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“I need to share this with Alice though, Bailey. Plus, I think your daddy would be sad if he didn’t know you were going to be talking about it first.”
Her lower lip quivers. “You certain he won’t want to g-give me away?”
“How about if he does, you call me?” I’ll take care of you.
She nods imperceptibly. Instead of forcing the issue or upsetting Bailey’s precarious trust, I hold on to her while I try to resume our normal activities. Screw PT. Mending Bailey’s heart is much more important today, I think furiously. Tugging out the third of the three pillows and laying them out on the couch, I explain why I got three. “Since I didn’t know what kind of pillow he likes, I got a soft, a medium, and a firm.” Before she can ask me any questions, I push to my feet, lifting her back into her chair. “Bailey, I need to make a quick phone call before someone gets here. Why don’t you feel how squishy they are and tell me which one you like best?”
“Okay, Laura!” she agrees, some of her natural joy returning now that I’ve let the subject drop.
I stride into the attached sunroom, close the door so I won’t be overheard, but also to keep an eye on her, before I dial a number I know by heart. I leave a message with Alice’s PA for her to call me back as soon as possible. Then I dial a second number—one he made me memorize immediately after I learned my home telephone number. The second ring doesn’t even process before my father picks up. “Everything okay, Laura?”
“Hey, Daddy.” My voice sounds broken even to my own ears.
“What’s wrong?”
“I need you to answer something without thinking and without details.”
“You know I can’t agree to that unless I hear the question,” he scolds me gently, his breathing coming easier knowing I’m not about to tell him my stalker has escalated.
“Fine. Does Liam Payne love his daughter?”
“As much as I love you.”
Warmth steals through me at those words. “That’s all I needed to know.”
“You do plan on discussing the reason behind that with the individual himself later?” His hard tone brooks no argument.
I spy Bailey as she hugs one pillow after another to her chest. “Yes, Dad. It was just something she said that hit me the wrong way.” A very wrong way.
“I suspect I have an idea of what that might be about. Have that conversation. Sooner rather than later.”
I pause before I read between my father’s ambiguousness. “Liam’s right there, isn’t he?”
“You’re so smart; it would be scary if it wasn’t used for good.”
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“I loved you first.”
“I know. I’ve always known that. I was just reminded—again—how blessed I was growing up knowing that all of us knew love.”
Before he can say anything else, I hear the peal of a doorbell. “Let me let you go.”
I dash my fingers beneath my eyes and call to Bailey that I’ll get the door. On the way to open the door for my Aunt Emily, I think about my family’s past. Because of their sacrifices, I grew up with love. I was surrounded by family. I knew there wasn’t anything we wouldn’t do for one another.
It wasn’t just them who was cursed, apparently.
After peeking through the peephole, I open the door and find my arms filled with a beautiful woman with corkscrew blond curls.
Even as I’m being squeezed to death, I call out, “Bailey, my Aunt Em is here.”
Bailey wheels up to us to find the ever-stylish Em next to me. She beams. “You’re going to help me make a pillow for my daddy?”
“Right after you tell us what colors the pillows should be,” I confirm.