Looking into her eyes here, now, it was easy to forget all the pain she’d caused him. How she’d left him desolate and broken. How many times during the course of their relationship had Alyssa ever expressed a desire to make things right? To give up all her selfishness and do what was right not for herself, but for them?
This was a golden opportunity.
“Daniel?”
He froze, his stomach churning, at Esme’s low call from the foot of the stairs. Slowly, he turned, taking in her shocked expression at the sight of Alyssa effectively wrapped around him. Her gaze shone with confusion, then hurt, as she looked from him to the buxom beauty in his arms. “Daniel, what’s going on?”
“Oh, you are here.” Alyssa slid from his grip almost immediately, starting toward the nightgown- clad woman. “I thought you might be. Daniel does like to keep his little pet projects close.”
Esme visibly winced at the comment as Alyssa came to a stop before her. “I understand what’s happened here, Esme. I really do. You were here to comfort Daniel when I wasn’t. I was harsh with him. Overly harsh…and I haven’t taken this thing about the baby seriously. But now, I am. I want to be a good mother. I want to do this parenthood…thing. I’m ready.”
“Are you?” Esme inquired almost sharply, her almond eyes narrow as her gaze took on a look of fierce protectiveness that was almost frightening. She lay a hand over her belly firmly, glaring at Alyssa. “That’s a pretty quick turnaround from crushing the man you love and not giving two shits.”
“Esme.” Alyssa’s smile was almost sickly sweet. “I understand how I treated you, and I know I could have handled the situation better. But now, the baby’s coming soon. My baby. I have all the legal rights to the child and I am not about to give them up now. Not when I have a second chance. I thank you, really, from the bottom of my heart, for being here when Daniel needed someone to lean on, but I think I can take it from here.”
Esme just stared at her in complete and utter disbelief, before turning to him, her gorgeous eyes fraught with distress. “Is this what you want, Daniel? Do you want me to leave?”
“I…” Daniel found himself at a loss for words. It seemed like Alyssa was finally ready to be the woman he’d always envisioned she could be, but Esme…Esme had been there for him when no one else had. Only now, as Alyssa spoke, he was beginning to wonder if he hadn’t simply acted out of desperation when he’d latched onto her.
After all, she was supposed to have been simply the surrogate. Alyssa and he had been happy together for three years. Perhaps his feelings had been a little twisted. Alyssa was the mother of his baby. Could he just deny her that now, when she seemed truly ready to make a change? “Esme, if we could be alone. Just for a while.”
The young woman’s lips parted in utter and complete shock as she stared up at him. Then, they narrowed, surprisingly, in anger. “Daniel, you are smarter than this.” Her voice trembled with emotion as un-shed tears glimmered in her eyes. “This woman tore you apart. She left you alone when you needed her most. She’s been manipulating and leading you on for years. And now…you’re just going to take her back? Let her have the baby?”
“It’s her baby.” His words came out more brusque than he would have liked as his defenses shot up. He was, after all, a man who had made billions of his own hard work and determination. He wasn’t used to being questioned – or his decisions doubted. Least of all by Esme, who had always stood by him.
Or so he’d thought. “It’s our baby, Esme. Once upon a time, you told me you never wanted children. You were very insistent. Well, now you’ll have what you want. Your life, your career, without any of the hassles of children.”
His heart in his throat, the rancher watched the light fade from the young woman’s eyes. She turned from him, taking a deep breath as she collected herself. “Well, let me be the first to tell you congratulations in advance, then, Alyssa.” Her voice was strained as she addressed the tan-skinned woman. “I wish you all the happiness in the world with the baby…and with Daniel.”
With that, she wrapped her robe more tightly over her protruding stomach, stepping into a pair of flip flops near the door before grabbing the keys to the car she hadn’t driven in over five months. Then, she slipped through the door, closing it quietly behind her, and leaving the foyer in silence.
Daniel felt something inside him twist with a knife-like pain. He swallowed the almost insurmountable desire to chase after her – to take back what he had said and pull her into his arms. Now, Alyssa was back. He had his baby’s mother to contend with.