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They shared a happy breakfast, talking and laughing and eating cereal, and Amelia felt like they were a real family. She’d felt more and more like that over the last few days, but this confirmed it. Despite herself, her imagination ran wild. Perhaps her and Liam’s marriage would become real. Perhaps she could stay as Liam’s wife and Grace’s adopted mother.
Amelia caught sight of Liam as he took a bite of cereal. He was truly something. He was handsome, thoughtful, intelligent, funny, and a billionaire — he was basically the man every girl dreamed of. And he’d chosen her.
It was unbelievable, but somehow it was true.
“What shall we do today?” Amelia asked as they finished breakfast. “It’s Sunday, so we should have time. Right?”
“Definitely. Grace, what would you like to do?”
“Zoo!” Grace exclaimed. Amelia and Liam caught each other’s eyes and laughed.
“We went to the zoo last week,” Liam reminded her. “Don’t you want to do something new?”
Grace shook her head firmly. “Zoo!”
“What my princess wants, she shall have,” Liam said. “What do you say, Amelia? Shall we go back to the zoo?”
“Let’s do it.” The thought of another day with Liam and Grace at the zoo was deeply appealing. Amelia could hardly wait.
Just then, Liam’s phone began to ring. He shot Amelia an apologetic look.
“Sorry, I need to take this. It shouldn’t be long.”
He answered the phone as he left the kitchen. Amelia could hear that he was annoyed. She turned back to Grace and smiled, determined not to let one little hiccup ruin their Sunday.
“Daddy?” Grace asked.
“He has a call,” Amelia told her. “But he’ll be right back for the zoo.”
But Liam didn’t come back. Amelia cleaned up from breakfast and got Grace ready for the zoo, but still he didn’t come back. Amelia was starting to get worried.
Finally, Liam did return. He looked beyond stressed, his handsome features bunched into an expression of worry.
“Is everything okay?” Amelia asked, concerned.
“No.” Liam shook his head. “I trusted one of my employees with an important deal, and he lost my company a lot of money. Hundreds of thousands of dollars gone in one mistake. I can’t believe I let that happen.”
“I’m so sorry.” Amelia reached for Liam’s hand in comfort, but he didn’t seem to see her. His gaze was focused on his phone once again, as he typed something and pressed send. Amelia glanced over at Grace, who was entertained by her plastic water cup.
“I need to go into the office,” Liam said. “I need to fix this myself.”
“Oh.” Amelia felt his words like a shove in the chest, but took a deep breath and steadied herself. Of course, if something had gone wrong at work, Liam needed to go in — even on a Sunday. “When will you be back? Maybe we can go to the zoo later in the day.”
“The zoo?” Liam looked confused for a split second, and the pressure in Amelia’s chest increased. “Right, the zoo. I’ll try to be back, but you two should go ahead and go. I wouldn’t want to ruin your day.”
“Oh,” Amelia said again. She wished she were a little more eloquent. “Right. Well, I’ll see you later.”
“See you later.” Liam looked up from his phone long enough to flash Amelia a distant smile. “Have a nice day.” And then he was gone.
Grace looked up from the plastic cup she’d been playing with. “Where Daddy?”
“Daddy had to go into work,” Amelia said gently. She saw tears well in Grace’s eyes, a mirror of her own feelings, and knew she had to take action, quickly. She couldn’t chase after Liam and ask him to reconsider his decisions, but she could make sure Grace had a nice day. Or as nice as it could be. “Are you ready to go to the zoo?”
“No Daddy?” Grace asked mournfully. Over the last week, she’d gotten very accustomed to having her father around, at least for part of the day.
“Not today,” Amelia said, a little too firmly. She swooped the child out of her high chair and gave her a hug. “Today is a girls’ day.”
“Girls’ day?”
