The Baby Arrangement (7 page)

“Kayleigh?”

“Oh, right.  Sorry.  You asked a question.”  Nervously, she fidgeted in her seat and stayed clear of meeting his eyes.  “Well, I originally took the job at Sloan’s to get my foot in the door with a design firm.  I thought that eventually I’d move on or up.  There just never were any openings.”

“So you stayed on even though your talents were being wasted?”  His tone showed that he thought her to be insane and a quick glance at her confirmed it.

“I guess time just got away from me and I got too comfortable.”  Rising from the sofa, Kayleigh walked to the kitchen to pour herself some water.  Derek followed.

“Okay, so now that the cat’s out of the bag, I’m curious about your thoughts.”

“On what exactly?”

“Well, for starters, on what my plans are for the company?  Do you think it’s something that can be done or am I looking to pursue too broad a spectrum?”  Derek almost cringed as he heard himself.  Never had he asked for advice from anyone where his company was concerned.  Not even his grandparents and it was their damn company to begin with!  Now he stood at one in the morning, talking to an employee, a lovely employee at that, about the future of his empire. 

Not wanting to seem too anxious, she took a sip of water before answering.  “Okay, well, I guess I think that it’s a great idea and that you should do it.  You’ve always been successful before in your expansions, and so I see no reason why this one wouldn’t succeed.”

Annoyance flooded through Derek.  “Okay, you can put the pom-poms away.  I’m not looking for the ‘yes-man’ attitude here, Kayleigh.  I thought that you of all people would be honest with me.”  Slamming a hand on the counter, he stalked back to the living room and picked a report up to read before sitting back down on the sofa. 

Realizing her mistake immediately, she stormed after him.  “You want honesty, okay, here it comes.  Yes, I think that it is about time that Sloan’s broadened its horizons, so to speak.  I think that while the products that you produce now are fine and are selling well, they’re boring.  They’re almost generic.  I can picture each and every one of them in a doctor’s office.  Sometimes when I have to send out a sample to a customer, I think that it wouldn’t matter if I got the item number wrong because so many of them look the damn same!”

“I think that it’s time to introduce your design team to a little something called
color
and imagination.”  Pacing the room waving her arms around as she spoke, she went on.  “I’m not talking about taking on places like chain restaurants or anything remotely corporate.  I’d like to see Sloan’s get to the residential, high end homes.  For us to work with architects and decorators so that we can do the model homes; and not just your average, run of the mill homes, luxury homes, villas, exotic locations…I mean, the possibilities are endless.”

She was reaching down for the sketch pad again as Derek sat in stunned silence.  “Take this living room here for example,” she began as she furiously sk
etched the room they were in, “the colors are great, your decorator did a fine job,
but it still lacks warmth.  If we went with warm, earthy colors here and used solids on this piece and more textures here…” Kayleigh had almost forgotten that Derek was sitting there, so caught up in the moment was she.  She could see it all in her mind, the room exactly as she wanted it.  She sketched and touched and wandered about the room as she went.  “Textured wallpaper for the vaulted ceiling would be amazing.  So much better than that popcorn stuff that’s up there now.  You’d want to be able to offer a complete room; everything that a decorator could possibly want to finish a room they should be able to get from Sloan’s.”  Finally finished, she handed the sketch pad to Derek while she continued to prowl the room.

Looking down at the paper in his hands, Derek was speechless.  He had always thought that this room was fine, but looking down at the picture Kayleigh had presented to him he found all that he lacked.  “Surely this didn’t just come to you this minute?”

“What?  Oh, no…it’s something I’ve been thinking about since I came here with Emery.  I do that sometimes, sit in a room and make it different in my head.”

“Do you have other ideas down on paper?  Not just about my house, but other ideas in general about fabrics and patterns?”

Oh, this was all getting way too tempting.  This could be the exact opportunity that she had been looking for.  The chance to get into the design department and out of customer service while still working for Sloan’s was suddenly looking like a very real possibility.

