That One Time by Aja Foxx

Chapter Thirteen

~ Henry ~

 

Oh man, this was not going to end well.

I dropped down to one knee and drew my daughter into my arms. Using a much calmer voice than I was actually feeling, I asked, "Which finger, moppet?"

Eva held up one of her fingers. I looked it over, but couldn't see any blood or bruising, so I kissed the tip and then smiled at her. "Better?"

She nodded before resting her head on my shoulder. I could still see her looking at Frank through her lowered lashes. Eva was shy around strangers, but once she warmed up to someone, they got to see what a true ray of sunshine she really was.

I never wanted Frank to discover that.

I pressed a kiss to Eva's forehead before giving her a little push toward the hallway. "Go back and play with Arty so Daddy can finish his conversation."

Eva was a good child. She immediately ran off alike I told her to, even if she did give Frank a long look as she hurried past him. I waited until she disappeared from sight before opening the door. "You need to leave, Frank."

Frank was still looking down the hallway when he asked, "Is that your kid?"

"You know she is. You heard her call me daddy."

He glanced at me. "Where's her mother?"

"She doesn't have a mother."

Frank stared at me for a moment, his brow furrowed as if he was trying to put a puzzle together. "You're an omega?"

"You know I am." I'd never hidden that fact from him.

"Actually, no, I didn't."

My eyes widened. "You didn't know I was an omega?"

"No."

"How could you not know?" I asked. It was pretty obvious that I was an omega. I thought for sure he knew.

"We never discussed it."

"We talked about having kids."

"We talked about adopting or using a surrogate. We never talked about you carrying our kid."

Huh.

"I honestly thought you knew."

Frank shook his head. "So, if you carried her, who is her other father? Ryan?"

This was it. This was where I could end things between us once for all. It would just take a simple nod of my head. I wouldn't even have to say the word.

I couldn't do it. Not about something this important.

"No," I whispered. "I've never slept with Ryan."

Frank's eyes dropped to the ring on my finger. "So, you're not married to Ryan?"

I shook my head. "No, we're roommates. We were carrying at the same time so it made sense to pool our resources and help support each other. After I finished my degrees, it just made sense to continue living together. Ryan could watch the kids while I went to work."

"So, who's the father then?"

My spine stiffened. "I am."

"No, I mean, who is the other father, the sperm donor?"

Sperm donor. That was a good word for it.

I wrapped my arms around myself when I started to go cold. "It doesn't matter. He's not in the picture."

"Henry—"

I dropped my head into my hand and rubbed at my temples. "Please, Frank. I don't want to do this with you."

"Am I her father?"

How to answer that?

"Technically, you're her sperm donor. You are not her father." It took more than blood to make a father. It took time, commitment, love, understanding, and a willingness to be there day in and out.

"Fuck, Henry!" Frank brushed his hand over the top of his head, ruffling the ends so they stood up at odd angles. "Why didn't you tell me?"

My anger was instant and enraged. "I tried to tell you," I snapped. "I tried to email you, to call you, to message you. I even tried to go see you, and that ended with me, and your unborn child, being put behind bars for ten days."

Frank inhaled sharply. "You were pregnant when you went to jail?"

"Well, unless we slept together after that and I didn't know about it, then yes, I was."

"Fuck!"

"Stop swearing," I said. "Little ears pick up everything."

Frank's eyes darted toward the hallway. "I want to meet her."

My answer was immediate and as cold as steel. "No."

Frank swung back to look at me. "I'm her father."

"I'm her father," I countered. "You are her sperm donor." I'd already said that, but he was not her father. He was a biological part of her and that was it.

"I have a right to see her."

"You don't have any rights as far as I am concerned."

"I'll take you to court if I have to."

Those were the words I never wanted to hear, but I had expected them. "On what grounds?"

"You just told me I'm her father."

"Your name is not on her birth certificate so it's your word against mine."

"If I take this before a judge—"

"Then what? You've already said you have the proof that I was fucking around with Ryan. I have no doubt he'd swear in a court of law that he's Eva's father. There is no way you can prove a thing."

"I can get a DNA test."

"Unless I agree to it, you can only get a DNA test with a court order and you have to have a good reason to get one." I took a threatening step toward Frank, clenching my fist. "I will fight you with every breath in my body. You will not take my daughter from me."

Frank's voice softened when he spoke. "I don't want to take her from you, Henry. I just want to meet her."

"I don't believe you."

Frank's shoulders slumped.

I pressed my lips together to keep from saying something to comfort him. I was angry at Frank, enraged by what he believed, but I knew down deep in my heart that I still cared about him.

"Don't you want her to have a good life, Henry?"

"She has a good life."

"But I can help with that. I can give her a college education, a chance to see the world, whatever she needs."

"I can provide for my daughter. I've been doing it without you or the Galeazzi money since before she was born."

Frank's eyes were red rimmed and a little glossy. "Is that why you returned everything?"

