Page 5

Cash sighed heavily, sitting on the corner of his desk. “Nothing will ever be fine, Edu. But you put this shit in the past and move on. It’s a simple signature, and then the lawyer takes care of it.”

He held the envelope out to me, and when I didn’t take it, he shoved it at me. “Go home. Sit with your kids and your wife. Remind yourself that you have everything you ever wanted.”

I took the envelope, but I highly doubted signing this damn paper would wipe away the memory of my father or all the pain he’d caused. But if it would get me out of this damn office, I’d pretend I would do whatever the hell he wanted.

“Thanks, Cash.”

I was attacked by kids the moment I stepped through the door. Gracie clung to my leg, begging for me to pick her up, and James crawled over, still not walking on his own.

“Harper!” I snapped, not in the mood to deal with any of this right now. “Harper!”

She came rushing around the corner, a bright smile on her face like always.

Little bells jingled from reindeer antlers on her head, and that bright red-and-green striped apron around her waist should have brought a smile to my face, but instead, it just pissed me off.

Christmas music blared in the background, filling the whole damn house with holiday cheer. Except for me, because I fucking hated the holiday.

“Do we really have to listen to this crap?”

“Daddy!” Gracie glared at me, her chubby cheeks puffed up in anger as she thrust her hands on her hips. “Santa will put you on the naughty list!”

“Ooh, the naughty list,” Harper chuckled. “I like the sound of that.”

She wrapped her arms around me, trailing her lips over my neck. I wasn’t turned on. I didn’t want to take her upstairs and fuck her. I just wanted this Christmas cheer as far away from me as possible. Prying her arms from around my waist, I extricated myself from the tangle of arms and legs pulling at me.

“Can we turn this crap off?”

I stormed away from them all and tossed the envelope from Cash in the garbage.

“Eden!” Harper called my sister.

She was nearly ten now, and getting every bit of attitude you’d expect from a preteen. But she was still sweet as hell with Harper. After all, Harper was the saint who took her place when our father tried to kidnap her.

“Yeah?”

“Can you take the kids upstairs?”

Eden glanced at me, then sighed as if she could tell my bad mood had something to do with our mutual father. “Yeah.”

“Thanks, sweetie.”

I knew what was coming, so I grabbed a glass and poured myself a few fingers of scotch. I tried to stay away from the hard stuff after my run-in with alcohol when I found out Harper was pregnant. It had put me in a bad place, but since then, I’d had more control over my drinking.

But right now…

“Is everything okay?”

“You mean other than the fact that everything is like a fucking Christmas explosion?”

“Edu, your sister and Gracie love this stuff. You only get to be a kid for so long. I want to make this time special for them. Christmas is magical and makes you feel like anything is possible. Don’t you want that for them?”

I snorted in amusement at her assessment of the holiday. “Magical, huh?”

“Edu, you promised,” she sighed, wrapping her arms around my waist, pulling me closer. “You said you would try.”

“And I will, but why does it have to go on for months? You’ve been listening to Christmas music since October!”

“Because I love Christmas. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”