I frown. “She had a boyfriend?”
“He wasn’t the one, apparently. I suspect for reasons similar to why you haven’t made the slightest effort to meet someone.”
“Mum, c’mon. That’s not fair.”
Her mouth purses, then she shrugs and goes back to looking out the window. It’s her way of saying I’m right and you know it. Maybe it’s true. Maybe there are reasons I’ve stayed single beyond dedicating my time to raising my son.
“All I’m saying is that once we’re done with today’s mess, maybe this is your chance to be more than Max’s father.”
We pull up to the law offices with their black doors,iron railings, and double-sided stone steps.
One of the junior associates is waiting, opening the door for my mother once the car stops. He’s equal parts intimidated and sycophantic, a reaction she elicits from most people. Lando receives the same treatment, Alex sometimes, whereas Miles, Clemmie, and I are too far down the pecking order to have any real effect.
“Lord Burlington”—he nods deeply, though it’s aimed at my mother—“your Grace.” I know that had she not been here, he would have stayed waiting inside, perhaps wouldn’t even have bothered coming to greet me until I’d checked in. “It’s wonderful to see you again, if not for some unusual circumstances.”
“Edward.” She smiles, pulling out her uncanny knack for remembering every single person’s name, and he simpers underneath it while following close on her heel as she marches inside. “Good to see you again. Now, shall we get on with it? Where’s Arthur?”
I glance at the clock. Sienna is scheduled to arrive in five minutes. For the past thirty, we’ve been going over my legal team’s strategy—somewhat tricky, seeing as we don’t know what she wants.
“Again,” Arthur says, “these are the possible scenarios we’ve come up with. One, she wants more money. Two, she wants to meet Max. Or three, she’s decided she wants a relationship with him, including visitation rights and custody.”
“She can fuck off if she thinks she’s getting two or three.”
My face drops to my hands, fingers digging into my skull. I sit there trying to block everything out while my mother and half a dozen solicitors debate my fate.
It’s so hard.
It’s so fucking hard to figure out what’s right for my son. Whether denying him access to the woman who gave birth to him is for his benefit or mine. What will happen when he’s eighteen and discovers I’m the one who blocked a relationship with her because I thought it was for the best?
Is five years old too young for him to decide for himself? If that’s even what she wants.
And so we go around and around. The boardroom becomes a pressure cooker as the clock ticks toward the hour and beyond.
“Where is she?” my mother snaps. “She’s half an hour late, for goodness’ sake. This isn’t the sign of a person responsible enough to look after a child.”
“Try her again. Where are her solicitors?”
Edward leans across the table and hits redial. Ringing sounds out over the speakerphone until it cuts out. No voicemail, nothing. We leave another message with her legal team.
“She’s got fifteen minutes, and then we’re leaving. We’re not wasting time sitting here for someone we don’t want to see in the first place.”
We don’t need fifteen minutes because in five, my phone beeps with a message.
SIENNA: Sorry, Hendricks. I’m not coming.
CHAPTER 20
Story
“Miss MacIntosh, what are you doing?”
At the sound of the voice, my head jerks up, startled, and I hit the drooping branch. “Ouch.”
“Are you okay?”
Scooching around on my hands and knees, careful not to knock myself out, I find Max bent at the hip, hands on his knees, and peering at me curiously.
“Hello, Max, what are you doing?”
