would have been great.”
“But great enough for me to continue with this lifestyle?” She snorted. “You give me diamonds, even when I’m a bitch to you. You still buy me expensive shit. I’m Mrs. Charles Moore. I’m above the other wives in Cincinnati. And you want me to give that up?”
“You can find someone who loves you and be happy.”
“Fuck love. All it ever got me was a black eye.”
I startled at that revelation. “Poppy, I didn’t know.”
“Nobody knows. I left that life behind.”
“And now you have one, you won’t let go.”
“Right and because of that, I’ll accept your offer.”
I gave a sigh of relief. “You will?”
“Yes, I know deep down you will ensure this baby has a good life. Look at Declan. He turned out great. Thought he could’ve done better in getting hitched, but whatever.”
“My son’s happy with his husband.”
“He looks happy.”
I ignored the skepticism in her voice. “I’ll have my lawyer draft up a proposal for our agreement.”
She nodded and placed a hand on her belly. “I would’ve given her up for adoption anyway. I might as well get a decent deal out of it.”
“And our marriage”—I wanted to make this crystal clear— “is in name only. We won’t have any sex, ever, but I hope we can get along for the baby’s sake. I don’t want to take her away from you. I just want to be there to help you take care of her.”
She made a sound of disgust. “I suggest you start looking for a nanny, as I want very little to do with raising the baby.”
“You may change your mind after she’s born.”
“Highly doubt it.” She opened the car door. “I really have zero interest in raising the baby once it’s out of me. I’ll be out of the house, trying to get my figure back. I’ve too much life to live to get saddled down with a child.”
She got out of the car and slammed the door shut. I watched her walk away. I’d won. This was what I wanted.
But why didn’t I feel like it? Something was missing, and I was afraid I knew what.
Chapter 24
Auggie
I’d barely stepped foot outside the house when my phone rang. My thumb was already on the Decline button, but the name on the screen stopped me. It had been a long time since I’d talked to James.
“Hey, James, what’s up?”
“Auggie, it’s been a while. Thought I’d check in with you. I spoke to Oscar this morning.”
“I’m good. Just about to go out for a bit.”
“I’ll make it quick, then. I don’t want to keep you.”
“It’s fine. Is something wrong?”
He sighed. “Not really. I just have a father-daughter lunch with Summer. It’s the first time we’ll be getting together outside of our therapy sessions.”
“I’m sure it’ll be fine. How are the sessions going, by the way?”
“Better. Still a bit difficult. She’s so guarded with me.”
“Give her time. It takes a while to build back trust.”
“True, I need to remember that. You accepted me back into your life after I don’t know how long.”
He’d gotten through to Oscar first and through Oscar to me. The start had especially been rocky, but in the end, it had been worth it. We had our father back, and now we were all learning to get along with our big atypical family.
“The way to Summer’s heart is to be open and truthful with her, even if it’s not something either of you will like,” I advised him. “And don’t try to push her. She’ll accept things in her own time, and that might be longer if you try to force things on her.”
“I realized. She can be rather—”
“Stubborn,” I ended on a laugh.
“Yeah, that’s it. But that’s definitely a good thing. Owen did an amazing job raising you three.”
“Yes, he did.”
I would never downplay that just to make James feel better about abandoning his family when we were kids. We’d all learned how to deal with the different aspects of his betrayal, and he’d needed to sort through the guilt on his own. We couldn’t help him with that. We’d already forgiven him.
“I should go if I’m going to be on time for lunch with Summer. Thanks for the talk, Auggie.”
“Anytime, Dad. Good luck.”
We hung up, and I quickly sent Oscar a text, then placed my phone on silent and backed out of the driveway. I followed Heath’s directions to the Over Easy diner, where they’d organized the munch. When he’d texted me the information yesterday, I hadn’t been sure I