Delinquent Daddy (18 page)

Frowning as the gong echoed through the house, Ellie dusted her hands off on her hips and started toward the entrance. She'd just hit the living room when Cassie barreled out of her room.

"No!" Ellie said sternly. "Back into your room, missy."

"But—"

"Back," Ellie repeated.

Sending her mother a look from hell, the nine-year-old stormed back into her room and slammed the door. Ellie sighed. Though her nerves were about to snap in half, Ellie forced herself to remain calm. Cassie was just in a mood.

Give her a day or two and her temper would cool. Then Ellie would go into Cassie's room, sit on her bed, and they'd have 166

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

their mother-daughter talk, working everything out. They always worked things out. They were a pair, a team.

Nothing could keep them apart for long.

Bolstered by that thought, Ellie opened the door and froze.

Boston lifted his face, and their gazes held fast.

"Oh, God. What're
you
doing here?" she blurted out, instantly sick to her stomach.

No, no, no. He couldn't come here tonight. Not with Cassie in the mood she was in. Okay, Ellie trusted her daughter to want to stay once she was calmer and more rational. But she had no idea what Cassie would do if she saw her father
now
.

Boston quietly studied her a moment before answering.

"Cassidy called me."

Ellie's face drained of color. Clearing her throat, she reached for the doorframe to keep from passing out flat on her face. "She...what?"

He nodded. "She asked if she could come live with me."

Ellie's stomach contorted with pain. No. He couldn't take her baby girl. He just couldn't. Folding her arms over her chest, she cocked her brows and said, "So, you've come to pack her up and leave together, just like that, hmm?"

Boston sighed. "No. I came because... Damn it, Ellie. Will you let me in?" When Ellie didn't budge, he lifted a hand to signal peaceful intentions. "I only want to talk to her."

And convince her to leave me so she can go live with you
, Ellie wanted to snarl. But she kept silent. No, she couldn't say anything to really tick him off, or he'd have Cassie out of here in seconds. Realizing she'd have an even bigger fight on her 167

Delinquent Daddy

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hands if she tried to keep the two of them apart right now, she reluctantly stepped aside.

Obviously, Boston had been expecting the fight.

Hesitating, he paused and looked at her. Then he nodded a brief thanks.

Stepping carefully over the threshold, he glanced her way one last time as if he expected her to change her mind. Then, he passed through the living room and started down the hall.

Ellie moved to the hall entrance to watch him. He knocked softly on Cassie's door and opened it. When Cassie's ecstatic cry echoed back, Ellie cringed. Boston disappeared through the doorway and shut himself inside with his daughter.

That was when Ellie decided it was time to have her breakdown.

She hurried to the kitchen, out the porch/laundry room, through the back door, and onto the patio. There was a tattered old picnic table sitting on the cobblestone deck. She collapsed onto the bench, clutched her stomach, and looked up at the house, wondering if Boston was busy helping Cassidy pack.

She could fight him. And she could fight Cassie. But there was no way she could fight them together. If they wanted to be with each other, there was no way Ellie could deny it.

Cassidy was the most important person in the world, and if Boston was what she truly wanted, Ellie knew she'd grant it.

Even if it destroyed her in the process. She'd die for her daughter if she had to.

Cassidy was lying on her bed, staring at the wall when Boston tapped on her door and popped his head inside.

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"Hey," he said quietly.

She glanced over, looking moody and rebellious. But when she saw him, her eyes shot open. "You came!" she screeched and leaped off the bed.

Boston slipped inside and softly closed the door behind him. He barely caught Cassie as she launched herself into his arms.

"You really came," she repeated in awe and nuzzled her face in his shoulder, wrapping her arms tight around him.

"I told you I would," he murmured and stroked her hair as he carried her to the bed. Boston sat and settled her on the mattress next to him. He pondered idly as he did so, wondering if he would've kept her nestled on his lap if he'd known her for the past nine years and ten months. If he was familiar and comfortable with his daughter, would he have set her next to him like she was someone else's daughter and kept that polite distance between them? Or maybe he would've kept her close and continued to run his hand comfortingly down her back.

A wave of regret hit him. He'd missed so many years.

He waited a beat for the anger to follow, the resentment against Ellie. But he didn't experience it. Instead, he focused on Cassie, intent to make up lost time.

"Now," he said. "What's going on between you and your mother?"

"Nothing," Cassie mumbled, ducking her head. "I just want to come live with you."

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"Well, I don't think nothing happened," Boston said, staring down at the top of Cassie's hair. "I think
something
definitely happened."

"She's so mean," Cassie finally admitted, lifting her face to show Boston a rebellious look. "I can't do anything because of her. She treats me like a little kid."

Boston checked the impulse to say, "But you are a little kid."

"I hate green beans, but
she
makes me eat them. My friend Ally gets to stay home from school at least once a month because her mom is so cool. But my stupid mom makes me go every day. I have to take a bath when she tells me to and eat what she tells me to. And she kept me from you. She always makes me do stupid stuff that's
good
for me.

I'm sick of it. Maybe I don't want to brush my teeth every night. Maybe I don't like
healthy
food."

Boston swallowed back a quick laugh. His poor little girl.

She had a first-rate mother, and it was driving her crazy. He opened his mouth to tell her she should be grateful instead of so unappreciative, when she blurted out, "And It's
her
fault you didn't know me all these years."

Boston paused.

"If she hadn't lied to you, you wouldn't have left. It's all her fault."

His chest tightening, Boston sighed and rubbed his face.

He didn't even bother to ask how she'd learned so much about the weeks after her conception. "No," he said. "It's not
all
her fault. Cassie, I..." He lifted his face and winced in apology. "I said some things"—and did some things—"to 170

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make your mother think I didn't want to stick around. She had a reason to do what she did."

