“There really isn’t a lot to tell,” she began, wondering if Millie ever regretted her decision to give away her baby girl. “Shortly after I was born, she showed up and told my father that I was the product of their one-night stand and she was going to put me up for adoption if he didn’t want to claim me.”
“I’m sorry, sweetheart.” Luke’s arms tightened around her. “But if she didn’t intend to keep you, why did she go through with the pregnancy?”
Haley had asked herself that a thousand times over the years and never came up with any answers. “I don’t really know. I’ve often wondered if she thought she’d make it on her own with a baby, then decided it was too difficult once I was born. Or maybe she gave me up because she wanted me to have all the opportunities she couldn’t give me.”
His strong hands massaged the tension in her lower back. “I’m sure it was something like that.”
She sighed. “But if that had been the case, you’d think she would have stayed in touch with my father to see how I was doing throughout the years.”
“Have you tried to get in touch with her?” he asked, quietly.
“I’ve thought about it, but I don’t even know where she went after she left me with Dad. Besides, what would I say? Oh, by the way, I’m the little girl you abandoned all those years ago.” She shook her head. “If she’d wanted anything to do with me, I’m sure she’d have contacted me by now. After all, it’s not like she didn’t know who she left me with.”
They fell silent before Luke asked “So it was just you and your dad all these years?”
“More like just me.” She tried not to think of how lonely she’d felt growing up. “Dad was married to his work—always at the office or on a business trip—and even when he was at home, he never seemed to know what to do with me or how to relate to me. He left my care to our housekeeper, Mrs. Arnold.”
“In other words, she raised you.”
“Yes.” Her chest tightened. “And now that I’m older, it’s too late. My father passed away while I was in college and we’ll never be able to have a relationship.”
“Is that why it’s so important for you to be a mother to the baby we’re going to have?” Luke coaxed, his tone so gentle and caring that she couldn’t stop a tear from slipping down her cheek.
“Yes.” Suddenly feeling as if every ounce of her energy had been drained away, she laid her head on Luke’s shoulder and snuggled into his embrace. “I don’t ever want my child to go through the uncertainty of not feeling loved…and wanted,” she revealed haltingly as sleep began to overtake her. “I intend for my baby to feel secure in the knowledge that she’s the most…important person in my life.”
Long after Luke heard Haley’s breathing become shallow, indicating she’d drifted off to sleep, he sat holding her securely against him. He understood now more than ever why she’d been adamant about what it would take for her to have his son and why she’d insisted on joint custody. She wanted to protect his heir from the same type of loveless existence she’d been forced to grow up in.
Cradling her to him like a small child, he rose from the chair and carried her into his bedroom. He and his siblings had been lucky compared to Haley. They might not have had a father, but they’d had each other and they’d certainly known their mother. From the moment they were born until the day she died, Francesca Garnier had devoted herself to her children and left them with no doubt about how much they meant to her.
But Haley hadn’t had that kind of childhood. She’d had no one to love her the way a child needed to be loved.
As he placed her on the bed, then stretched out beside her, Luke gathered her close. Emotions he wasn’t at all comfortable with and certainly wasn’t about to acknowledge filled his chest almost to the point of bursting.
But he stubbornly willed them away. He’d seen firsthand the emotional pain his mother suffered when his father rejected her love and there wasn’t a chance in hell that he’d ever open himself up to that level of devastation.
Haley was a warm, compassionate woman who had a lot of love to give and deserved a man with the capacity to love and cherish her just as much in return. Unfortunately, he just wasn’t the right man for the job.
“Mr. Lucien Garnier, please hold for a call from Mrs. Emerald Larson.”
Luke rolled his eyes at the sound of the stiff, formal voice of Emerald’s personal assistant, Luther Freemont.
“Lucien, I’m so glad I caught you before you left the office for the day,” Emerald said, coming on the line. “Did the transition from our management to yours go as smoothly as anticipated?”
“There were a couple of minor issues with the labor force, but nothing I couldn’t straighten out,” he responded, wondering why the old girl was fishing for answers from him, when they both knew she still had her share of loyal contacts in the Laurel offices.
“Excellent. I’m happy to hear things are moving along on that front.”
“But you aren’t calling to find out how I’ve done with Laurel Enterprises, are you?” Luke asked, running out of patience.
“No, I’m not.”
“Why are you calling, Mrs. Larson?” he demanded.
“Considering our relationship, don’t you think calling me ‘Mrs. Larson’ is bit formal, Lucien?”
“I’ve only known about you for a few weeks. Surely you don’t expect me to call you Grandmother,” he declared. “I told you when we first met that building a relationship at this stage of the game would be next to impossible.”
“And I completely understand,” she agreed, sounding as if she really meant it. “If you’d like, why don’t you call me Emerald, dear.”
“All right, Emerald. And for the record, most people call me Luke.”
“I prefer calling you by your given name.”
“You’ll do whatever pleases you anyway,” he retorted, using his hand to rub the tension building at the base of his neck.
She laughed. “Of course, I will.”
“Now that we have that settled, to what do I owe the pleasure of this call, Emerald?” he asked, wishing he’d ducked out of the office ten minutes earlier. If he had, he wouldn’t be having this chitchat with her.
“I’m going to be in Nashville this weekend and I would very much like for you to attend a reception being held in my honor.” She paused. “Your three other brothers will be in attendance and this would be an excellent opportunity for you, Jake and Arielle to meet them.”