No Matter What (The Billionaires of Sawgrass #4) - Delaney Cameron Page 0,23
a real family instead of having to borrow someone else’s. She’d come up with dozens of scenarios to explain his absence as well as his failure to call or write. Most of them had been as imaginative as they’d been improbable.
All of that nonsense had come to an end the day she overheard a conversation between her foster parents. No longer had she been able to hide from the sobering truth: her father hadn’t wanted her. She’d done what most children do in that situation. She’d blamed herself. When that line of reasoning had failed to bring the closure she sought, she’d shifted to the other extreme and blamed her father for her problems. She’d even gone so far as to hope he’d show up just so she could tell him what she thought of him.
By the time she reached adulthood, much of the animosity, bitterness and resentment that characterized so much of her teenage years had lost its steam. She’d learned how pointless it was to waste time on something she couldn’t change. What she hadn’t been able to shake was a lingering feeling of abandonment. It remained inconceivable to her that a parent could desert their own flesh and blood. The fact that her father had done so told her everything she needed to know about his character. She had no use for a man whose only connection to her was a name on a birth certificate.
Owen didn’t wake up until she was turning into the apartment complex where she and Kait had lived for the last six years. She looked at him in the rearview mirror. “We’re home.” The words weren’t a slip of the tongue. This was his home now. The enormity of that fact washed over her again as well as a resurgence of the pain in her chest. Owen had no idea how rough would be the road that lay ahead. She would do all she could to make it less so.
“Already?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.
“Didn’t I tell you my car is as fast as a spaceship?”
He chuckled. “That’s a whopper, Aunt Robin. No car is as fast as a spaceship.”
By the time she opened the back door, Owen was out of his booster seat and ready to be helped to the ground. When they stepped into the foyer, Kait came out of the kitchen. She exchanged a quick glance with Robin before turning to Owen.
“Hello, there. I don’t know if you remember me or not. My name is Kait. I just this minute took some cookies out of the oven. Would you like one?”
Owen nodded eagerly. “Yes, please! Do you have milk?”
Kait put her hands on her hips. “What would cookies be without milk?”
Robin watched the other two disappear into the kitchen. The good thing about children this age was how easily they could be diverted. Their minds didn’t stay in one place very long, and it didn’t take much to make them happy.
She returned to the car to begin unloading Owen’s things. Kait joined her a few minutes later.
“Owen is watching Toy Story. My decision to get the Disney channel last month was almost prophetic, don’t you think?”
Robin laughed. “First the cookies and now the movie. You know how to handle little boys.”
“That comes from years of babysitting my younger brothers. It’s when they become adults that I run into trouble.”
“You only had trouble with one adult male. Thankfully, he’s not representative of the entire species.”
“How was the meeting with Daniel’s sister?”
“As bad as it could be. I’ll fill you in on all the gory details later.” Robin handed Kait a cardboard box of books. “Careful with this one. It’s heavy.”
“Where are we going with this stuff?”
“My room. I hope Owen doesn’t mind sharing with me.”
“It’s probably for the best until he gets used to being here. Down the road, we’ll need a bigger place.” She sent Robin a sly smile. “Then again, you could be getting married soon.”
Robin grabbed a plastic bag containing Owen’s clothes. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Last time I looked, there was no ring on my finger.”
“I can read the tea leaves. Wade is crazy about you. What does he think about the new man in your life?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t told him yet. He’s not the greatest about keeping in touch. I’ve had one text from him since he left Friday morning. It was late last night. All it said was that they’d arrived at the research station in Key West. I didn’t