Page 46 of Love is a Harmony
“But I’m sending you the bill to fix them.” Dax crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s go inside. We can catch up there.”
Melanie set Stella down and took her hand. Noah reached for her other hand. Her eyes were red from crying, and right about now, he could kill his friends.
Ben draped an arm over Melanie’s shoulders. “And who is this beautiful girl?” He smiled down as her. He was a man who’d always been destined to have kids. Noah knew it was only a matter of time for him and Piper.
Unlike Noah who’d never seen it in his future or Jo who’d fought against it.
Irony was a jerk like that.
“I’m Stella.” Her voice was small, but Noah was proud of her for speaking at all.
“Hi, Stella.” Ben smiled. “My name is Ben.” He looked to Melanie. “You been keeping secrets from us, Mel? I didn’t know you had a daughter.”
“She’s mine.”
Noah’s words stopped them all in their tracks. Stella wasn’t his natural born daughter, but from now on he was responsible for her.
Jo was the first to start walking again. “Well, we all knew it was only a matter of time before a love child of Noah’s showed up. I’m frankly surprised there’s only one.”
* * *
The group stared at Noah and Melanie with mixtures of sadness and surprise. After all the travel, Stella had fallen asleep on the couch, and Noah carried her to a spare room in the house they now knew belonged to Dax.
He’d never invited them to his place before, his private sanctuary. All Melanie’s clients made a lot of money and did very well for themselves, but Dax Nelson was on a different level—and he did it without letting anyone know who he was.
Noah rubbed his tired eyes as he examined the house for anything that looked like it belonged to the man in their rock stars support group. Did any of them really know Dax at all?
A wall of glass spanned the back looking out on a rocky beach with waves crashing against the shore. Inside, the house was a combination of sleek lines and beachy calm. It was an odd mix, but it worked.
Ben reclined in his chair and looked to the ceiling. “So, let me get this straight. Your brother died—and I’m incredibly sorry for that loss—but he died and left you his kid? Noah, don’t take this the wrong way, but—”
“I’m not exactly father material?” Noah sighed. “I know. But I kind of have to be now, don’t I?”
“There was no one else to take her?” Dax asked the question with the cold logic they knew him for.
Noah jumped to his feet as a growl ripped from his throat. “I am her family. No, there is no one else I’d give her to.” He stormed through the living room and ripped open the back door, stepping out onto a wide wooden deck above the sand dunes.
The mid-day sun shone bright in his eyes, and he shielded them to look out at the fathomless ocean, imagining he stood on that pebbled beach in France with white cliffs looming over him. There, his decisions made sense.
There, he didn’t have to think of everything in terms of his fame, his lifestyle.
The door opened again, but he didn’t turn. Arms wrapped around him from behind.
“Ugh,” Jo groaned. “This stupid belly won’t let me get closer.”
Noah shook his head with a laugh and turned to pull her into a hug. It was just what he needed. Almost ten years ago, he’d met a sullen girl who could light the world on fire with her drums. Yet, he’d been the only one to see that at first. They made each other into what they’d become. There was no Noah Clarke without Jo Jackson.
“I’m sorry about your brother.”
He rested his chin on the top of her head. “Me too.”
“So, we’re both becoming parents.” She lifted her face to peer up at him.
“Should we have a daycare on our next tour?” He wasn’t serious. Mostly.
She laughed. “Maybe we should take a touring break for a while.”
“The label won’t like it.”
