Page 58 of Twins for the Silver Foxes

“Yeah?” Megan tipped her chin up in a daring gesture. “Prove it.” She locked eyes with Arthur. “Prove you’re capable of loving someone enough to do it all by yourself. Without bodyguards or friends to pick up the slack when you’re incompetent.”

“That’s enough.” Arthur stood straight up, shrugging off my hand. “Scott has a point, Megan. You call me all these horrible things, but you never stick around to see what I am really like. You remember nothing from your childhood when I was involved. You have created all these false ideas about who I am. I love you. I have no idea how much more plain I can be. You are my daughter. Nothing will ever change that.”

“I don’t believe you.” Megan stormed from the room, shooting me a death glare on the way out. “You never tried to be my father. You let Mom do everything.”

It was a lie, all of it. “You call him emotionless but you’re the one ripping out his heart to see it bleed.” I blocked her escape. I’d stopped giving a fuck a long time ago. It was time someone told Megan the truth. “You’re poisoned against him out of your own hatred. It’s one thing to sit there and let you tear him apart. It’s another to stand your ground and have an actual fucking conversation. Why don’t you try it? Are you afraid you’ll learnthe truth and have to face the fact that you’ve been abusing your relationship with him to guilt him into giving you more money?”

“Get out of my way.” Arms firm over her chest, Megan tried to get past me.

I laughed in her face. “I’m sick and tired of you treating him this way. Get over yourself and treat him right or get out of this house.” I wanted to regret my harshness but I didn’t. Arthur deserved better. His relationship with Megan was salvageable… if the damned bitch could get her head out of her mother’s ass and start thinking for herself.

Ryland entered the kitchen from the opposite side. He caught my eye and nodded his head toward Arthur. I lowered my arms. What was he doing home so early? He’d obviously overheard the conversation and came to help.

I moved aside and gave Megan room to pass. “Merry Christmas. Try to remember what the season is about.”

She stomped off in a huff, but once she rounded the corner and disappeared from view, I put all thoughts of her aside and concentrated on Arthur.

Ryland and I sat across from him where he remained motionless. I’d seen this before, and it was harder than ever to sit and do nothing.

“You can’t keep doing this.”

A muscle popped in his jaw. “Doing what?”

“This. The whole dour British unfeeling bullshit.” I caught Ryland’s smirk. “Yeah, I said dour. Sue me.”

“I’d love to, but I’m afraid we bypassed defamation a long time ago. Besides, our lawyers are golf buddies so I’m fairly sure they’d talk me out of it.” He shrugged out of his camera strap and set it aside.

We’d been friends long enough that neither of us took the conversation seriously. Except for the part about Arthur. It waseasy to try and distract him from Megan’s drama. His need for friendship trumped anything else.

“So.” I drummed my fingertips on the counter, spotted the tin of Christmas cookies we’d baked with Hannah, and slid them toward Arthur. “Who wants cookies?”

31

HANNAH

Ihad to tell Liddy the truth before we met with Chad. I’d put it off, hoping that I could ease into it, but after how he’d already said he was her father within five minutes of seeing Liddy, I knew better than to wait any longer. She hadn’t questioned it, but I knew I needed to explain.

Pulling to a stop a few miles from the ice skating rink where Chad had asked to meet after the snow ruined my park idea, I turned around and faced Liddy. “Honey, I need to tell you something.”

She stared at me, her hazel eyes wide as fear skittered across her little face.

“It’s nothing bad. We’re okay, and we’re safe.” The reassurance came easy, and her fear flitted away, replaced with her easy smile.

“Remember the man we met outside the doctor’s office?”

“Mm-hmm.” She hugged her giraffe close.

“Well,” I almost choked on the next sentence, “he’s your father. That’s why we’re meeting him today. He wants to get to know you and spend time with you.”

Liddy processed the information with a frown. “And then we can go home?”

“Yes. Then we can go home.”

“Okay.” She kicked the back of the seat. I refrained from talking about Chad any further. If Liddy had questions, I promised myself I would answer them honestly. Until then, I kept my mouth shut, my hands on the wheel, and my fears locked up tight.

Chad met us in the parking lot and walked us into the building. The sound of skates on ice rang out, along with several people laughing and cheering each other as they skated past. One woman leaped into the air, spun around and landed perfectly on one skate.

Liddy’s eyes widened at the sight, and her grip on my hand tightened. “Pretty.”

---