Delivering His Gifts: A Mountain Man's Baby Christmas Romance(28)

Greg shrugged and rolled his eyes, sighing deeply as if Danielle was nothing but an annoyance. “Fine. Yes, I lied. Because I wanted to see my daughter on a weekend that wasn’t my own. Is that so wrong?”

There were voices inside. Adult, male voices. I stepped closer to the doorway, trying to get an idea of who might be inside with Skyler, but Greg stepped in the way, blocking my view. “Excuse me, this is private property. Please leave before I call the police.”

“Give me Skyler first, then we’ll leave,” Danielle said.

“I have a right to see my daughter whenever I damned well please, Dani,” Greg growled, turning his hateful look toward her.

“You get her every other weekend, and we have a schedule for holidays and special events, as agreed upon in court,” Danielle said, her voice barely raising. She seemed braver than before, and I was proud of her for standing up to him. “This is not your designated time with her, and you were not allowed to take her from her friend’s house. If I were to call the police—”

Greg scoffed, interrupting her. “You know what will happen if we go to court, Dani. You’ll lose the rights you do have, and I’ll make sure you go broke in the process. Is that what you want?”

Those words were like a slap to her face. She stepped back, but only temporarily. After taking a deep breath, she said, “You are not allowed to threaten me.”

“It’s not a threat when I have serious concerns about the woman raising my daughter,” Greg said. “I mean, look at you - you’re a whore, Dani. Single and pregnant, and are you fucking both these guys or just one of them? Because I wouldn’t—”

Before he could finish, my fist collided with his face. I lunged and swung before I even realized what I was doing. Eli grabbed me and held me back. Greg’s head snapped back, and he stumbled. When he righted himself, there was blood streaming from his nose.

“Do not talk to her like that.”

“What? Did I strike a nerve?” Greg growled, a nasally noise due to his bleeding nose. “I urge you to call the cops now, Dani. So I can tell them how your baby daddy is violent and dangerous. That will look great in court.”

I knew I had fucked up. I had done the wrong thing, acted out of impulse to protect Danielle, and I had screwed up.

“No, don’t do that,” Danielle said, tears welling in her eyes. “I just want my daughter.”

“Mommy!” a tiny voice called from behind Greg. She rushed out of the house, not even looking at her father, and she ran right into her mother’s arms.

Relief washed over me as Danielle began backing up with Skyler in tow.

“Mommy, Mommy,” Skyler said, her voice sounding distraught. “I want to go home.”

“We’re going home, baby girl.”

“He said my cousins would be here,” she said, her eyes looking up at her mom. “But there’s no one but boring old men. And all they’re doing is talking.”

Danielle looked at Greg, scowling. He took a few steps forward, but Eli stepped in front of Danielle and Skyler. I was at their side. Greg looked at the two of us, and I was concerned he might call on the men from inside. I had no idea who might be in there or how strong they were. There could be weapons, for all I knew. It could get ugly, but so far, it seemed he wouldn’t act out in front of his daughter.

And he didn’t.

Greg stayed on the porch, and while there was rage in his eyes, he didn’t dare move forward.

“Daddy, I want to go home with Mommy.”

I stood back, no longer wanting to make the situation any worse than it already was, but I waited for his answer. I prayed he would make this easy on all of us.

After what felt like an eternity, he said, “Sure, honey. Just run in and grab your things.”

Both Danielle and I took hold of Skyler’s arm at the same time.

“No,” Danielle said. “Whatever she has here can stay here. She doesn’t need to grab anything.”

“Fine,” Greg said. “I’ll be in touch, so we can talk about how this will change things moving forward.”

Danielle covered Skyler’s ears and muttered. “You’re the one who kidnapped our daughter, not me. So you can go straight to hell.”

She took Skyler’s little hand in hers and we walked back to my truck. Skyler was in good spirits.

We piled into my truck, and I drove toward my place.

“Where are we going?” Danielle asked me.

