Beautiful Surrender(20)

She nodded. “Then he changed again when Brady was born. Before that, he was on a path where it was nothing but business and intensity, but you can’t be intense with a newborn. Vincent makes sure my son has the best of everything. Vincent set up Brady’s college fund the day after Brady was born, and has done so much research on camps and things to send him to.”

She shrugged, laughing. “I’ll get these emails at two a.m. saying ‘it’s your kid but I just want to tell you I’m happy to pay to send him to this camp when he’s old enough’ or ‘do you think Brady would like this? I can get it delivered this weekend.’ Never mind my son, it’s a full-time job keeping up with Vincent!”

Before today, I would’ve had a hard time imagining Vincent being so focused on a child. He was always so busy either with his business or doing crazy recreational activities. Having a kid was a lot of responsibility. It was almost in complete opposition to his lifestyle. “It sounds like he practically treats Brady as his own kid.”

She shook her head. “He knows the limit. The way he gives me options is always a one-off. He doesn’t argue with me or nag me or anything like that. He cares tremendously about his nephew and has an unusual capacity for helping out, so he’s taking advantage of that. Plus as you’ve seen, his gifts for Brady aren’t outrageous. I think Brady will become conscious of how much money his uncle has very slowly.” She took a taste of the frosting. “Put it this way: it’s a good parenting challenge to have.”

“What does Rob think?”

“He’s supportive. Vincent and him get along well. My brother takes the protective older sibling thing very seriously.”

I knew more about how protective Vincent could be than I wanted to. “I bet.”

Giselle turned and looked at me intently. I did my best to keep a poker face and concentrate on spreading the frosting, though I could see her out of the corner of my eye. To my relief, she finally went back to her own frosting job.

“Anyway,” she said, “Vincent’s wonderful with Brady. Like another child. I hope he can have children of his own soon.”

I dropped the frosting spreader on the counter and it tumbled to the floor. Embarrassed, I scrambled and picked it up. Was she suggesting what I thought she was?

She stopped whisking again and squinted, smiling quizzically. “I didn’t say he’s in a rush!”

I washed it off in the sink before wiping up the frosting on the floor. “Sorry, I’m just a little clumsy.”

She stood with her arms crossed, watching me again. “That’s okay, accidents happen.”

Her sleeves were rolled up, and as I was looking at her trying to judge her expression my eyes fell to some peculiar scars on her forearms. Were those cigarette burns? Nothing in the house smelled like cigarette smoke, so I was guessing she wasn’t a smoker. Maybe she had been one in the past, before Brady. Or maybe it was something more nefarious.

She seemed to notice I was looking at her arms and rolled down her sleeves before turning back to work. “Anyway, I do hope things work out between you two,” Giselle said. “I would love it if Vincent has finally found someone to share his life with.”

I let the question of her arms go and flashed a smile fit for a job interview. “So far he’s been pretty great.”

I heard their footsteps a second before they burst in. There was a crash at the kitchen door, then the knob turned and Brady came in giggling, with Vincent close behind.

“Hey buddy, come back. Where are you going?” Vincent cried.

Brady made a beeline straight for me and threw his arms around my right leg. “Kristen,” he screamed, “Come play trains!”

I looked at Giselle, who was smiling. “It looks like I’m being summoned,” I said.

“I think so. You guys have fun, I can finish up here.”

The three of us went back and played trains until the cake was ready. By that point, a couple of Brady’s friends had come over with their parents, and Vincent and I were nearly forgotten. The party ended up lasting until seven o’clock. By the time we left, I was as tuckered out as the kids. I slept in the car the whole way home.





Chapter Four




Sunday was a blur of errands and getting my life in order. Seeing Vincent in a family environment was a serious eye-opener. After the way he had handled Marty, I was afraid I was dating a hyper-logical man with the emotions of a caveman. But now, seeing him with Brady, it was clear he had a lot of love in his heart. That made me feel good.

Monday morning I dragged my feet out of bed and lurched my way to work. As I stepped off the elevator on the forty-eighth floor of the tall, glass building housing Waterbridge-Howser, I started feeling dizzy. I had a rough night trying to sleep and only ended up getting a few hours. When I got to my office, I put down my bag and walked right back out. I needed caffeine. Badly.