A young girl is standing on the doorstep, her long brown hair a bedraggled mess as she shivers in the late night chill.
“Hello.”
Well, what the heck else am I supposed to say? The kid can’t be anything past six, if her small stature is anything to go by, and she’s so wafer-thin and poorly dressed it’s a miracle she’s not turning blue in this weather.
“Hello, Mum, I’m sorry to disturb, but may I please speak to a Mr Jasper?”
Check this kid out! Her diction is better than mine was at sixteen, and she’s sporting an accent that reminds me of that kid from Harry Potter, Hermione something… I can’t remember.
“Uh, sure. Um, how did you get through the gates?” I ask, opening the door to let her inside and out of the rising wind.
She looks up at me with a set of wise, sad eyes and shrugs.
“I came through the trees, Mum.”
Oookaaay.
“Um, you look cold. I should get you a jacket? And….where are your parents? How… Are you lost?”
“No, Mum, this is the right address,” she says quietly, giving me a slight smile that’s setting off alarm bells in my head.
Something about this kid is just weird, and yeah, I know that sounds like me being a bitch, but I can’t help it. She’s come out of nowhere, dressed like a street urchin, and is looking at me so calmly I feel myself pause and look closer.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?” I ask, stalling a bit.
For some reason I really don’t want to go into the living room to get Luc, almost as if some strange sixth sense has taken hold and is screaming at me to hold on to whatever happiness I’ve had because shit is about to hit the proverbial fan.
“Madeline Barker.”
“Can you tell me what you’re doing here in the middle of the night and all alone, honey? It’s awful late and cold out there to be wandering around without your mom or dad.”
Her smile, when it comes, knocks the breath right out of my lungs, and I hold up a hand and pull her into the study, wrapping a blanket around her scrawny shoulders before taking a deep breath and walking out to the living room.
“Lucian, I need you for a second,” I say quietly when my shaky legs finally get me across the room.
My tone must be telling, because he nods immediately and follows me out, waving off Brody’s suggestive wink as I take a deep breath and push him into the study.
My eyes never leave his face, not once after I close and lock the door, pointing at the sofa and the almost invisible bundle sitting there.
“What’s wrong, love? What’s going on?”
I walk over to the sofa and lower the blanket from around her head, being careful to keep her thin arms tightly wrapped beneath the warmth of the blanket.
“Here he is, honey.”
She looks back at him and smiles, breaking my heart even as I feel myself wanting to laugh for the obviousness.
“Hello, Daddy.”
Chapter Twenty Six
“Hello, Daddy.”
I’m not as shocked by those two words as you would think.
Like I said, that smile had told me more than I wanted to know about why I’d opened my front door to find a raggedy waif, alone on my doorstep.
Lucian’s face is wide open for the first time, something I’d never thought to see, and what I do see here is complete shock and devastation. I can hardly breathe as I split my gaze between the two of them, watching the byplay as they inspect each other silently.
“Who are you?” he breathes, taking one step closer before pausing at the arm of the couch.
The girl doesn’t say anything, just sits there quietly, her shoulders scrunched up and tense, waiting for I don’t know what.
Now, I could be the classic evil stepmother here and totally freak out, because inside I am so totally freaking out, but the kid, well, she’s not to blame for whatever the hell is going on, and the poor thing looks half-starved and frozen.
“Her name is Madeline Barker,” I say when she doesn’t answer, just stares at him like she’s seeing her first Barbie doll.
I watch his face for any signs of recognition and get my answer when he closes his eyes and lets out a tortured groan.
“Uh, why don’t we leave your…Luc, and go get you something to eat?” I ask, floundering but determined to do something good while my husband has a nervous breakdown.
No, I’m not too thrilled to have his love child show up at my door to meet her father for the first time, and you’d better believe I’m taking a chunk outta his ass later, but right now I’m working on mommy mode, and the kid needs some comfort as much as I need to get the heck out of the room to collect myself.
“Come on, Maddy, let’s go feed you and get you bathed and dressed. You look like you could use something warm and pink.”