“We’re going to my house,” I said, my voice low and calm. “We’re going to stick to the plan we talked about earlier. Eli has a place, says it’s ready tonight. I just need to get all the details from him.”

I expected Danielle to argue with me, to say she wanted to go home. But she didn’t. She looked at her daughter, relief in her eyes.

“Thank you for helping us, Mason,” she said softly.

I couldn’t find the words to explain that not helping was simply not an option. Danielle and I were connected now, and I cared about her and Skyler. They were part of my family now, and I would do anything to protect them.

In fact, watching Danielle’s fierce mama bear come out only made me feel stronger about her, and I feared I was falling for her - something she didn’t want.

Not that I could control it. Everything about her just… well, she was just perfect.

Even though I hadn’t planned it, I really couldn’t have picked a better woman to carry my child.





Danielle





“This place is nice,” I said as we stepped into the rental Mason’s brother had secured for us. “Really nice.”

Skyler ran in ahead of me, intentionally sliding on the slick, shiny hardwood flooring of the entrance. She giggled and smiled at me. “This place is huge!”

Our house wasn’t small by any means. It was large enough for the two of us and several large dogs to live comfortably. But this house was big enough for a family of six who bred Great Danes for a living.

Skyler’s giggles echoed through the empty foyer.

“Eli said it’s partially furnished,” Mason said, flipping on a switch to what appeared to be a living room. There was a fireplace and a leather couch, but the room was otherwise empty, making it feel even larger than it was. Skyler rushed into the room and started spinning circles. Normally I’d tell her to be careful, she could knock something over, but there was so much space, it wasn’t even a concern.

Which was good. I was glad to see her so happy. I had to explain to her that we were staying somewhere else as a little vacation. I couldn’t tell her the real reason we didn’t go home. She was too young to deal with all of that.

But this house made for a believable vacation.

“He said the master bedroom and two of the other bedrooms were furnished with beds. The owner sometimes rents it out as an Air BnB but said we could use it as long as necessary. He’s doing some work on the exterior and in the garden, so it’s empty for now. No one should bother you, though, as all the work is being done outside.”

I walked over to the large picture windows and gasped. “There’s even a swimming pool here.”

“Oh yeah, he said you can use it, if you’d like. The yard is also completely fenced in. Twelve-foot-high stone fence, to be exact. There’s also security cameras everywhere, all installed by us,” Mason continued.

Skyler was by my side, staring at the yard and the pool with a grin so large, it made me smile. Even with everything going on, I could smile knowing my daughter was safe and happy.

“Oscar is going to love this place,” Skyler said excitedly.

And my stomach dropped. I knelt beside her, stroking her hair. “Honey, Oscar is living with Calvin now.”

“But I thought we had longer.” Her little eyes filled with tears.

“We can always go visit him,” I said softly. “Calvin actually wants us to visit.”

“Can we, please, Mommy?”

“Of course, honey. And we will still have Griz and Zeus.”

I glanced over at Mason, unsure of the plan regarding the animals. I had originally planned to take them with us when we left, but we hadn’t gone back to the house.

Mason cleared his throat. “As soon as Graham and Sam get off their gig, we’ll run over and pick the animals up.”

“Yay!” Skyler said. “I missed them.”

I mouthed, “Thank you,” to Mason, and felt like he’d just read my mind and saved the day. I knew he was still feeling guilty about losing control with Greg. I was upset at him at first as well, but it was hard to stay mad at a man who was doing so much to take care of us.

I stood up and walked to the couch. “Skyler, honey, come over here and let’s chat.”

“I’ll give you some space,” Mason said, stepping back into the foyer.

Skyler joined me on the couch, her eager, excited smile calming my nerves more than she would ever know. She had no idea that I had been so scared only an hour or so before, fearful that I had lost my daughter for good. But she was with me, and she was safe.

“So you said there were men inside with Daddy? Can you tell me about them?”

Skyler sighed dramatically and rolled her little eyes. “They were soooo boring, Mommy.”

I chuckled at the tiny little attitude. “But did you know them? Were they friends of Daddy’s?”