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I’d always had one. But a one-night stand seven years ago had put me on a detour. One night and a couple months later, I’d found myself engaged to a woman I didn’t love. Hell, if I was honest, I had never even liked Cressida.
But the moment she’d delivered and named our twin daughters, my heart had cracked open to the little girls who had my blood running through their veins. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Cressida decided she didn’t want a life of domestic bliss.
Before we spent one night as a family of four under the same roof, she was gone. Six months later, she had signed her parental rights away, handing me sole custody of our daughters. And just like that, I became a single father. My older brother, Cole, had tried to help, but the godsend had been Amy Black, Cressida’s mom.
She couldn’t understand the way her daughter had abandoned her babies, her own grandchildren. Somehow, maybe due to lack of sleep and help, I had allowed her to pitch in throughout the years. She came by once a month on a long weekend, taking the girls, and then two weeks in the summer and a week every December.
Cole had no idea how I managed to stay amicable with the mother of the woman who had abandoned us. But if I was honest, as selfish as Cressida might have been, I believed she saved us from ourselves. Getting married because of the kids would have been a disaster in the making that would have ended terribly.
Now the girls were older. My business was flourishing, and if I had a little more time to focus on work, it would thrive for generations to come. I just had to send the girls to boarding school to be able to open my calendar for travel and whatever came up.
That had always been the plan.
Send them away at the start of the year after they turned seven. Host them during holiday breaks. Make it up to them on fun vacations.
But hiring Aria had tossed a wrench in the plans.
For the last year, having her under my roof had been too much. She’d cracked through my walls and pecked at my cold heart. Her big brown eyes had melted me from the inside out. Within her first month of working for me, I had found myself leaving work early to have dinner with her and the girls.
Like a family.
The thought had me clench my jaw almost painfully. It wasn’t until the front door opened and shut that I stepped back, shutting her bedroom door behind me.
She was gone.
My girls were gone.
I could finally kick my feet up, smoke a cigar, watch sports without anyone asking to change it to some girly show.
I should have been happy.
I should have been relieved.
But I wasn’t.
The penthouse was way too damn quiet as I walked through the place. I paced back and forth. From my bedroom to the kitchen and back to the living room. Every space I walked into felt… lonely.
I couldn’t seem to relax.
I knew the girls were safe with Amy. She was the best grandmother possible to them. Loved River and Lake with all her heart.Like you do, a little voice whispered. I walked to the kitchen.. My love for them had never been in question. I would lay my life at their feet if I needed to. I opened the fridge and blinked at the sight
A sandwich. And a bottle of water right next to it.
On a plate wrapped in cellophane with a little pink bow sat on the top shelf with two little notes sitting next to it. The handwriting had my heart smiling as I reached for it and the papers. I set the sandwich and water bottle on the counter and read the first note.
Dad, Aria thought it would be nice if we left you dinner ready. Make sure to eat and take care of yourself. Don’t work too hard.
Love,
River
A weight added to my shoulders as doubt started to creep in.
Boarding school.Is that the best thing for them?I loved my girls. More than I’d ever thought was possible.
But a plan was a plan…. Wasn’t it?
The last year had opened my eyes to more than River and Lake being responsibilities that had been tossed onto an already jam-packed plate of shit in my life. They were my life. Aria helped me see that with every dinner and breakfast and spur-of-the-moment family movie night she organized for us that I insisted she join us. The four of us had been to the beach, museums, and the zoo together. She’d even talked me into joining their arts and crafts days.
