“But not anymore.” And that was true.
“He’ll call Jilly’s friends as witnesses to say I never cared for her, that I ignored her while we were married. Emotional abuse, they’ll call it.”
“But it was understandable,” Candace defended him. “And it doesn’t relate to Jennie.”
“The same people will say that I wasn’t interested in Jilly’s pregnancy, that I wasn’t even present for the baby’s birth, that I went away for long periods for work and didn’t even return when my child was ill—and it’s all true.”
He sounded so wretched that Candace’s heart went out to him.
Nick settled down on the carpet beside her. Jennie stretched her hands out to the toys scattered around Candace, and he set her down. Both of them watched the baby as she tried to crawl toward the nearest blocks.
“How could I ever have known that she would wrap herself around my heart?” His gaze met Candace’s. “I won’t lose her. Desmond doesn’t realize what he’s started. I’ve already instructed my lawyers to oppose it. I think his suit is based on a pack of lies, but I’m not prepared to risk losing.” Nick shifted closer. “Candace, we’re going to make it clear he has no claim to Jennie—no biological tie exists between Jennie and Desmond.”
“But Jilly adopted Jennie.”
“I’m still waiting for proof that the adoption went through. You and I are Jennie’s biological parents—and we both love her.” His hand settled on hers where it pressed into the carpet. “I don’t think this is about Jennie—I think this is about clinging on to Jilly. He can’t accept that she’s gone.”
Candace shifted her weight to enable her to turn her hand palm up, and laced her fingers with his, drawing immeasurable comfort from his touch. She’d been so careful to stay out of Nick’s reach for the past couple of days in case she gave away her newly discovered feelings to him. The tender emotions were so precious, she had to shelter them from the bruising and battering that were inevitable.
But this time his touch wasn’t about sex. It was about so much more.
“It must be hard for Desmond to have lost his daughter.” Watching Jennie playing, she couldn’t stop a twinge of sympathy for Jilly’s father from stirring within her. How terrible to lose a child. “Poor man.”
“Don’t waste too much sympathy on him. I’m sure he only came up with this idea after seeing you with me on Sunday.”
“You don’t suppose—” She broke off, not wanting to voice the unkind thought.
“I don’t suppose…what?”
“You spoke about Desmond trying to hurt you through Alison on Sunday. You don’t suppose he’s only doing this to hurt you again? That it’s not about Jennie at all?”
Nick didn’t respond, but the grip of his fingers grew tighter. Jennie was gnawing at a block. Her gums had been swollen, the next tooth would be through very soon.
“Such an overreaction would be insane,” she said finally, hoping her response wasn’t misplaced.
“Not for Desmond,” said Nick slowly. “He’s more than capable of that kind of malice. I simply hadn’t considered that he might want to hurt me that much.”
She turned her head and met his gaze. “Why would he want to do such a thing?”
“It’s a power thing…he couldn’t get me to bend to his will. Perhaps he thinks Jennie would be my breaking point.”
“And would she be?”
Candace held her breath as she waited for his answer. This was crucially important, far more important than the throwaway tone of the question suggested.
There was a flash of something…vulnerability?…in the navy depths of his eyes. “It would kill me to lose Jennie.”
The simple intensity of his response rocked her to the foundations of her existence. He cared. Candace wasn’t sure why it mattered so much, only that it did.
He loved Jennie.
She placed her other hand over his, cradling his hand between both of hers. Her love for him flowed through her fingers, and she hoped it would give him the strength he needed to do what was right.
Without taking his eyes from her, he raised her hands and placed a kiss very carefully, first on the back of one hand, then on the other.
A rush of emotion overtook her.
Currents electrified the space between them. A compelling need to defuse the sudden tension vibrating between them made her say with forced lightness, “Boy, you certainly picked the family to marry into.”
Nick shook his head. “They did the picking.”
She remembered what he’d told her about how Jilly and her father had all but blackmailed him into marriage, and his suppressed frustration became totally understandable.