Page 17 of Wylder Ranch
I never drink tea. I’m a coffee girl. And on the rare occasion I have drunk it, I used lemon, not milk. But this. . . I think the English might be onto something. It’s both calming and cozy all at the same time. My veins warm, and my cheeks flush even more than they did following use of the hairdryer.
“Where’s Alex?”
“He went back to Burlington,” Miles says, though it means nothing to me. “Don’t worry, he’ll calm down. Once the paternity test comes through positive, then he’ll be on board.”
“Miles!” Clementine’s face drops in horror, and her eyes slice to mine to check my reaction, not that Miles notices.
“What? Come on, don’t be silly.” He turns to me like I was the one who objected. “Of course you’ll need a paternity test. Hendricks had one for Max, and I would never claim a child without one.”
“That’s because you sleep with anyone with a heartbeat,” Clementine snaps. “Anyone can see Everly is the spit of Alex when he was a baby.”
“Stop being naive?—”
I hold my hands up, not wanting to get in the middle of a sibling argument or set my daughter off crying. “No, it’s okay. I expected it. I would have insisted on it too.”
“See.” Miles jerks his chin to me. “Sensible.”
Clemmie concedes with a harrumph and changes the subject. “Well. . . it’s bonfire night tomorrow, you should come.”
“Bonfire night? What’s that?”
She drops down in the chair opposite and picks up a cookie from the plate she set earlier. “I guess the best way of describing it is like your July Fourth. All the fireworks. Alex will be there, and you can talk. I know it must all seem daunting, but if there’s one thing about Alex, it’s that he’s loyal. He won’t let you do this alone.”
I glance at Miles, still swaying side to side with my daughter in his arms. He’s holding her like she’s his own, then I realize that she is—she’s his niece.
Which means that if I’ve done anything today, it’s give my daughter a family. A family she not only looks like but is happy to be around.
Yup. That stings.
CHAPTER 5
Alexander
“This is not okay.”
“Mother—”
“No, Alexander. I’ve been home an hour to find Lando’s flown off to Los Angeles, and now you’re telling me you’re a father to a baby you’ve never met with a girl you knew for a week.” She pauses as one of the Burlington kitchen staff walks in with a tea tray, which he places down before pouring her a cup. She practically preens at him. “Thank you, William.”
My mother drinking her tea is the first time she’s been silent since I told her about Haven and the baby.
God, I still haven’t wrapped my head around the fact I’m a father. Or that it’s with Haven.Orthat she’s here in Valentine Nook.
I hadn’t meant to tell my mother quite so soon. I’d have preferred to have come to a decision on my own before she weighed in, but I happened to be here in the kitchen when she returned from her trip to London. One look at my face and she asked me who’d died.
That was half an hour ago, and since then, Miles also entered the chat.
“To be fair, Al has been in love with Haven for the whole of this year. It’s why he’s been such a miserablebastard.”
“Not now, Miles,” my mother snaps, then shoots him one of her famous withering glares.
Not that it has any effect on him at all.
In contrast, the look I send his way is one of gratitude because, surprisingly, Miles has been both incredibly supportive and helpful. His default mode of piss taking seems to be taking the day off.
“Has she done this on purpose? Has she tried to trap you? She knew you had money.”
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I inhale deeply.
