Page 1 of Mending Fate

One

Alec

When I’d wokenthis morning, I’d felt like everything had changed. Some of it made me uneasy, but in other ways, it was as if a weight had been lifted.

I had told Evanne last night about my dyslexia and explained that the mistakes on her homework had been my fault. It seemed that Lumen had been right when she said that a good portion of the reason Evanne had been upset had been because she hadn’t understood what happened. Telling my daughter the truth hadn’t made me any less in her eyes. In fact, she’d hugged me and told me that she loved me.

I had spent my entire life focused on making money to improve the lives of those I loved. When Evanne was born, she had simply shifted my focus to her being the most important person in my world. Now, I saw that I could have so much more. Not only a relationship with my daughter but also one with a woman I could see myself with for a long time to come.

Perhaps forever.

The fact that I could even thinkforeverjust proved how much I had changed over the last couple months.

Forever could wait, however. Right now, I needed to pick up Evanne from school. I smiled at the thought ofmo chride, with her long dark brown curls and blue eyes.

“Mr. McCrae.” My assistant, Tuesday, appeared in my doorway. “You asked me to remind you about leaving a few minutes early so you wouldn’t get caught in traffic again.”

“Aye, thank you.” I closed my desk drawer.

“You’re a good father, you know.” She smiled warmly before heading back to her desk.

I really hoped she was right because I intended to see a lawyer tomorrow regarding a new custody agreement. After I talked to Evanne last night, I’d sat down with Keli and explained that our short experiment hadn’t worked. She and I would never be the family she wanted us to be.

At least she’d taken it better than I thought she would. No tears or yelling. Just a simple, “If you’re sure that’s how you feel,” before she’d headed to the guest room she’d been using. I supposed she’d be more upset once it sank in that it wasn’t a family, in general, I was rejecting. It was just a family with her.

I’d wait to tell her that I’d invited Lumen to move in with me until after I’d gotten all the legal custody issues out of the way. No need to rock that particular boat.

First, I intended to speak to Evanne about how things would be now that her mom was back in Seattle. That was a conversation best had over pizza. We’d stop for her favorite on our way home. I took a moment in the school parking lot to place my order.

Once that was done, I went inside with a handful of other parents and staff who were here for their children or their charges. Judging by some of the looks I received, questions were still circulating about what had happened to Vice Principal Cornelius Harvey during the meeting two weeks ago, and my name was linked to the incident.

Then again, it might have been something more than that. Who knew how much anyone here knew about Lumen and me seeing each other…or about the way we’d first met.

I frowned as I remembered one of the things Lumen said last night during our argument. Principal McKenna and the vice principal knew that Lumen had once worked at a massage parlor. Granted, she’d shown them that she had put Real Life Bodywork on her resumé, and then she’d explained that it was a legitimate business, but that didn’t mean someone hadn’t spread all sorts of rumors.

Someone. There was only one person who would do something like that…Cornelius Harvey, the school’s vice principal.

The man was a first-rate bastard.

I pushed thoughts of him out of my head and smiled as I reached Lumen’s classroom. The chaos of kids swept past me, and I scanned them for Evanne. She was tall for her age, which should have made her easy to see, but she wasn’t with them. That didn’t surprise me, though. Evanne liked her teacher as much as she did her classmates.

Speaking of Evanne’s teacher…

My eyes met Lumen’s, and her entire face lit up. I went a few steps into the classroom, and that was when her expression shifted to one of puzzlement.

Dammit, Keli.

“I came to pick up Evanne, but based on your face, I’m going to guess that Keli already did and neglected to tell me.”

I blew out a long, frustrated breath. Somehow, I didn’t think this was a mere slip on Keli’s part. More likely, she hadn’t been as accepting as I’d thought, and she was trying to make my life miserable now that she knew she wouldn’t be the part of it she wanted to be.

The concern on Lumen’s face deepened. “Alec, what are you talking about? No one picked Evanne up. She didn’t come to school today.”

I frowned. “What are you saying, lass?”

Lumen came over to me, lowering her voice so that the few remaining students around us couldn’t hear what she had to say. “Keli called the office and said that Evanne wouldn’t be in today. I assumed she was sick.”

“I had an early meeting, so I asked Keli to bring Evanne this morning. She didn’t say anything about Evanne being sick.” The sinking feeling in my stomach told me that this was worse than her simply not telling me that Evanne had taken ill. Something was wrong.