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I chuckled. “Of course.”
“So, the paternity test came back, and it was yours,” she said, bringing us back on topic.
“Yeah. I took her to the clubhouse and left her there for a couple of weeks.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.” Her brows were drawn together in a frown.
“No. That way, she wasn’t alone. She was safe. Nina and Goldie loved her. She was fine. Got her set up with an OB-GYN, et cetera. Then, things happened, and I thought it was for the best that she move back here and just stay at my house. She’s good with landscaping and plants and flowers. She takes Ozzy out for me, so I don’t have to leave work to do it or send Tex over there. I’m letting her stay there and be the dog sitter and landscaper while she’s pregnant. Once the baby comes, we will figure things out.” Guilt was eating at me before I even said the words.
I’d known I was going to lie or make the situation sound like something else. Telling Madeline I was fucking Liberty like a feral animal and couldn’t stop would not help the way she saw me right now.
Madeline was frowning. “So, that’s all you want with her?”
No. It wasn’t.
I nodded. “She’s thirty-one. We are at two different points in our life. We don’t fit. Nothing in common.”
Madeline sighed. “Oh. Well, that’s not what I thought I’d hear. She’s young, sure. But she’s having your baby. You get to raise a child of your own. I get a sibling. It’s exciting. I guess I just thought maybe you’d found someone you wanted to have a family with. Grow old with.”
“You thought I would want to grow old with a woman sixteen years younger than me? I’d be old long before she got a gray hair, Madeline. You think a forty-five-year-old woman would want to be stuck with a sixty-one-year-old man? Hell, I’m a grandfather, having a baby.”
Madeline shrugged. “You’re a good-looking man, Dad. You don’t look forty-seven, and if she loved you, she wouldn’t care about age. Not now or in twenty years. But if you don’t love her, then I get that.”
Love her? I hadn’t even considered love. That wasn’t necessarily something I expected when I settled down with someone. Love was a strong emotion. I’d felt it with Etta, but I had also been young. I hadn’t seen how those who claimed to love one another often destroyed each other when it ended.
“This isn’t a love match. It’s a one-night stand and two people trying to form some kind of friendship or relationship so that we can amicably raise a child together. Not be together.”
“I guess the doctor thing is done then,” she said.
I nodded. “Yeah. That wouldn’t work anymore.” Especially now that I knew the lies Selena had told about Liberty. I hoped I never ran into the woman again.
“That’s for the best. Especially if sex wasn’t good. That should be one of the top boxes. If she doesn’t check it, then move on along.”
I grinned. “Noted. I’ll keep that in mind when I decide to try the dating thing again.”
Madeline studied me for a moment. “And you’re sure there is no chance you and Liberty could feel something for each other?”
I shook my head. “Not going down that road.”
“Well, she’s gorgeous, and you enjoy conversations with her. Was the sex any good?”
“I’m not discussing that with my daughter,” I told her.
Her mouth twitched, as if she wanted to smile. “But you told me how not good the sex was with the doctor. You had no problem pointing it out. Yet you won’t talk about sex with Liberty. Which means it’s good and you don’t want to tell me that.”
She stood up. “I want to meet her. She’s going to be my sibling’s mom. I’ll let you figure out when is best. But just because you don’t want to have something more than friendship or amicable whatever with her doesn’t mean I don’t want to have a relationship with her. She’ll be my family too.”
I hadn’t expected that. Picturing it made me uneasy. Seeing Liberty blending with my daughter and grandkids as seamlessly as she had with The Judgment would mess with my head. Make me forget all the reasons why a romantic relationship with Liberty would be a bad idea. Although Madeline had just taken one of those reasons and blown it to hell.
32
Liberty
Liam had taken me to my favorite nursery in town three different times now. I’d found it the first time we went looking for things for me to plant.
The yard had a long way to go, but it wasn’t exactly the best time of year for planting everything I wanted to put around the house. The things that bloomed all year in Florida was where I’d started. Since this wasn’t a clubhouse, but Liam’s home, I wanted it to be perfect.
“Come on in, Ozzy,” I called after he ran around and did his business.
