Sitting at the dining room table, I’d never been so disappointed in my family. This dinner seemed more like a nightmare than reality. I’d wanted to follow Thea and Charlie out the door, but there were things to be dealt with here first.
Sofia had finally calmed down after her outburst. She was sitting back in her chair, sniffling like a toddler in timeout. Aubrey was fuming in her seat, throwing glares at Dad. Clearly, things at Kendrick Enterprises were not going as smoothly as I’d thought given Aubrey’s overreaction. I’d have to discuss it with her later, but for now, I needed to right things for Thea and Charlie.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked the room. “How could you treat them that way? That is my child and the woman I’m going to marry.”
“Marry?” Mom asked. “You can’t be serious. You hardly know her, Logan. She’s—”
“She’s what?” I cut her off. “Kind. Talented. Loving. Beautiful. Are those not desirable traits these days?”
“That’s not what I meant.” Mom sighed. “She’s . . . she’s come out of nowhere. How can we be sure she isn’t trying to manipulate you?”
Granny scoffed. “Please, Lillian. Thea isn’t trying to manipulate anyone. You’re just being paranoid.”
“I’m just looking out for my son,” Mom told her. “And I have a right to be paranoid. Let’s be honest here. My children don’t have the best taste in romantic partners.”
We all looked at Sofia, who sank deeper into her seat.
“This entire thing is suspicious,” Mom said. “You went to Montana for a business meeting and found a long-lost child. Then she refused to give you a paternity test—”
“No, I refused.”
“Because she’s convinced you that the girl is yours. You’ve obviously fallen in love with them both, but Logan, that’s the problem. Love has made you blind. How do we know that this all isn’t a trap if she won’t give you proof that Charlotte is your child?”
“Charlie.” I fisted my hands on the table, trying to keep my cool. “Her name is Charlie. And she is, without a doubt, my child. I won’t hear another thing about it. Understand? Do not mention the words ‘paternity test’ to me ever again.”
“But—”
“Logan,” Dad stopped Mom’s rebuttal, “your mother has a point.”
“Does she?” I clipped. “Because to me, it seems like Thea and Charlie had to pay the price tonight for Sofia’s poor choice in husbands.”
“We’re just—”
“Looking out for me?” I finished Dad’s sentence. “I don’t need you to look out for me. What I do need is for you to be supportive of the choices I make, right or wrong. I need you to embrace my daughter and welcome her into this family, because whether or not you want to accept it, she is a part of this family. Thea will be too.”
I stood from the table. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I need to go find my daughter. She deserves an explanation for dinner, though I’m not quite sure how to explain to a six-year-old that her grandparents don’t like her because they think her mother’s a gold digger.”
“Logan, I . . .” Mom’s shoulders drooped.
Her actions stemmed from love. I knew that. But it didn’t change the fact that she’d crossed the line tonight.
“Charlie’s not a pawn in some manipulative game, Mom. She’s a little girl. My little girl. And she’s your granddaughter. Maybe tomorrow you could try not to be so cold and indifferent?”
Her face paled as she nodded.
“Good night.” I tossed my napkin on my unfinished meal, then I turned for the door and marched down the hall. I only made it a few feet before Dad called my name.
“Logan, we need to talk.”
“Not tonight.”
“Just give me five minutes before you run off. Please.”
I sighed and turned, following him down a few doors to his office. As much as I wanted to get the hell out of this house, I needed to get this over with and hear whatever he had to say.
We entered the office and Dad went straight for his mahogany desk. This was the one room in the house that Mom wasn’t allowed to redecorate every few years, so it was the same as it had been when I was a kid.
There were dark bookshelves on every wall. A liquor cart sat in the corner. His desk rested on a Persian rug in the middle of the room. A leather couch faced a gas fireplace. The smell of his last Cuban cigar lingered in the air. Every time I walked into his office, it brought back memories of me doing my homework on the couch while he worked every evening.
Dad had always worked, and until tonight, I hadn’t thought anything of it. As kids, if we’d wanted to spend time with him, it was in this room.
Was that how Charlie had felt this last week? I’d brought her and Thea here for a vacation but had basically abandoned them in favor of work. Did they feel like second place to my job?
Shit. Was I becoming my father? I loved the man. I admired him. But he wasn’t the type of dad to coach soccer games, read bedtime stories or play in forts. If I wanted all of that with Charlie, things had to change.
I had to cut back at work.
“I need to check on Thea and Charlie,” I told him.
“This won’t take long.” He slid a file folder to the edge of his desk, then ran a hand through his hair. It was a habit I’d also picked up from him long ago. Granny had always told me that when I did it, I looked just like Dad. “Read that.”
I picked it up, opening it to a large photo of Thea working at the bar. What the hell? “Where did you get this?”
