“What makes you think so?” Adam prompted.
“Because she wants this merger. And her father wants this marriage too,” Jackson told him. “Having King Jets linked to the Cornice family airfields will be good advertising for them and they know it. Our presence will bring in even more business for them.”
“Still not going to make her happy to hear about the baby,” Travis said.
“She’ll have to deal with it,” Jackson declared, unwilling to accept any other outcome. “I’ll simply explain that I just found out I have a daughter.”
Silence greeted him. Then he repeated the most earth-shattering part of that last sentence. “I have adaughter. ”
Travis laughed. “I know just how you feel. Strange, isn’t it?”
Strange, yes, Jackson thought as he mentally repeated the worddaughter. A part of him thrilled to it.
Which shook him some. He hadn’t planned on this happening. If someone had asked him flat out if he’d wanted to be a father, he would have said no instantly. But now, faced with the reality of Mia, he found himself wanting to know her. Wanting her to know him.
There was a kernel of something inside him that was already taking root, blossoming despite the strange situation he found himself in. There was a little girl alive right now because of him. Didn’t that mean that they already had a connection, however slight?
His brothers each looked at him with understanding and he appreciated knowing that he wasn’t alone in this. After all, they’d already proven they could survive fatherhood.
“Seems like the King brothers are going to produce all girls in this generation,” Travis mused.
“Give me a houseful just like Emma and I’ll be happy,” Adam said, then frowned. “Until boys start coming around.”
“We don’t have to worry about that just yet,” Travis said.
Jackson though, paled a little. He’d just discovered his daughter, now he had to worry about her growing up? Dating? Meeting guys likehim?
Being a father just got a lot more complicated.
The following morning, Casey had Mia happily spending time in her walker, bumping around the floor, the plastic wheels making a whirring noise, alerting Casey to her daughter’s whereabouts at all times. Mia’s throaty laughter spilled into the sunshine-filled room and Casey was smiling as she bent over the graphics program on her computer.
Her home business,Papyrus, had really taken off lately. She designed and made exclusive brochures, gift cards, high-end stationery and invitations for every occasion from weddings to birthday parties. She had a small, but select clientele and that list was steadily growing, thanks to word of mouth.
She made her own hours, worked out of her home and had plenty of time to devote to her daughter. The best of all possible worlds. If there was a niggling seed of worry called Jackson King at the back of her mind on this beautiful morning, she made a concerted effort to ignore it.
Talking to Dani the night before had actually reinforced Casey’s belief that she wouldn’t have to be concerned about Jackson. Yes, Dani thought he’d be back, but Casey was sure her friend was wrong about this. Jackson was simply not the kind of man to be interested in a daughter he’d had no choice in creating. Mia did not fit into his lifestyle, for which Casey was grateful.
No doubt, Jackson was already in one of his luxury jets, flying off to Paris, or London….
“What would that be like?” she whispered, leaning back in her desk chair and staring across the room at Mia, busily chewing the ear of her beloved teddy bear. “Imagine that, sweetie, jumping into your own jet and taking off whenever you felt like it. Where would we go?”
Mia babbled, waved her arms and accidentally tossed Teddy to the ground. Before her little mouth had completely turned down to initiate crying, Casey was up and out of her chair. Picking up the lop-eared toy, she knelt down in front of Mia, handed Teddy back to her and leaned in to plant a kiss on her forehead.
“What do you think, sweetie? London? No,” she said as Mia shook her head, laughing. “You’re right. London in springtime, way too rainy. Okay, Paris then! We’ll go to the Louvre and I’ll show you all the beautiful paintings. Would you like that?”
Naturally, Mia didn’t understand the question, but she loved having her mom’s full attention, so she jumped up and down in her seat and babbled excitedly.
“Good! We’ll go on one of those dinner cruises, too, what do you think? We’ll see all the pretty lights of the city and get you some yummy French baby food?”
Mia giggled again and Casey paused just to listen. Was there any more wonderful sound than that deep-from-the-belly laugh her daughter had? Mia’s big brown eyes sparkled, her wisps of dark brown hair flew about her head in a soft halo and her chubby cheeks were rosy.
“What did I ever do without you?” Casey asked, suddenly filled with so much love, she could hardly stand it. Scooping the baby out of her chair, she cuddled her close, burying her face in the curve of Mia’s neck to inhale that soft scent that was so completely Mia.
Pulling back, Casey looked at her little girl and said wistfully, “I should have thanked your daddy. Whether or not he knows it, he gave me the most amazing gift ever.”
The doorbell rang and Casey, carrying Mia, walked out of her cramped, makeshift office, down the short hall and through the small, cluttered living room. Evidence of Mia’s presence in the house was everywhere. From the playpen tucked beneath the front window to the toys on the floor and the neatly folded clean clothes in the laundry basket perched on the love seat.
Casey shifted Mia higher on her hip and automatically leaned in to look through the peephole in the front door.
Jackson.
He looked different than he had the night before. He was wearing blue jeans today and a black T-shirt that molded itself to his broad chest. On the left breast pocket of the shirt, there was a stylized gold crown with the wordsKing Jets beneath it. He looked more approachable today and therefore…more dangerous.
Instantly, Casey’s heartbeat raced and her mouth went dry. What was he doing here? How did he find her?
“How?” she whispered, answering her own foolish question. “You told him your name and where you lived. Of course he found you. Idiot.”
The doorbell rang again and Mia squealed.
“Shh…” Casey winced, and jiggled her daughter, hoping to keep her quiet.
“I can hear the baby,” Jackson called through the door.
The timbre of his voice resonated throughout Casey’s body. She tried to tell herself that the shivers it created was nothing more than nerves. But even she wasn’t buying it. Her body, despite what her mind would have preferred, was reacting to the man exactly as it had the first night they met.