His Daughter, My Heart

Audrey pulled the sheet tighter.

"You can't mean that."

Julian's face offered no relief.

"I've been her father since she was born."

"I know. That doesn't mean you can keep her to stop me leaving."

"Is that what you think I'm doing?"

"Tell me what else to think."

He got out of bed and picked up the divorce papers. For an instant, she thought he might tear them. Instead, he aligned the pages and placed them on the nightstand.

It was somehow worse.

"We'll discuss it in the morning," he said.

Audrey didn't sleep again.

Three years earlier, her father's company had collapsed beneath allegations she barely understood. Her mother had died before the case was resolved. Her father had gone to prison. Ryan, the engineer she had loved against her parents' wishes, had disappeared before she could tell him about the pregnancy.

Julian had found her when she had nothing left but a child she hadn't met yet.

He needed a marriage, he said, to end the hopes of his foster sister. She needed shelter. Three years would satisfy them both.

She had believed the terms were the dangerous part.

She hadn't considered how dangerous it might become to want more.

In the morning, Poppy was sitting in her little bed with Julian beside her.

"Mommy says we're moving," she told him. "Are you coming?"

Audrey stopped in the doorway.

Julian looked up. There was no triumph in his expression, but there was no surrender either.

She sat beside Poppy and explained as gently as she could that Daddy would stay in this house and they would still see him.

Poppy's lower lip trembled.

"But we live together."

"I know, sweetheart."

"Then why can't we keep doing that?"

Audrey had answers for lawyers. None that belonged in a three-year-old's bedroom.

"Sometimes grown-ups need to work things out."

"Did Daddy do something bad?"

"No," Audrey said too quickly.

Poppy turned and clung to his arm.

"Then don't make us go. That's mean, Mommy."

The words found the softest place in her.

Julian lifted Poppy's chin.

"Don't speak to Mommy that way."

"But—"

"You can be upset. You can't call her mean because she's upset, too."

He kissed the child's forehead and handed her to Mrs. Webb, who had come to help her dress.

When they were alone, Audrey stood facing him.

"You knew she would say that."

"I knew she'd miss me."

"You have an entire life. A company. A family. I have her."

His eyes narrowed.

"You have me."

She let out a disbelieving breath.

"For what? Another agreement?"

"If you need an agreement, we can extend it."

"How generous."

"I didn't mean—"

"What did you mean? That I can keep sleeping in your bed for another three years if I behave?"

He said nothing quickly enough to save himself.

She picked up Poppy's soft rabbit and threw it at his chest.

"You're impossible."

Julian caught it. Something almost like a smile touched his mouth, which made her even angrier.

"Don't smile at me."

"I'm not laughing at you."

"Then find a different face."

This time, the smile did appear. Brief, unwilling, astonishingly handsome.

She hated noticing that while she was trying to hate him.

Her phone rang. Elise was asking when she would reach the studio; an important client had arrived.

Audrey took a breath and answered in her professional voice.

"Ten minutes. Start the coffee."

When she ended the call, Julian put the rabbit back on the bed.

"Three days," he said.

"To decide?"

"To stop fighting long enough to understand each other."

"You could start by saying what you actually want."

He came closer.

"I want you here."

It should have been enough. It wasn't.

"Because of Poppy?"

His gaze held hers.

"You have a client waiting."

Audrey looked away first.

At the studio, she smoothed her blouse, checked the proposal Elise had prepared, and opened the meeting-room door.

Ryan Cole rose from the sofa.

"Audrey."

She stopped so abruptly Elise nearly walked into her.

He was older, better dressed, less openly pleased with himself than she remembered. Once, she had loved the way he looked at her. Now it made her want the door behind her open.

"You're the client?"

"I wanted to see you."

"Then you should have said so instead of wasting my staff's time."

Elise glanced between them. Audrey asked her to stay within earshot.

Ryan noticed.

"You don't trust me?"

"Would you?"

He started explaining the disappearance. There had been pressure, danger, a terrible accident. He had always intended to come back.

Audrey raised her left hand.

"I'm married."

"To Mercer. I know."

"Then you know this isn't a reunion."

He looked at her ring as though it was a personal insult.

"Does he love you?"

The question hurt. She refused to let him see it.

"My marriage isn't something you get to inspect."

"You didn't answer."

"You didn't ask anything you deserve to know."

Ryan reached for her hand. She withdrew it before he touched her.

"He was the reason I left," he said.

Audrey's pulse stumbled.

"Julian?"

"He threatened me. Told me to leave you alone. Then I had the accident."

"Did you report that?"

"I had no proof."

"Then don't bring me an accusation dressed as an explanation."

She opened the door and called Elise.

Ryan rose, anger finally coming through his injured expression.

"You think he's better than me?"

Audrey looked at the man who had left her searching empty rooms while she carried a secret he never asked to hear.

"He was there. You weren't."

She canceled the order and made herself return to work.

Julian called at lunchtime.

"Did he touch you?"

She stared at her phone.

"That's your first question?"

"Answer it."

"No."

His silence changed. She could almost feel the breath he let out.

"I told him not to come back," she said.

"Good."

"I didn't do it for your approval."

"I know."

He sounded almost pleased by the irritation in her voice.

"Where's Poppy?"

"Trying to choose between two backpacks. She's informed me that buying only one is a failure of imagination."

Despite herself, Audrey smiled.

Julian heard it.

"There you are," he said softly.

Her smile disappeared. The intimacy of those three words followed her long after the call ended.

That evening, before she could go home, Elise appeared in the doorway with a phone in her hand.

"Someone has posted an accusation about your bracelet design."

Audrey read the name beneath the photograph.

Sophie Hart. Her former classmate. The woman who still had an unfinished sketch Audrey had left with her years ago.

And now claimed it had always been hers.