up between his sister and his daughter, the beginnings of a new bond forming right before his eyes.
*****
He was reluctant to take her back to her mother. Part of him wished he could carry her home and tuck her in. Perhaps even read her a bedtime story.
Abigail was waiting for him in the parking lot. As he drove in, he wondered if she had thought he wasn't bringing her back.
Sliding the car next to hers, he went around the back to lift her from the car seat and cradle her sleeping form gently.
"She's tuckered out." He whispered. "My sister dropped by."
"Your sister?" She wanted to snatch her daughter away but managed to step back and allow him to put her in the back of her vehicle and secure the belt of her car seat.
She waited until he had closed the door.
"That wasn't the arrangement. She was just supposed to see you, get used to you."
His eyes flared. "My sister came by and wanted to meet her. Should I have refused her? Sent her packing?"
"You're not taking her away." She hissed.
He felt the anger almost strangling him. "Is that what you think? That I want to take her away from you? She's your daughter,Abigail. You're her mother and I'm her father. I want to be able to spend some time with her. My family wants to meet her.
She wants to meet them."
Her hands shook and she had to shove them into the pockets of her jacket to keep him from noticing. "You have it all planned, don't you? Little by little you want to worm your way into her life, dazzle her with your vast resources and make her promises, ones you have no intention of keeping. How long before you run after the latest woman to grab your interest? I won't have my daughter subject to your whims and fancy. I."
She let out a gasp as he grabbed her by the arms and shook her.
His eyes were glittering cold, his face set. "Hear me carefully." His deep voice was cold and controlled. "Zoe is my daughter. You kept her from me for four years. I won't be kept away any longer. I'm not the enemy here and I never made you any promises. I was always careful never to do any such thing. She's a child and she needs both her parents.
You can either be civilized about it, or we can go to war. You decide." Letting go of her, he turned to go to his vehicle. Wrenching the door open, he turned to look at her. "Oh, and another thing. She will either be spending Thanksgiving with me or Christmas. You decide."
She leaned against the door, her knees knocking together and her heart pounding. Gulping in air, she managed to get into the car. Checking to see if her daughter was still asleep, she drove out of the lot and headed home.
*****
He listened with half an ear as his sister raved over his daughter. She had taken pictures while they were together and was showing them to the family. After the argument with Abigail, he had driven around aimlessly, haunted by the stricken look on her exquisite face and felt like a monster.
She had behaved as if he had committed murder.
And the worse part of it was that he had wanted her. That he had felt that keen lust that had him walking, no goddammit, running away five years ago. He had wanted to taste her. Her scent had rose up to stagger him.
He could smell her. Christ Jesus! He was at war with her. And all he wanted to do was sink himself so deep inside her, he would have had to be pried loose.
"Darling?"
He was so deep in thought, he had not realized the conversation had petered off and he was the object of several pairs of eyes.
"Sorry. What?"
His mother gave him a strange look before repeating the question. "When will we meet her?"
That brought back the argument in full force. "I told Abigail that I would like her for either Thanksgiving or Christmas."
