Page 49 of Prudence (Balfe Family #1)

Derek

What was I thinking? Sure, I’d told the girls to wait for me to collect them at seven, but teenagers were never guaranteed to follow instruction. I wouldn’t have let myself get so lost in Milly if I’d thought there was a chance they’d be home early.

Wordlessly, we hurried into our clothes, barely stopping to take a breath.

Milly motioned for me to run across the hall to the guest room where I was staying.

Just as I opened the door—my shirt bunched up at my waist in a highly suspect fashion—Deirdre reached the top of the stairs.

Her eyes rounded when she saw me, then spotted Milly at my back.

She froze for a second before she turned straight back around to call out, “Gigi, could you go grab those DVDs from the den? We’ll watch them in my room. ”

“Sure!” my daughter responded from somewhere on the ground floor, cheerful and oblivious.

Deirdre turned back around, and suddenly, it felt like she was the adult, and Milly and I were two teenagers caught getting up to no good.

“Look,” she began in a steady voice. “I have no problem with this”—she motioned between the two of us—“but you need to talk to Gigi. She’s …

more sensitive. She can’t find out like I just did. ”

I glanced at Milly, at once impressed by her daughter’s maturity but also guilty that I’d given in to my selfish need to have her before I’d told Gigi about us.

Self-recriminations ran through my head while Milly responded, “You’re right.” She placed her hand on my arm, staring up at me. “Do you want to go speak with her now or wait until you get home tomorrow?”

I swallowed thickly, deciding in that moment that I wasn’t going to put off the difficult conversation any longer. “I’ll talk to her now.”

Milly nodded, respect in her eyes as I took her hand in mine for a kiss before turning back to Deirdre. “Just so you know, I’m in love with your mother, and I intend to treat her like the queen she is.”

A smile pulled at Deirdre’s lips before she forced it flat and rolled her eyes, folding her arms. “Good, because you’ll have me to deal with if you don’t.” She continued to her room, and Milly laughed quietly while I turned to cast her a fond a smile.

“I’ll come find you when I’m finished speaking to Gigi.”

She sent me a look of encouragement, and I left her to go face my daughter.

Paying a quick visit to the bathroom, I cleaned myself.

A few minutes later, I found Gigi in a small den just off the kitchen, browsing an extensive collection of DVDs that spanned several shelves.

Deirdre’s father must’ve been a collector because I didn’t know anyone who still kept this many DVDs in their house anymore.

“Hey, Dad. Sorry we came back early. I know you didn’t want us walking anywhere on our own in London, but we were only coming from the other end of the street. Shelly has an early dance session in the morning, so we cut things short.”

“That’s fine,” I said, approaching her to run a hand over her hair. “Just call or text in future, yeah?”

“I did text. Didn’t you get it?”

I grimaced. I’d been so swept up in Milly that I hadn’t checked my phone in over two hours.

Pulling it from my back pocket, I saw there was a text waiting.

“I must’ve missed it. Can we sit for a minute?

” I motioned to the small couch next to the shelves.

“I have something I’d like to discuss with you. ”

She eyed me warily, noting my serious tone. She set down the DVDs she’d stacked in her arms, mostly stuff from the ’90s—she and Deirdre were watching all the old movies they’d missed out on. I lowered into the space next to her when she sat.

“Is this about Granddad? I’ve been so worried about him lately.”

“It’s not about your granddad,” I said, placing my hand gently atop hers. “He’s fine.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “So, what, then?”

There didn’t seem to be any gentle way to ease into the topic. I drew in a deep breath and told her simply, “I wanted you to know that I’ve started seeing someone.”

Gigi stared at me for a long moment, her mouth opening and closing for a second, before a glossy sheen filled her eyes. “Oh.”

She fell quiet, and I feared she was taking things even worse than expected.

“Listen, I understand that you might’ve had some thoughts about me and your mother getting back together one day, but unfortunately, that won’t happen.

We’re still friends, and we have a lot of respect for one another, and we love you and Pablo more than anything.

You’re the most important thing to us, and we’ll always be there for both of you, just not as a couple. ”

“It’s okay. Aunt Nuala already told me,” Gigi said, her gaze downcast. There was a quiver in her voice as a tear dropped down her cheek.

“I know that things didn’t work out with you and Mam, but a small part of me just hoped …

” she trailed off, and I placed my hand between her shoulder blades, rubbing soothing circles.

