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Chapter Eight
Tuckingher toes under her butt on her chair, Sera looked over the document that had just come across her fax machine. Nine years ago, Dr. Liven had stated that Harrison Dean indeed had sluggish sperm. The words were right there on the page in front of her.
She hadn’t actually expected to see this document at all. After telling him that Kylie Nash had agreed to take the paternity test, she fully expected him to admit that he lied to her. Or at least lied to her yesterday because she was sure he hadn’t lied to her last Friday.
It didn’t matter what the paper she was holding said; she knew he could father children. Though her first could easily be dismissed as happening before whatever happened to his reproductive ability, Violet had been conceived after this test was conducted—almost a year later.
Sera knew the girl was his. At the time, she hadn’t had sex in the four months preceding the conception or in the year after. Months before, she had broken up with a longtime boyfriend who had wanted her to move in with him. The relationship had ended because he was mad that she had said no. At the time, she needed her older girls to help out with Emma, who was seven at the time. Also, he wanted her to leave behind Buzz and Agatha, who were in high school, arguing that Lucy and Mabel were living there and were adults. At twenty, they were barely adults. Besides, no man was separating her from her kids.
After the breakup, she had laid low for months, concentrating on the girls and getting them through school. But the night of the Christmas party, she had let herself go—not something she usually did.
They had both been very drunk, but he’d been worse than her. She didn’t remember who had started kissing who, but both had been willing when they’d gotten to his office. An hour or so later, she had walked out, and he had passed out.
There was no denying that the baby born nine months later was his. She was the spitting image of her sister and her dad. No paternity tests were needed with her two.
At the time of Violet’s birth, he had still been married to Veronica, and she had still been married to Bradford, who she remained married to for another year until Buzz graduated from high school. No way was she divorcing him, knowing any of the bigger girls could end up in foster care.
In the years following his divorce, Harrison had treated Seraphina like he hated her, so she kept her information to herself. His marriage had hung on for years, on and off at any moment. Sera didn’t even know that the marriage was completely over for months after it had actually happened. Even with him being single, she never let on that she kept a piece or two of him home with her every day.
So, whether he was counting on the fact that he was shooting blanks on his paternity test wasn’t known yet. If he was counting on a negative result to clear his name, he was in for a problem if the kid was his.
Setting aside the test results, she tried to put her involvement in Harrison’s life out of her mind. This had nothing to do with her, nothing at all. They weren’t even friends at this point, just co-workers—co-workers with a past that only one of them remembered.
Picking up her phone, she shot a quick text to Agatha to say she was working late tonight. Agatha didn’t care when Sera came home; she would keep the little girl forever if need be.
She set her phone aside again and went back to what she was doing: performance reviews. Yes, it was that time of the year again. Most companies no longer did the tedious task anymore, but Rodgers and Associates was still hanging on to the practice. And she was lucky enough to have to go through them every time.
After an hour, she was bored out of her mind. Spinning in her chair, she looked out the window and wondered if any of the girls were out tonight. But she knew the answer was no. Even though it was Wednesday, she knew that Lucy and Harper were working on a catering job, and Agatha was home with Violet. Maby never went out without her sisters, and Buzz had just started her career as a reporter and was working tonight.
Things were really changing for the family. All her restless girls were settling into careers. Only Maby had ever wanted to go to college; Buzz had because she was smart and hadn’t thought of anything else to do.
Even with having a baby, she had made it through college in the standard four years. Getting on at Rodgers and Associates in HR had been a dream come true, only to be surprised when she had been hired as the director not long after Violet had been born.
But Bradford’s girls were different; they had been since the beginning. They were artistic and outgoing. Never were they going to follow the path set out for them; they would all forge their own way through life. And she was going to sit back and watch it happen. There was no way she could have told any of them to be caterers or reporters or even a teacher—that was all them.
“I figured you would be out on a date tonight,” Harrison said from behind her. Of course, she knew it was him. She could feel him in the room.
Spinning back to her desk, she said, “Not tonight. Performance reviews. I like to get them done as soon as possible.”
“Doesn’t look like you’re getting any done.” He chuckled at her.
“I was taking a break. I am allowed, you know.” She crossed her arms as she spoke. He always tried to get her riled up.
“Did you get the document from my doctor?” Harrison moved into the room and sat in the chair across from her.
“Yes, but I don’t think it really matters until we get the paternity test. That will tell us for sure you aren’t the father.”
“I know for certain I’m not the father because I didn’t have sex with her.”
“That’s not what you said a week ago,” she pointed out.
“A week ago, I was fucking with you, Seraphina!”
“Well, don’t ever fuck with me, Harrison. I deserve respect from you and from every lawyer here who thinks I’m not worth anything because I didn’t go to law school.” Okay, so she went a little overboard, but she got tired of being the bad guy every day around here.
“I don’t think of it that way, I swear. I’m sorry if I ever made you feel less because you’re not a lawyer.” He seemed sincere, but sometimes he did when he was fucking with her.
“Thank you, Harrison. Now, what do you want?” Yes, she knew she was being short with him, but it was after hours, and she didn’t want to deal with him.