Maybe not a good one in his opinion, but she'd had one.

Cassie looked up at him with wide eyes. "But you
did
want me, didn't you?"

"Yes," Boston answered immediately. "Of course. And I want you to come live with me more than you'll ever know.

But I think you should stay here with...with your mom."

"Y-you do?" Cassie said, her eyes going wide with hurt.

As much as he wanted to pick up her suitcase and say,

"Let's go," he knew that wasn't the right decision. Children of separated parents had it hard enough as it was. It wouldn't help anything to create such an open war with Ellie about this. Picking that fight with her after the Chuck E. Cheese's outing and letting Cassie catch them at it had been an eye-opening experience. Unmarried or not, he and Ellie were this child's parents, and they needed to appear as a united front.

So Boston swallowed his pride and nodded. "Yes," he said.

"You need her right now. And no matter how mad you are, you love her, and you'd hate to be without her." He paused when he saw her face turn hard and unyielding.

"Just tell me who'd make chocolate chip cookies with you?"

he asked because he remembered Cassie talking about how she loved to make cookies with Ellie. "And who'd go before-school shopping with you every year?"

"C-couldn't you?" the girl asked, looking up at him with wide questioning eyes.

He melted. "Well, yeah. I probably could," he relented with a nod. "But it wouldn't be the same. That's special stuff you 171

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by Linda Kage

do with just your mom. You and I are going to make up new stuff to do together. And that'll be
our
special time."

Reaching out, he took both her hands and squeezed firmly.

"I promise someday I'll take you home with me and you can visit my house for a while. Okay? But you have to stay here too. You have to make up with your mother."

Cassidy frowned at that suggestion. "I don't want to make up with her." She jerked her hands from his. "I hate her."

Boston blinked in surprise. He didn't much like the fact that his sweet, innocent young daughter could be so spiteful.

"Please let me come live with you," she begged.

His heart filled with an emotion that seemed to consume him to the point of explosion. He just wanted to scoop her up and let her have whatever she wanted. But she was being a brat, and Ellie's words echoed through his head.
That's the
second time tonight you got to play the good guy.

"No," he heard himself say, sounding stubbornly resolute and, surprisingly, just like he could remember his own father being. "You said some very mean things about her. Things that would hurt her. I can only imagine what you told her to her face. So you're not leaving this room until you can apologize to your mother."

Cassie's face filled with surprise. Then anger. Crossing her arms over her chest, she growled. "Fine. I didn't want to leave anyway."

Boston eased quietly out of Cassie's room, slightly sick to his stomach. Worried he'd just lost his one chance with her, he paused to swallow down his rising panic. Then he huffed out a breath and walked through the house until he saw Ellie 172

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through the back window. Blowing out another breath for an entirely different reason, he opened the door to join her. He wasn't sure why he bothered. Both Trenton girls despised him at the moment. He should leave. But he felt drawn to Ellie, and leaving was the last thing he could do.

It was a cool evening with a slight breeze. Ellie sat at a picnic table, huddled inside her bulky jacket. For a moment, she looked so much like that college girl he'd fallen for, he couldn't even breathe.

Then she lifted her face and that was it. All the anger he'd felt over the past week evaporated. In its place, a strange ache wrapped around his chest and pulled taut.

Light from the kitchen window reflected on the wet gleam on her cheeks. He didn't like seeing her cry. It made him feel helpless and clumsy. He just wanted to go to her and pull her into his arms and tell her—

Instead, he shoved his hands into his pockets. "There. Now we're both the bad guy," he said and moved to sit on the bench seat opposite hers.

Ellie unobtrusively tried to swipe at her cheeks. "What?"

Boston tilted his head back so he could stare up at the sky and not her. "She begged to come live with me, but I said no.

I told her she couldn't even leave her room until she apologized to you."

"You what?"

She sounded so surprised, Boston straightened and gave her a helpless shrug. "It sounded like something a dad would say."

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He wondered if it'd been the wrong thing, though. He wondered what he should've said. The temptation to ask Ellie what he should've done almost suffocated him. He was so uncertain, even his own skin felt uncomfortable.

But then he noticed a slight smile on her face. "That's exactly what I told her too," she finally murmured.

His heart thumped against his ribcage in a crazy little beat.

He wanted to reach across the table and take her hand.

Unable to keep the anxiety at bay, he asked, "Do you think she'll ever talk to me again?"

Once again Ellie sent him an amused smile, making his pulse even more erratic. "Cassie might be quick to throw a fit, but she's just as quick to get over it. She'll probably be calling you tomorrow and begging you to take her back to Chuck E.

Cheese's."

"And would you let me?" he asked softly.

She didn't answer immediately. Boston held his breath, hoping he hadn't just started another fight. He didn't want to fight tonight. Not when he felt such a kinship with her.

But Ellie didn't grow upset. She lowered her eyes to her tightly clasped hands in her lap and answered, "You know, you could've taken her away for good tonight. I was so upset, I probably would've let her go with you if that was what you'd both wanted."

He swallowed. "I was tempted to tell her yes."

Ellie looked like she was going to start up crying again.

Boston was grateful she managed to keep the tears at bay. It was hard enough as it was to sit across from her and not 174

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move toward her. Her face was already blotchy from bawling, and he was once again filled with the urge to hold her.

"I love my daughter," she said in a hoarse voice, "But tonight, I couldn't have fought her...not you and her both."

Boston swallowed, not sure how to respond.

"I thank you," Ellie whispered. "For whatever reason you decided to convince her to stay with me, I thank you. From the bottom of my heart."

He lifted his gaze. "A little girl needs her mother," he said.

"And you...you're a good mother, El. I only have to look at her to know that. She's the most amazing child I've ever met.