Page 6 of Seeking Happily Ever After

“You can’t?”

“No,” Char said quickly. “I’m just…what did you say? You want to hire me?” She turned to look at her brother.

Jeremy’s eyes got much bigger and his mouth fell open with a shrug.

“I do. Are you available?”

“I am.”

“Perfect! I have to run right now, but I’ll call you soon so we can set up a meeting and talk details, okay?”

The call ended. Still in shock, Charlotte stared at the phone in wonder before looking to her brother. “Did that just happen?”

He laughed. “Looks like you might have enough money to move out after all, sis.”

With the monitor in hand, Nick quietly slid the glass door to the patio closed and stepped out into the spring air to look out over the ridge. The view was amazing at ElkView Ridge, Damon and Katie Banks’s property that overlooked town. Damon had graciously offered Nick and Amelia the guest house to stay in while the new place in town Nick had purchased was renovated. It was small, but it worked. And really, they didn’t need much room. Even if it made nap time a little difficult.

Nick had set up a temporarynap-timeoffice on the porch, complete with his laptop, a notebook, and his phone. Amelia was pretty good with her naps, but he didn’t want to risk waking her up when he was on the phone, especially if he got heated and raised his voice. And he was sure to do both of those things when he talked to his lawyers lately. The last thing he wanted was to expose Amelia to that kind of negativity, even if she didn’t understand it.

He put the baby monitor down next to his laptop. But before calling Chris, Nick took a moment to take in the beautiful view. He breathed deep, filling his lungs with the fresh air and exhaling slowly.

“It’s pretty amazing, isn’t it?” Damon joined him on the edge of the patio to gaze out over the view and the town below. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said when Nick looked over at him. “I was just on my way into town and saw you.”

“No.” Nick waved away the explanation. “It’s good to see you. I was just about to call Chris, so I could definitely use the distraction.”

“Ah.” Damon pressed his lips together. “The lawyer. That’s either good news or…”

“It’s mixed-up news.” He inhaled the fresh air again, hoping it would help give him clarity. “I’m adopting Amelia.”

“That’s great news.” Damon slapped him on the back, his grin wide. “But…wait…why would you have to adopt? I don’t know how all this works, but you’re her father. It’s just a custody issue, isn’t it? Not an…” His words faded away when Nick shook his head. “No, it’s not a custody issue? Or no, you’re not—”

“I’m not Amelia’s father.” Nick finally confessed his secret to his best friend. Besides his legal team, only Stephanie Starz knew the truth. He’d been hoping to keep it that way for Amelia’s sake, but it was looking less and less likely that would be a possibility.

“I don’t understand.”

Nick waved to the table and the chairs around it. “Sit. It’s a long story.”

He poured his friend a glass of the iced tea he had set out, and filled him in on what he knew, which wasn’t much but included his brief relationship with Jessica, Amelia’s mother, and how she’d told her sister that he was the father—no doubt because she’d read about his massive financial success and was likely the best choice of the prospective fathers, real or not.

“But…why…” Damon clearly struggled to make sense of what Nick had told him. Or more likely, he didn’t want to say it out loud.

“Why would I adopt her if she’s not mine?”

Damon nodded. It was a fair question, to be sure, and one he expected to hear more than once. After all, why would a single, successful man want to willingly tie himself down with a baby who wasn’t his?

As complicated as the question was, the answer was simple.

“I fell in love with her.”

Damon ingested that information. He took a sip of iced tea, swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”

Nick tipped his head toward his friend. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. Of course,” Damon said. “You love her. You’re going to fight for her.”

“I am.”

Damon knew about Nick’s family life and his upbringing, a detail Nick was now thankful for because he didn’t have to revisit it as part of the reasoning as to why he couldn’t ever let Amelia experience what he had growing up. Damon understood.

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