“I hired an investigator to look into Thea.”
“You’re kidding me.” The corner of the cover’s folder crumpled in my fist. “Why? Isn’t it enough that I trust her?”
“Logan, be reasonable. Your mother wasn’t entirely wrong earlier. You don’t know this woman.”
“But you do?” I held up the file. “I’m not looking at this.” I tossed the folder on the desk. I trusted Thea to tell me about her past when she was ready.
“Then I’ll tell you what it says.” I turned to leave, but his words stopped me. “She was dumped as a newborn. Did you know that? She was found in a Dumpster in Harlem, strung out on heroin. According to the notes in her hospital records, she went weeks without a name because they didn’t think she was going to live. I guess one of the nurses finally named her.”
My dinner almost came up, but I swallowed it down and let Dad continue. I should walk away. I should leave this for Thea to explain. But I couldn’t move my feet.
“She grew up in an orphanage in Brooklyn. From what the investigator could tell, that place should never have been left open. But it looks like the director had some sort of connection with the city to keep her funding. From what he could dig up, he thinks most of the money she got went into her own pocket.”
Dad came around the desk, swiping up the folder as he approached. He rifled through it and held out a picture.
I took it from his hands, finding Thea immediately in a group of ten young children. She was the smallest, probably close to Charlie’s age, and standing on the concrete steps of an old brick building. Her pants were three inches too short. Her shirt was too small. And damn she was thin. So thin it made me want to scream.
A large woman, the director most likely, was standing off to the side. Her smile was wide while the kids were all forcing it.
Thea had learned that fake smile much too young.
“The director kept about ten kids on average in that orphanage. I’m guessing that was done strategically. Enough kids to keep the place open, not so many to take away from her own profits. She let some turnover happen, just so she could say she was trying to get kids adopted. Not too much though. The investigator found out that three different families tried to adopt Thea when she was a baby. Each time their applications were denied.”
The temptation was too much and I yanked the file from Dad’s hands. He stood by watching as I thumbed through grainy pictures, school records and notes from the investigator.
As the pictures progressed, there were fewer and fewer children in them. Except for Thea’s face, consistent in them all. “Was she by herself?”
Dad nodded. “We’re not sure, but I suspect the director made some sort of arrangement to keep the orphanage open until all the kids turned eighteen. They probably didn’t want to uproot the kids who’d lived there all their lives. Thea was the youngest, so it closed down after she graduated. She lived there alone for about a year.”
I stared at the last picture in front of the orphanage. Only Thea, the director and Hazel were pictured on the steps. “Was Hazel in on it?”
“The cook? No.”
My shoulders sagged. I wouldn’t have been able to tell Thea if Hazel had betrayed her. I wouldn’t have had the guts to take Charlie’s gran away from her.
“You’re sure?”
He nodded. “We suspect she was the one to file a few of the anonymous complaints about the director.”
Anonymous. Hazel had probably been too nervous about losing her job and access to the kids to file with her name on them.
“When the complaints didn’t go anywhere, she started using her personal funds to supplement the food budget. Hazel’s parents wired her money for years. The money stopped the day Thea turned eighteen and left the orphanage.”
I went back to the file, thumbing through the rest. There wasn’t much. Just a picture of a seedy apartment complex where Thea had moved after the orphanage. Another of the outside of the hotel where we’d met. All landmarks that gave me a glimpse into the life she’d led before.
She was too good for it all.
I handed Dad back the file before I could rip it in half. “You had your investigator go deep.”
“He always does. Hell, I doubt Thea even knows some of the things in his report. She’s probably never seen her hospital records.”
She probably didn’t know how close she’d been to death. Hazel had been right the first day I’d met her. Thea had been fighting her whole life.
“What do you want me to do with all this, Dad? It doesn’t change anything.” I looked him in the eye. “I love her.”
“I know.” He nodded. “I admire Thea for making something of her life. Over half the other kids in this picture are strung out on drugs, in jail or dead. But before you decide to marry her, ask yourself if that’s right for her. It seems to me she worked hard to get away from her old life. Will she be happy coming back here for yours?”
“She could be.” I could make her happy here.
“Maybe. But if not, what then? You two get divorced and she takes Charlie back to Montana. Where does that leave you?”
In the same place I was now—two thousand miles away from my daughter. “I could leave New York.”
It wasn’t the first time the idea had crossed my mind, but it was the first time I’d said it out loud. The words tasted bitter and my stomach churned.
“Not an option,” Dad declared. “You can’t abandon your responsibilities to this family. Before too long, I’m handing everything over to you and Aubrey.”
I’d always known his position at the head of the Kendrick family would one day be mine. And though Aubrey might run the business side of things, we all knew I was the one who’d fill Dad’s shoes as leader.