“It’s a perfectly natural thing to hope for,” I told her softly.

“I just don’t want things to change. What if this woman takes you away from us? What if you have another baby and love it more than me and my brother?”

“Not possible. My love for you will never change, Gigi, and no one will ever take me away from you, okay? I’ll always be here. No matter what age you are, you’ll have your dad to catch you when you fall.”

“You say that now, but I haven’t even met this woman yet. She could hate me.” She sniffled. “She might convince you to send me away to boarding school, and I’ll never see Deirdre or any of my other friends again.”

“No one will ever convince me to send you away, and besides, you have met her.”

Gigi blinked. “I have?”

“It’s Milly. Deirdre’s mother and I, we—”

“Wait a second,” she held up a hand, the sadness in her eyes suddenly dissipating as she peered at me in surprise. “ Milly is the woman you’re seeing?”

I nodded slowly and could hardly believe it when a smile slowly crept over her face. “Oh, my goodness.” She placed both hands over her mouth before a giddy laugh escaped.

I stared her, confused. “Are you giggling?” Gigi nodded enthusiastically, and a grin tugged at my lips. “I take it this is good news, then?”

“Um, understatement. I love Milly. She’s always so nice to me. Plus, if everything works out, that means me and Deirdre would become, like, stepsisters.” She let out an even giddier squeal. “Oh, she’s going to die when she finds out!”

I didn’t mention that Deirdre already knew because I didn’t want to ruin her excitement.

I chuckled low. “You’re getting a little ahead of yourself.

” She wasn’t, though. Milly might not be fully aware of it, but I wasn’t letting her slip through my fingers again.

I had every intention of spending the rest of my life with her, which meant Gigi was right.

She and Deirdre would eventually become stepsisters.

“But I’ve always wanted a sister!” Gigi exclaimed.

I shook my head, laughing some more as I pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head. “So, you’re okay with all this?”

“Yes, Milly’s the best. I mean, if you had to be with anyone, I’d choose her, and obviously, you’re not going to stay single forever, so this is the best possible outcome as far as I’m concerned.”

“What does obviously mean?”

Gigi pulled back to send me a woe begotten expression. “Ugh! You have no idea what all the mams at school say about you. They think you’re this big handsome hunk, and I have to hear about it from all the girls in my class. It’s so annoying.”

A tendril of embarrassment swept in. Perhaps once everyone became aware that Milly and I were an item, that sort of talk about me would die down. I certainly didn’t want Gigi to have to listen to it when she was at school.

“Well, tell me how this happened? Is it because of me and Deirdre? Are we unwitting matchmakers?”

“I suppose you could say that since we wouldn’t have had to spend quite so much time together if it weren’t for you two. Milly and I have known each other for a long time, though. I was only a little older than you are now when we first became friends.”

“Really?” Gigi said. “I thought she was only friends with Aunt Nuala.”

“Nope. She was actually my friend first.”

“Seriously!”

Grinning at her dramatic reaction, I thought back to the day I’d offered to drive Milly home, how I’d wanted to talk to her for so long before I finally drummed up the courage.

It was hard to believe we’d found our way back to one another after so much time apart, but I was so very glad that we did.

Gigi and I sat and talked for another while before we went to join Deirdre and Milly, who were opening up food containers in the kitchen. Milly cast me a furtive glance, silently asking how things had gone, and I sent her a small nod to let her know all was well.

“I need to talk to you right now ,” Gigi said as she grabbed Deirdre by the arm and pulled her from the room. I glanced at Milly as they hurried down the hall and into the living room. There was much whispering and conspiratorial giggling, which had the smile returning to my face.

Moving to stand behind Milly, I pressed my palm briefly to the small of her back as I reached past her to pluck a piece of bruschetta from one of the open containers.

I heard her breath hitch, and it reminded me of what we’d done earlier, how perfect it had felt being inside of her.

With the girls home, we’d sadly have to behave ourselves, but I already couldn’t wait for the next time we got to be alone together.

“I have a feeling we’re the topic of conversation,” Milly said with a faint grin. “So, how did it go with Gigi? She seems happy.”

“The conversation went surprisingly well, actually. She was a little upset at first, but as soon as I mentioned that you were the woman I was seeing, she did a complete turnaround. She’s excited that she and Deirdre might become stepsisters.”