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I GAVE MYSELF an hour before I ventured out of the room. If I was going to continue living with Caleb, I had to stop hiding from him every time he did something idiotic. There was no reason to make it awkward when we could both be sensible adults, and forget that it ever happened.

I was intent on going to the kitchen, and then wanted to watch a movie in the theatre room, but when I heard Braelynn fussing in the nursery I wanted to check on her first. I pushed the nursery door open, and found a dressed down Caleb pacing the length of the hardwood floor, while Braelynn wailed in his arms. Her face was scrunched up, and red, and so very wet with tears.

“C’mon, Brae, daddy’s trying here sweetheart. I can’t feed you if you don’t stop crying.”

The frustration in his plea was unmissable, and even in the face of my agitation I felt sorry for him. He was out of his element, but not even I had the heart to shoot a man down for trying.

“Everything okay?” I asked, taking a timid step forward.

“It’s fine.” Caleb kept his gaze trained on Braelynn. “She’s just being a little fussy tonight.”

His body language was defensive, but that was his standard reaction when anyone came near Braelynn. I’d helped him with her a few times already, even just to give him a break while he looked for a new nanny, and until tonight he’d never given any indication that he was uncomfortable with me being around her.

There were one of two ways I could handle that revelation, and for my own sake more than his, I elected to take the high road, and pay no mind to why he was being standoffish. As far as I knew he had no reason to be.

“Here,” I reached out my arms, “Let me.”

“I’ve got it,” grumbled Caleb. He resumed his pacing, which only made Braelynn cry harder and louder.

“C’mon, Caleb, there’s nothing wrong with accepting some help.”

“I don’t need your help,” he stated matter-of-factly. I ought to have told him it wasn’t necessary to snap, but I simply raised my hands in compliance and backed away.

I went to the kitchen, made myself a snack, and something to drink, and quietly wandered in the direction of the theatre room. It was one of the larger rooms in the penthouse, with six lush double recliners, and fully equipped with its own soda fountain and popcorn machine. With the huge plasma screen, and surround sound system in the living room, I couldn’t quite grasp Caleb’s need for this place, but tonight I was glad he had it.

I flicked through Caleb’s extensive collection, bypassing all the action flicks, and selected a high school comedy, The D.U.F.F.

I had my finger poised above the play button when Caleb entered. He was still holding Braelynn, and the little Miss didn’t look at all pleased. Without saying a word, Caleb handed her over to me, and sat down beside me in the adjoining recliner. It was the strangest thing, the way we seemed to move so fluidly together, like we’d been doing it for years, and yet the silence was still so awkward.

Caleb handed me Braelynn’s bottle, and turned his attention to the screen. His body vibrated with quiet displeasure, but when he made no attempt to talk to me, I went about feeding Braelynn. Her blue eyes latched on to my green, and she stilled, staring up at me in wonder. I stared at her in much the same way, really, completely taken by her. I couldn’t explain why it was so easy for me, why my instincts with her came so naturally, but they did, and I knew exactly what I was doing without being told. I had an inextricable connection with this little person, and each time I held her, each time I felt her little hand wrap around my finger, something inside me tethered itself to her.

She suckled with fervor, her cries replaced with hungry little moans while she ate her fill, and all the while Caleb remained still and silent at my side.

When Braelynn was done, I gently burped her, and settled back into the recliner. I situated her on my chest, with her head facing Caleb, and started watching the movie when I felt Caleb staring at the side of my face.

“How did you do that?” he asked, his voice quiet.

I tilted my head so that I could see his expression, and to my surprise it was forlorn, like he’d somehow failed his daughter by passing her off to me.

“She was probably irritated because you were,” I replied, rubbing Braelynn’s back with genuine affection. She was sleeping on her tummy, lulled by the rhythmic beat of my pulse beneath her ear.

Caleb loured at me. “I wasn’t irritated.”

“Well you were definitely something, because Brae picked it up, and reacted to it. She takes all her cues from you Caleb, so when you’re not in a good mood, it affects her.”

Caleb didn’t reply immediately, and when he did it wasn’t at all what I was expecting.

“You’re good with her.”

“She makes it easy,” I replied, placing a light kiss on the crown of Braelynn’s head, and inhaling her sweet baby scent. She stirred, her little body moving into a more comfortable position, and with my hand on her back, she continued to sleep.

“Has there been anyone else?”

I shot a look of surprise at Caleb, and pondered how to answer him in the most diplomatic way possible, without revealing too much.

I didn’t want to talk about Baxter, or how I’d found him plowing my sister from behind. I didn’t want to talk about how my father still expected me to marry the bastard, and turn the other cheek like he hadn’t cheated on me with my sister. I was expected to accept those things, be the dutiful daughter and ignorant fiancée, all the while my own family laughed behind my back.

“There was,” I whispered. “But it didn’t work out.”