"I wanted nothing from you." I snorted. It was a very rude sound, and I realized that. I just didn't care. "You Galeazzis are all so concerned about your money that you assume everyone is after it. Well, guess what? I wasn't. I never wanted any of it. I just wanted you."

I had to draw in a sharp breath and stiffen my spine when a tear trickled down Frank's cheek. He had nearly destroyed me, and he was threatening to do it again. I owed him nothing, especially not my concern.

"Do you know that the day I found out I was pregnant, I was so excited to get home and tell you? I was met at the gate to the family estate by your father. He had my bags packed and a check for five thousand dollars waiting for me and along with a message from you that you never wanted to see me again. When I refused to leave, he called the cops on me." I sucked in a painful breath. "That's the memory I have of the day I found out I carried your child."

A mire of emotions flashed through Frank's brown eyes before he glanced away and whispered, "I'm sorry, Henry."

The fight went out of me. "So am I."

He stared at me for a moment and then simply walked past me and out the front door. I held it together until I heard a car start up and peel away, and then I dropped to my knees and started silently crying.

At some point, I felt Ryan's arms come around me. I had no idea where the kids were, but I prayed they were not in the room. They did not need to see me lose it like this.

"It's going to be okay, Henry."

I seriously doubted that.

"He wants to meet her." That would be simple enough, but I knew once Frank met his daughter, he would want to be a part of her life. He wouldn't want her raised across the country for him to only have visitation rights. He'd want her with him.

I did and I'd fight to keep her.

"I don't know what I'll do if he tries to take her from me. I can't fight that. I don't have that kind of money."

"We could move again."

I shook my head. That wouldn't work either. "Now that he knows about Eva, he wouldn't stop looking for us until he found us."

"He really thinks we slept together?"

I sniffled and wiped at my runny nose as I lifted my head to look at Ryan. "You were listening?"

Ryan snorted as he settled back to lean against the wall. "Of course I was listening."

I chuckled. Of course he was. "Yeah, he says he has evidence and everything, pictures and texts. Intimate pictures."

Ryan's eyebrows lifted. "Of the two of us?"

"Yep."

"Huh." Ryan blinked madly for a moment. "Were we having a good time?"

"I don't know. Frank never showed me the pictures."

"He just accused us of having slept together?" Ryan asked. "He didn't give you a chance to defend yourself?"

"Looks that way."

Ryan snorted as he rolled his eyes. "What an idiot."

"What kills me is that if he had come and talked to me, none of this would have happened. We'd be married by now and raising our daughter together."

"You don't know that, Henry. If he's willing to believe whatever evidence he thinks he has, there's no telling what else he'd believe."

I sighed. "No, you're right. I don't see a way out of this without someone getting hurt."

"Someone has already been hurt. You."

Yeah, but in the big scheme of things, I didn't matter. My daughter did.

"Do you think I should let him see Eva?" I asked.

"Do you think he'll try to take her from you?"

"I honestly don't know."

"I think that Eva deserves to know both her parents, assuming they are both good people at heart and despite everything, you've always maintained that Frank is a good man."

"He is."

I think.

"Then, if you can get him to agree not to try and take her away from you, you give them the chance to get to know each other. They deserve that. You just have to get Frank to understand that you're the one in charge and what you say goes."

Oh, yeah, that should be easy.

Not.

"Can you watch Eva for the evening? I think Frank and I need to talk."

Ryan nodded. "Of course, but are you sure you don't want me to come with you?"

"No, this is something I need to do on my own." There were things I needed to talk to Frank about without anyone else around. Ryan was my biggest supporter. He was also my biggest defender. If Frank said the wrong thing, Ryan would go for his throat.

"You might want to clean up a bit before you go." Ryan waved his hand up and down, gesturing to my body. "You're a little wrecked right now."

I grimaced as I glanced down. "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea."

"And then you have to find him."

Damn.

I hadn't thought of that.

It didn't take me more than a few minutes to clean myself up and change into some clean clothes. It took me another two hours to find which hotel Frank was staying in, and two more after that to get up the nerve to go see him.

Frank had left and I could just let things go as they were, but I couldn't. That drive that had been inside of me all those years ago was still there. No matter what issues Frank and I had, I still felt he had a right to meet and get to know his daughter. And Eva had a right to know her father.

I wasn't sure how I felt about the rest of his family.

I walked into Frank's hotel with a clear plan in mind. I was simply going to go upstairs and tell him I would let him have a chance to meet Eva and get to know her, to be a part of her life, but only if he went with me to see a lawyer and signed something that stated he would never try to take her from me.

I almost turned and walked back out before I reached the reception desk. I clenched my hands until my nails dug into my palms and forced myself to approach the pretty young brunette behind the counter. "Francesco Galeazzi's room, please."

She smiled brightly. "Mr. Galeazzi is staying in our presidential suite on the tenth floor."

Of course he was.

"Thank you." I turned and headed for the elevators. There was a bellman standing just inside. "Tenth floor please, the presidential suite."

The young man hit a button on the wall. The doors slid closed and the elevator started moving. Sweat broke out in little pebbles across the back of my neck.

This was a really bad idea.