Page 32 of Mending Fate

She squirmed to get down, and I let her go. As she ran to them, I gestured for Keli to step into the bathroom with me. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best option available. Evanne was giggling like mad as I closed the door, and the sound made me smile. That smile disappeared, however, as I turned to face Keli.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I kept my voice low, not wanting Evanne to hear me.

To my shock – and dismay – Keli burst into tears.

Fuck.

As angry as I was, I hadn’t meant to make her cry. It wasn’t as if she’d done anything to hurt our daughter. A few days of vacation together, and now, Evanne would be going home. Still, I couldn’t completely brush it aside, not unless I wanted to spend the next decade constantly wondering if she would do it again.

“Talk to me. Tell me what made you do this.”

“Alessandro dumped me.”

I frowned. “I don’t follow.”

She sat down on the edge of the bathtub and pulled a few tissues from the box on the sink counter. “By the third day in Italy, I missed Evanne. By the end of the week, I’d decided to try to convince Alex that she should come live with us.”

Since that was no longer an issue, I decided against telling her that I never would have let that happen.

“Two days before I came back, he and I had a huge fight. He said that he hadn’t signed up for a kid and that no man wants another guy’s brat around. Then he said that if I hadn’t been such a good lay, he never would’ve asked me out in the first place.”

He had been a bigger asshole than I originally thought.

“The entire flight back, all I could think of was that if no man would want another guy’s child, then to get the family I wanted, it had to be you, Evanne, and me. We could make things work.” She wiped at her cheeks and then blew her nose. Her eyes were red, but she’d stopped crying. “Then when you said you didn’t want to be with me, I got scared that I was going to lose Evanne to you and your new girlfriend, all because I made one stupid choice. The three of you would be your own family, and I’d be forgotten.”

I didn’t want to be sympathetic after what she’d put me through, but I could see how she could have felt that she was losing Evanne.

“You’re Evanne’s mother. No one will ever take that away from you.”

Keli’s bottom lip trembled as she looked up at me. “I saw how much she loves her teacher, and I panicked. I didn’t have a plan. I just…freaked out.”

In business, being able to read people separated the good from the great, and I was in the latter group. Having been surprised by Keli’s actions actually made me more convinced that she was telling the truth. She’d acted on impulse, and things had snowballed from there. If I had to guess, she’d probably come straight here from the rental place and hadn’t been able to figure out how to fix what she’d done.

“Are the police in the hall or the lobby?” Her voice was small as she dropped her head, shoulders slumping. “Please don’t let Evanne see them arrest me. Not for me, but for her.”

“No police,” I said, glad for the first time that they hadn’t been involved. “Not unless you intend on trying to take Evanne and run again.”

She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, Alec. How do I make this right?”

My original intention to simply leave Keli here alone didn’t take into account Keli’s reasoning, or the fact that not having her around would make the legal aspect of this more complicated rather than less. It was time for a different plan.

“Well, to start, both of you are coming back to Seattle with us. You’re going to stay in a hotel and Evanne will come back home with me. Sunday is Halloween, and I promised her I would take her trick-or-treating. If you want to come with us, you can, but you’re not going to be alone with her until I know for certain I can trust you. No picking her up from school or taking her on outings with just the two of you.”

Keli raised her head, hope shining in her eyes.

When she looked like she was about to speak, I lifted a finger and she closed her mouth. “Monday, I have a meeting with a family law attorney. After I talk with him, we’ll discuss how custody will be handled from here on out.”

How she responded to my offer would determine how willing I would be to work with her on things. I would do everything in my power to prevent this from happening again, and I had the resources to do it. I hoped that she would understand that and take the opportunity she had been given.

“I understand. I’ll make things right. With you and with Evanne.”

After a moment, I nodded. “All right then. Let’s go. I’m sure Evanne wants to sleep in her own bed tonight.”

Eighteen

Lumen

“I’ll callyou when I know more,” I promised Mai as she pulled up to the hospital. “Thanks for the ride.”