Page 24 of Mr. Almost

Everything starts clicking into place.

Olivia’s hatred every time I’ve cornered her.

The way my mother freaked out when she saw Olivia at the hotel.

I swallow hard. “I never knew. I know you won’t believe me right now, but I never got that call. If I had, I would have been there. Iwould never want you to…” I rub my face, not even able to say the words.

My mother told her to end my child’s life. I’ve given her so much leeway over the years. She’s overstepped time after time, acting like the puppet master of my life, but it stops now. This is unforgivable.

“It doesn’t really matter now, does it?” she whispers, her eyes filling with tears.

I reach out, grabbing her hand. “I want to be part of her life now.”

She nods numbly. “On a trial basis. I might not have much money, but if you try to take her from me, I will fight you with everything I can.”

The fierce mama bear in her makes me smile.

“I would expect no less.”

After a moment of silence, I ask, “What did she mean she knew I would come back? How did she know who I was?”

I watch as Olivia swallows hard. “You’re her father. Even if you didn’t want to be part of her life, I wanted her to know you. You probably missed it, but there’s a picture I got off the internet of you next to her bed. She’s not old enough yet to know the truth, so I told her you had to go away and would likely never come back. When she was older, I planned to tell her a watered-down version of the truth. That you weren’t ready to be a father, but that you cared for her, which is why you left. You only wanted what was best for her.”

My eyes prickle with tears. Even thinking I wanted nothing to do with our child, she still tried to keep my memory alive within her. She wanted her to know me even if I never came back.

I clear my throat, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Thank you. God, I missed so much.”

“You’re welcome.” She pauses. “I’m sure you have questions. If you want, I have a scrapbook laying around here somewhere that I can show you, and of course the photos I have on my phone.”

“I would like that. Truly, I would, but I can’t. Not right now. I’m too angry at my mother for stealing this from me, and going through all of that would only make it worse.”

“Of course. Let me know when you’re ready.”

“Can I stay the night? I’m not sure I’m ready to leave yet,” I admit.

She looks around the apartment. It’s obvious that Olivia sleeps on the couch, while Arianna has a little toddler bed in the other room.

“You can have the couch. I should probably sleep closer to her anyway.” She points to Arianna’s room.

“On the floor?” I question.

She nods.

I shake my head. “Absolutely not. You take the couch. I’ll sleep here on the floor. Tomorrow, we will figure everything else out. Today, you tell me what we need to get to make our little girl feel better.”

She sucks in a breath when I call her ours. That’s what she is, though. She is our little girl.

Like it or not, we are in this together now. I won’t ever lose Arianna again.

Even as mad as I am, a little thought in the back of my head whispers I won’t lose Livvy again either.

She doesn’t know it, but she’s still mine.

Chapter

Six

OLIVIA

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