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“Oh shit, do you think he’d have opened them in front of everyone?” I asked.
“Probably, we close for lunch and all eat in the break room. Why?”
I winced, but couldn’t help smiling to myself. “I put a note in that said, ‘Mummy loves you’.”
Dex’s laughter was loud and long and I loved hearing it.
“Oh Katie Cat, I fucking miss you,” he finally said. “So damn much.”
The warmth of his words filled me with huge amounts of happiness, and caused a stupid grin to break out on my face. I was definitely falling for him, and couldn’t wait for him to get home.
“I miss you too, sweetheart,” I whispered. “More than you’ll ever know.”
Dex
I’d been having visits with Savannah for the last three days, going from thirty minutes, up to over two hours, and all had gone well – so far. We’d had one incident when she’d refused to go put her toys away, with it turning into a full-on howling temper tantrum. I’d had no clue what to do and stood there like one of the moving statues in Vegas – my movements slow and delayed, as I hesitated on what to do with the hurricane taking place in front of me.
Allison took no trucking from Savannah, and firmly told her to stop crying otherwise she’d make herself ill. Once Savannah calmed down sufficiently, Allison told her again to put away the toys and this time she did without any fuss.
Evidently the look on my face said it all, because Allison’s husband, Tommy, slapped me on the back and welcomed me to parenthood.
“It’ll come,” he said, laughing through his bushy beard. “Takes us all time to learn and you’ve only had a few days, so no point in stressin’ about it.”
Thank God I’d have Katie to give me help and advice – if I decided to take Savannah home with me and if Katie stuck around. She’d made it pretty clear she was done with bringing up kids and if we stayed together, my feisty four-year-old would be part of the deal. The thought of maybe losing her had proved something – I was gone for her, and falling for her deeper and deeper every day. I knew though that Savannah would be my priority, and if I did take Savannah home and it meant losing Katie, then that’s what would have to happen – which kind of proved in itself that I was probably ready to be a father to my little girl.
I just had one last thing to do, and that was to get on a plane to Fort Worth and meet Jackson and Olivia Henry, the couple who wanted to adopt Savannah. Which was why I was in a fancy-assed elevator that was bigger than my guest bathroom, on my way up to the Penthouse. It was so plush I didn’t even feel it stop, and only realized I’d arrived on the top floor when the doors smoothly slid open.
Stepping out, my feet sunk into the carpet as my eyes were drawn to a tall, fair-haired guy standing in the doorway. He was wearing a grey polo shirt and khakis, with leather loafers on his feet and he looked like money.
“You must be Dex,” he said with a warm smile. “Come on in, Olivia and I have been anxious to meet you.”
For someone supposedly Texan born and bred, this guy sounded like he’d been brought up by some rich old lady in New England. As for his hair, if I didn’t know better, I’d say he had a hairdresser on standby for whenever it got ruffled – there was not one hair out of place.
As I ran a hand through my own hair, brushing it back, I glimpsed at the ink on my forearms and wondered what the Henrys would make of me. Not that I really cared, it was up to them to impress me, if I was to even consider letting them adopt my little girl.
And fuck if that thought didn’t stop me in my tracks – my little girl. Suddenly, I wasn’t even sure what I was doing there. Before I had time to think about just turning around and going to see James Jenson and telling him I wanted custody of Savannah, Jackson had ushered me in and closed the door behind me.
“Liv’s in the lounge,” he said, moving past me to lead the way. “Rosina, our housekeeper, just made us coffee.”
As I followed him down the wide hallway, I looked at the paintings on the wall. All originals, not one print amongst them, and I was pretty sure I recognized a Lisa Adams’ painting amongst them. These people were real rich and could probably give Savannah anything she’d ever want – but money didn’t get you everything.
We walked into a large lounge, decorated in golds and bronzes, with a huge, dark-gold colored couch and two chairs in gold and cream stripes. There was more art in here, but all of it in similar colors and hues to the décor.
“Liv, darling. This is Dex, Savannah’s father.”
A woman with auburn hair and pale, freckled skin stood up and moved towards me, taking my hand to shake it.
“Dex, so lovely to see you, although it was extremely sad to hear of dear Lucy’s death. Jackson was very fond of her, well we both were.”
She looked at her husband, who was soon by her side and placing an arm around her shoulder. They sat down, still joined, and indicated for me to do the same.
“Coffee?”
I nodded and settled into the armchair, which despite its size, wasn’t actually very comfortable.
“Black, no sugar, please.”
Olivia nodded and continued to pour, before passing me a cup. A cup with a saucer, when coffee should be drunk in a mug.
