Entangled (The Accidental Billionaires #2) - J. S. Scott Page 0,10
I have a bunch of other aunts and uncles, too. But I didn’t write back to her because I had to cancel my membership. I didn’t have money to extend it.”
Jade? She’d matched with Jade?
It made sense, since the DNA site was the way Jade had found her long-lost family on the East Coast, and had subsequently gotten her siblings their share of the enormous inheritance they were entitled to.
But . . . “How did you ever manage to get the tests done? You have to be eighteen, right?” I asked Maya nervously.
She put her fork on her empty plate and reached for her milk before she answered. “That’s what I did wrong,” she said. “I used my credit card to pay for the DNA test. And I lied about my age.”
My daughter didn’t really have a credit card. She had a prepaid card that I made sure was always in her backpack. Maya was intelligent enough to understand that it was only for emergencies.
Now that she was almost done with third grade, she definitely knew she wasn’t to use it unless she had to. “That’s for emergencies,” I told her. “You know that.”
She nodded. “I know. It was wrong. But I really wanted to know who my dad was.”
I lifted a brow. “And you couldn’t have just asked me?”
Her eyes welled up with tears, which nearly broke me. Maya hadn’t exactly had a happy childhood so far, and that was entirely my fault for marrying someone like Marco.
“I wanted to ask, but I don’t think you like him, whoever he is. Like I said, you always looked sad when I mentioned my real dad. And I don’t want you to be sad again. We’ve been sad a lot. And we’re pretty happy now.”
My own tears threatened to fall, but I blinked them back because of my ingrained instinct to remain stoic. Even though I’d tried to shield Maya from the scandal of Marco and his family going to jail, and the long trial that put him there, she’d been exposed to ridicule and the stress I’d tried so hard to hide.
The Marino family had been well known in San Diego. And she hadn’t been spared from the gossip.
It had been a relief when I’d been able to move away from the city, back to Citrus Beach, where most people wouldn’t even ask her about her stepfamily.
She’d told me that third grade in Citrus Beach was her best year ever.
And I’d hoped she could finally live a normal life.
But she’d obviously been hiding her questions.
“We’re very happy now,” I reassured her. “I’m disappointed that you used your card. But I understand why you did. Just don’t do it again, okay?”
She put down her empty glass and shook her head. “I won’t. I swear.”
Maya had been through enough. I wasn’t going to punish her for being curious. Especially since I hadn’t exactly been forthcoming with her in the first place.
But how could I tell her that her father lived right here in town, yet he didn’t really communicate with her?
That was a lot to put on an eight-year-old, but I’d had to come back to Citrus Beach. I needed to make a go of the café so that Maya could have a decent life. I hadn’t been able to go to college, and making the restaurant fly was the only way I could actually earn a decent living.
“I’m so sorry all this has been so hard for you,” I told her earnestly.
She shrugged. “I’m okay. I have you. I don’t really need a dad.”
Maybe she didn’t need one, but she was entitled to know who he was. I’d just never wanted her to be disappointed.
I have to tell Aiden the truth.
If he truly didn’t know that Maya was his daughter, then he had a right to know, too.
What if he really had never gotten my letter explaining that I was pregnant, and I didn’t know what to do?
When I’d told my mother that I was pregnant with Aiden Sinclair’s child, she’d pretty much disowned me. The only option she’d given me was to marry a man from her church, a guy old enough to be my father.
It was either that, or I’d end up homeless and pregnant.
Maybe I’d been young and stupid, but I had loved Maya from the moment I’d discovered that she existed. I’d wanted her to be safe.
I’d left with Marco, but I’d never given up hope that Aiden would come for me.