“I do,” she said cautiously.  “All of my stuff is back at my place.  I didn’t think I’d have time for it while I was caring for Emery.”

“Maybe tomorrow you can stop by and get it and we can look at together after dinner.  What do you think?”

Her stomach was full of butterflies.  “I think I can do that.”  Taking a deep breath she turned and caught a glimpse of the time.  “I think it’s time I headed back up.  Emery is still an early riser and I need to get some sleep.  I’ll see you in the morning.”  Afraid to get to close to him, she backed out of the room as she spoke.  “Good night, Derek.”

He gave her a smile that turned her knees to jelly.  “Good night, Kayleigh.”

****

Derek couldn’t wait to get home the following evening.  His mind had been stuck on Kayleigh all day.  Who would have thought that finding a baby in his office would lead to so many possibilities? 

Baby in his office.

Crap, when did he last put any effort into resolving
that
particular issue?  Between work, business trips, and his attraction to Kayleigh, he had put the whole business with Emery out of his mind.  He knew she was there, but his mind tended to block out the reasons why – mainly because her arrival had brought so many bonuses with it.

Focus, dammit
!  Picking up his phone, he first dialed the number for his lawyer and touched base with him on any new developments with finding Brian.  With nothing new to report, Derek hung up and dialed his private investigator and hoped to have more luck with the location of the birth mother.

By the time he arrived home that evening, his head was roaring.  Never in his life had he felt so out of control.
  Every where he turned there were loose ends and that could not continue.  With no real leads to go on, the private investigator promised to keep in touch, but hadn’t sounded hopeful.  With Brian still out of the country they were at a dead end in just about every way.  Derek had no doubt that Emery was Brian’s daughter.  After going through his social calendar and following up on the women he had been involved with in the last year, nothing had turned up.

The thought of the baby belonging to his brother bothered him more than it should have.

Walking through the door of his home he was immediately hit with sensory overload.  Something wonderful was cooking, there was classical music coming from the sound system throughout the house and Emery was having the kind of meltdown that she’d exhibited that first day in his office.  Tossing his briefcase down at the door, Derek rushed into the living room in search of Kayleigh.

“What’s going on?  Is Emery all right?” his voice was
laced with concern and without thinking, he reached out and took the crying child from Kayleigh’s arms to comfort her.  He was rubbing the baby’s back, speaking softly to her as he gently bounced her while walking around when he noticed the stunned look on Kayleigh’s face.  One dark arched eyebrow in her direction said more than any question.

“She’s been fussy ever since she woke from her nap this afternoon,” Kayleigh said, rising from the sofa.  She gently placed a cloth on his shoulder to protect his shirt from anything Emery might do as she walked to the kitchen to check on their dinner.  “I called my brother and he said that there are a million reasons why a baby could be fussy.”  She turned and stirred the sauce that was on the stove before adding, “We have an appointment with him first thing in the morning.”

Derek was more than a little relieved that Kayleigh was being so thorough in her care of the infant.  Carefully, he lifted Emery from his shoulder and cradled her in his arms and his heart ached.  He wasn’t sure how it had happened, especially since he had to remind himself earlier that she was a part of his life, but looking into Emery’s tear streaked face he realized that he had come to love her. 

And she was Bri
an’s.

True, she was still his niece
, but that bit of information did nothing to make him feel better.  It bothered him that his irresponsible brother was going to come home and find out that he had a daughter and not care like he should; there was no way that Brian was going to take kindly to the news of being a father.  He was selfish and had no desire to settle down.  How was he going to take care of Emery? 
Who
was going to take care of Emery?

Glancing over at K
ayleigh, Derek imagined that Brian would try to get Kayleigh to help him.  Rage built in him and he started to feel the tension rise.  Apparently, so did Emery because her face started to scrunch up as she prepared to cry.  Carefully placing her back on his shoulder, Derek went back to rubbing her back and doing his best to keep her calm.  It was a bit awe inspiring to realize that this tiny person was so sensitive to his moods.  Would his brother appreciate this incredible gift?  Would he look down at his daughter in wonder? 

