Page 99 of You Know You Wanna

I didn’t know who was more surprised about it, but Laurene seemed pleased, smiling. She hugged me before disappearing into her friend’s house. It was weird to think that I’d been a father for twelve years and I was only now starting to really feel like one, but it felt good.

On the other hand, if I didn’t haul ass to my lawyer’s office, I might not get to hang onto the feeling for much longer. Striding into their offices at ten a.m. on the dot, I was shown directly to the VIP conference room to find Janice and her army of assistants already waiting.

To my surprise, Andrea Lemmings, Jacqueline’s lawyer, was there too. I frowned, but she rose from behind the large table and reached out to shake my hand. “Mr. Ford. It’s good to see you again. I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of time, but I’m here to tell you that my client is willing to accept your offer.”

“Excuse me?” My heart jumped. “What offer?”

“The offer you made in North Carolina,” she said. “Your team has the terms. All that remains is for you to sign the new agreement and it’ll be done.”

I glanced at Janice, who shot me a tight but reassuring smile. “We’re told that Ms. Carnegie-Ford is currently on a flight back to England.”

My mouth nearly dropped open as shock ricocheted through me. “She left?”

Her lawyer’s feathers looked ruffled. “Why shouldn’t she have returned to her life? She’s already signed the necessary paperwork. There was no other business to attend to here.”

Heart pounding in my chest, I nodded slowly, my head suddenly feeling numb. “So she’s gone? It’s over?”

“Provided you pay the sum of money contained in the new agreement,” Andrea said, closing the folder in front of her and walking out from around the table. “Right. I’m done here. Send me the agreement when it’s signed, along with proof of payment, and we’ll finally be able to put this matter to bed.”

I blinked hard, sitting down in one of the chairs at the table. I tried to wrap my brain around everything she’d just said. One of Janice’s assistants walked Andrea out and the others disappeared, leaving me with only the lawyer, who grinned from ear to ear now that we were alone.

“Congratulations, Mr. Ford. This is what you wanted, correct? To settle quickly and quietly before the press found out and the school year commenced?”

“Yeah, sure. I just, uh, I can’t really believe that it’s over.” I looked at her. “Do you think this is the end of it? The actual end, this time. No more problems?”

She shrugged one shoulder, taking a thin wad of papers out of a file and handing it over. “That depends on you. She’s asking for a huge amount of money, but you did tell me what you offered her and they haven’t taken any chances. Ultimately, your ex wanted more money, and if she gets it, then yes. It’s over.”

“She can’t come back for more?”

Janice shook her head. “She can try, but unless there’s some drastic change in circumstances and she can convince a judge to hear her out, this is it.” She reached across the table and patted my forearm. “If I may, I think I’ve gotten to know the both of you rather well these last couple years, Remington.”

I arched an eyebrow at her. “I’d hope so.”

She chuckled. “Jacqueline is gone. She thinks she’s won. Yes, if you sign these papers, you’re going to have to pay her an enormous amount of money, but she’s gone. If she spends it all in year, she’ll still be gone.”

“Where do I sign?” I asked, motioning for the papers.

I scribbled my signature on them without hesitation. Then I called my bank manager to arrange for the transfer of the funds. I’d been waiting for this day for years, but now that it was here, it felt surreal. Even so, it was done. I shook Janice’s hand and left their offices, struck by how quickly it had all happened. I’d had haircuts that took longer.

As I walked back into the penthouse after, I felt strangely hollow. Victorious and happy, sure, but it was like there was something missing in my soul. The part of me that would allow me to really feel that happiness. It echoed through me and even through my house, making the place feel much too quiet and empty, but the wrong kind of quiet.

Not the quiet of nature and being in the mountains, but the kind of quiet that was devoid of life. This was the first time since we’d been home that I’d been here completely by myself, but it was also the first time I didn’t have the worry of the custody suit hanging over my head.

Now that it was all said and done, I guessed I just needed some time to accept it. I’d known all along I was going to have to come back to reality sooner or later, but now that I was here, the problem was that I was struggling to think of this as my reality.

I couldn’t get Birdie out of my head. Day and night, she was there, and it felt like she was my reality. Being with her. Talking to her. Even sleeping with her by my side.

Without her, none of this felt real. I’d been suppressing it to a great extent, thinking about her constantly but not really able to let myself feel the pain of leaving her behind because I’d had to focus on my daughter, but now?

Sighing, I headed for my home office and tried to get some work done, but by the time Laurene returned from her playdate, I still hadn’t accomplished very much.

She ran into my office, her eyes wide and bright with fear. “What happened? Am I staying?”

I walked around my desk and smiled as I wrapped my arms around her. “You’re staying, honey. I officially have sole custody.”

She stiffened against me, and then it was like a wall broke and she started sobbing, hanging onto me for all she was worth as she cried into my shirt. Scooping her up, I carried her to the couch in the corner and sat down, just holding her until the sobs subsided.

Worry thrummed through me, panic that maybe she’d realized this wasn’t what she’d wanted after all, but when she finally lifted her head to look at me, it wasn’t the words I was dreading that came out of her mouth.