I’d be the one to solve problems or family disputes. I’d oversee the foundation. I’d ensure all of the Kendricks got their fair share. Aubrey would manage the business. I’d get everything else.
Dad was right. Leaving New York wasn’t an option. I couldn’t just quit my job at the firm; partners were owners too. Plus, I couldn’t shirk my responsibilities with the family.
“Is this all? I need to get back to Thea and Charlie.” The urge to convince Thea to move was stronger than ever. When Dad nodded, I started for the door.
“Oh, and Logan?” he called, causing me to pause and glance back. “I’m sorry about tonight. Your mother and I will do better tomorrow.”
“I’d appreciate that.” I turned again but stopped as Sofia hurried into the office.
“Logan?” Her eyes were puffy from crying. Her shoulders were hunched forward and her eyes downtrodden. It was the innocent, “poor me” look she’d perfected by thirteen. “Did you really mean it when you said you’d take away my money?”
No. But I was still pissed she’d brought Alice up here just to cause drama, so I wasn’t going to tell her that tonight. “You went too far.”
She sniffled. “I’m sorry.”
“Are you? You and your friend condemned Thea because of her profession. Ironic, considering you’ve never had one. Maybe if you actually had to get a job, you’d appreciate the money you were born into.”
Something I’d make sure Charlie knew was a privilege, not a right. My daughter would value the trust fund I’d set up for her weeks ago. Though, I doubted I’d be the one to teach her that lesson. Thea would do a better job than I ever could. After all, she actually knew what it was like to go without.
“You’re serious?” Sofia’s jaw dropped. “You’d really cut me off?”
I shrugged. “I guess that depends on you. Grow up, Sofia.”
With that parting shot, I left her standing with her mouth agape in the office and darted down the hall. I opened the back door to the patio, finally escaping the house, but was stopped short when I spotted Granny sitting on a rocking bench by the pool.
“I figured you’d be long gone by now to escape the drama.”
She smiled and patted the seat next to her. “I’ll be off soon enough.”
Granny lived just down the road in a house slightly smaller than ours. As kids, Aubrey, Sofia and I had spent our time alternating between her pool and our own each summer.
“So, dinner was interesting.”
She laughed. “It always is.”
“I’m not sure what to do here, Granny.”
“What do I always tell you when you’re stuck?”
“To sally forth.”
Except pushing harder didn’t feel right. Not this time. It would be like forcing together two puzzle pieces that had never been meant to fit.
“I can’t lose them. I refuse to lose them.”
There had to be a way to have it all. Somehow, I had to find a way to keep my job and uphold my family responsibilities while having Thea and Charlie by my side.
Granny patted my knee without another word of advice, then stood. “Come and visit me tomorrow. Bring my little Charlie and Thea along too.”
“I will.” I stood too to kiss her cheek and say good night.
After she disappeared inside, I jogged down to the guesthouse. According to the wall clock in the entryway, it was still early, only eight, but all the lights were off except one over the stove in the kitchen. I went straight down the hall toward the bedrooms, hoping Charlie wasn’t already asleep.
I grinned at the light glowing from underneath her door. I reached for the knob but stopped when I heard Charlie and Thea giggling. I leaned in closer, savoring the sound.
“What else should we do when we get home?” Thea asked.
“Let’s go fishing with Uncle Jackson.”
“Oooh. Good idea. It’s my turn to catch the biggest fish.”
Charlie laughed. “Nuh-uh. You caught the biggest one last time. It’s my turn.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” Thea was smiling. I heard it in her voice. “Well, then I guess it can be your turn. What else?”
“Hmmm, I don’t know.”
“How about we do something special with Gran? I bet she’s missed us almost as much as we’ve missed her.”
“Yeah!” Charlie cheered. “We should go to our special waterfall.”
“Definitely. We’ll pack a picnic and make it a whole afternoon. Then we can tell Gran all about our trip.”
Charlie giggled. “I’m going to tell her it always smells like poop.”
Ironic that my daughter would think New York smelled bad when I’d told Nolan the same thing about Montana.
When she stopped laughing, the bed moved and Charlie yawned. “I can’t wait to go home.”
“You and me both, my love,” Thea whispered. “You and me both.”
The pain in my chest was staggering. I backed away from the door, leaning against the wall and sinking down to sit on the carpet. This dread was achingly familiar. It was the same one I’d felt when Emmeline had decided to move, except this time, it was a hundred times worse.
The woman I loved—the love of my life—was leaving me for Montana. She was taking my daughter with her, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.
All along, I’d believed that we could make this work. I’d believed that I could convince them to move. But as I listened to Thea and Charlie talk about going home, my beliefs slipped into the night.
Because I knew, deep down, the right thing to do was to let them go where they would be happiest.