“Derek?  Are you okay?”  He looked up and at Kayleigh across the room, concern written all over her face.

“I’m fine,” he sighed and realized that he wanted to share with her what he was thinking.  “We finished part of the search into who Emery is.”

Kayleigh felt all of the blood drain from her face as she dropped the spoon she had been using on to the counter.  “And?”  She gripped the granite to keep from going across the room to Derek.  She knew this day was going to come and that there was a very real possibility of Emery being his daughter
, but that thought just made her ill.  The thought of Derek creating a child with another woman was almost more than she could bear.

“She’s Bri
an’s.”

All of the breath Kayleigh had been holding seemed to whoosh out of her with relief.  “How can you
be so sure?  I mean, without Brian being here.”

Noticing that Emery had fallen asleep, Derek gently placed her in the cradle that Kayleigh had set up in the living room.  Once he was sure that she wasn’t going to stir, he turned to Kayleigh and explained how all of the women in his life for the last year had been eliminated.  He noticed her shoulders sag.  Was she relieved?  Did it bother her that there was a possibility of Emery being his?
              “Well, I guess that’s one obstacle that’s cleared,” she said carefully, not making eye contact with him.  “Any word on Brian’s whereabouts?”

“We know he’s in Africa; we just can’t get in contact with him.”

“So what happens now?”

“Unfortunately, until he’s back, we’re no closer to knowing who Emery’s mother is.”

Unable to help herself, Kayleigh stepped around the counter that separated them and placed a hand on Derek’s arm.  “Are you okay with all of this?” she asked softly.  “With Brian being Emery’s father?”

“A week ago I would have said yes
, but now…” he let the statement hang, unsure if he was ready to admit out loud what his heart was telling him.

Kayleigh wanted to push him for more information but could tell that Derek was struggling with all of this new information.  Quietly she turned back to the kitchen and finished the meal preparation.  Within minutes they were seated at the table, making small talk over their shared meal.

“I went to my apartment today and picked up some of my sketch pads and supplies,” she said hesitantly, unsure if she should have waited for him to ask for her drawings.

Derek’s head snapped up and for the first time since he walked in the door, he looked happy, hopeful.  “Great.  I’m anxious to see what you’ve been working on.”  For the remainder of the meal they talked business, it was a safe topic.  Once the dishes were cleared and Kayleigh went to grab her portfolio, Emery started to fuss.

“I’ll get her,” Derek said.  “Go get your stuff.” 

She wanted to argue; he was paying her
small fortune to be Emery’s caretaker and it seemed that since Derek found out that the baby was his brother’s, he was getting more hand’s on.  Kayleigh didn’t know what to think of that, but surely it couldn’t be a coincidence.

When she walked back in to the room, Derek was seated on one of the sofas with Emery in his arms as he spoke softly to her.  Taking one of her tiny hands, he examined it as if seeing it for the first time.  Then he did the same with her feet.  Kayleigh’s heart nearly broke as she watched this big, strong man gently caress the infant’s cheek in wonder.

Sensing her presence he looked up.  “She’s so small,” he said, his voice laced with sadness.

Dropping her portfolio next to the sofa, she went to him.  “She won’t stay that way for long.  In the last week I can see a difference in the way
some of her clothes fit.  Jared said she’s fine; we’ll get her weight and measurements tomorrow and you can see for yourself that she’s growing.”

He merely nodded. 

Rising, Kayleigh went to the kitchen and prepared a bottle for him to feed to Emery.  Within minutes she was back and sitting beside him and there was something oddly comforting in the silence.  There wasn’t a need for conversation, they just sat and merely enjoyed watching the baby take her evening meal.  Soon it was time to change her and get her ready for bed, which they did together, and Derek was the one who placed her down to sleep for the night.  Standing in the doorway, Kayleigh could sense his inner turmoil.