Page 52 of Always Be Mine

“We were young when we met, and we were never in love or anything like that. It was…well, totally unplanned to say the least. Donna was here to work a ski season, have a good time and go home, back to school in Australia. She never wanted to be a mother, especially then.”

Lucy put her free hand to her chest as she realized what Craig was saying. She’d imagined a variety of scenarios as to why Craig was a single dad, but abandonment by Meri’s mother hadn’t been one of them.

“I don’t have any ill will toward Donna at all,” Craig said, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. “In fact, I’m very grateful for her and her sacrifice. She didn’t even have to tell me she was pregnant, but she cared enough to tell me because she knew I’d want to know. Later, she confessed that she knew I’d react the way I had, with one hundred percent certainty that I wanted to raise the baby.” He smiled a little to himself. “She knew I’d feel that way, and she still told me. She didn’t have to do that.”

Lucy shook her head. “No. I don’t think a lot of young women would.”

“It’s hard to know how you’ll react to such a situation until it happens to you.”

“True.”

“Donna agreed to go through with the pregnancy with the understanding that she did not want any parental involvement after the baby was born.”

“Wow.” It was such an insignificant word for the situation. Lucy took another sip of wine to keep herself from saying anything more.

“Very wow. Honestly, Lucy, it was the greatest gift she could have given me. And truly the most selfless thing she could have done.”

“But to walk away from?—”

“Donna never wanted to be a mother. I think it’s very brave for a woman to make that choice. And even more brave for her to recognize that the best thing she could have done for Meri was to not try to force herself into a situation where she would have been miserable and resent her child.”

Lucy nodded slowly and let Donna’s choice sink in. “I never thought about it that way. But I guess you’re right.”

“And Meredith has so much love in her life.”

Lucy’s smile once more crept over her face. “That’s easy to see.” They sat in comfortable silence for a moment. “Thank you for telling me, Craig.”

“Of course. I should have told you earlier. It’s just that?—”

“You didn’t want Meri to know.”

He shook his head. “Not yet. I’ll tell her when the time is right and she can understand. I always had six in the back of my head, like that’s when I’d talk to her about it. But her birthday is coming up and…”

“She’ll be ready.”

Craig looked up at her with an expression on his face that she couldn’t quite read. “Thanks, Lucy. And thank you for staying. I know I’m not the best boss, or the most experienced, and I’ve obviously never hired a nanny before. This was all kind of…well, it was thrown at me, and you’ve been absolutely wonderful. I don’t usually believe in these things, but the more I think about it, the more I can’t help but feel that Garfield escaping in the plaza and you slipping on the ice in front of my store was all…”

“Serendipitous?”

“Exactly.” He raised his glass, and she followed suit. “Cheers to serendipity.”

ChapterThirteen

Lucy arrivedat the big house at five o’clock exactly. She stopped to pick up a nice bottle of wine, guessing that white would be the right choice.

Her first reaction when Craig had invited her to the family dinner was to decline. She didn’t want to set a precedent for getting too involved in his life, especially on her days off. But he’d insisted that his family wanted to properly meet her since she was spending so much time with Meri. Finally, she relented. After all, she’d already met Asher and Kat. It felt right that she officially met the others, too.

She had insisted on driving herself, though, which felt a little ridiculous considering they lived in the same house, but she was grasping to have at least a few boundaries.

It felt important, even if those boundaries were only in her own head.

It was easy to see how Craig’s childhood home got its name. The house was massive. Definitely bigger than anything she’d seen in Trickle Creek, the home rivaled those in the upscale neighborhoods of Vancouver with its long, winding drive up the mountain, protected by a heavy wooden gate. The circular driveway was filled with vehicles she assumed belonged to the Carlson siblings.

Lucy parked behind Craig’s Jeep and sat for a moment, staring at the imposing house.

“Here goes nothing.” She gave her head a little shake, put a friendly smile on her face, and, wine in hand, left the relative security of her car.

Before she could make it up the steps, the front door swung open, and Craig appeared. He was dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, his hair tousled as if he’d just woken up. The sight of him standing in the doorway, despite the fact that it had only been a few hours since they’d awkwardly made small talk in his kitchen, took her breath away. Lucy swallowed her reaction quickly and grinned.

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