Page 20 of Chasing I Do
She hated to think that after all of the years of friendship, it would end with a signature on a contract and a payoff. Not that she’d been excited about the thought of having him back in her life, but after seeing him, and how much he looked like Kylie…
She shook her head. The similarities were astounding and had left her spinning with all of the possible what-ifs. She’d tried to keep busy, tried not to dwell on things that couldn’t be changed. But in the middle of the night, when the house was quiet and Kylie was fast asleep, doubt would creep in. Take over until decisions she’d been confident in started to show their cracks.
Margo had accused her of marrying Kyle for his contacts and money. Only to dump him when his career took a nosedive. And she didn’t want to prove the woman right.
Both his career and their engagement had taken a nosedive because he’d slept with his boss’s daughter. And a six-figure bonus didn’t erase the heartache the Eastons had put her through. It also didn’t erase the fact that Kylie had a whole other family out there who she didn’t know anything about.
“He wrote that note before he met Kylie, and his “disregard the apology” was his way of saying he thinks I made a mistake. What if he’s right, what if I did make a mistake?”
The one bite of cupcake she gotten before Jillian stole it soured in her stomach.
Gage might have made a rash decision to end their friendship in a grief-clouded moment, but he was the most steadfast person Darcy knew. He wouldn’t recant an apology, knowing it would hurt her, if he didn’t believe she was truly at fault. And he wouldn’t offer an outrageous amount of money unless he thought she’d be swayed by it.
“What if I let my pain and anger overshadow what was right for Kylie?”
“Stop!” Jillian yelled, jumping to her feet.
Startled, Darcy looked up just as Jillian cupped her hands to her mouth like a megaphone. “No cleats in the bounce house!”
“Okay, Auntie Jillian,” Kylie hollered back, then proceeded to explain to each and every boy that they needed to remove their cleats.
“Seriously, you were worried about being a bad mom? Your four-year-old just took on boys twice her size and forced them into following the rules. And all with a smile. Trust me, you’re doing a great job.”
Darcy tossed the wrapper in the trash bin, then picked up a cone to finish with the fruit salad. “I know, it’s just…I look at her and I see so much of Kyle in her. I want to make sure that I’m taking into consideration what he would have wanted too.”
“But he isn’t here. You are.” Jillian took Darcy’s hand. “And being a single parent means making all of the choices by yourself, and every once in a while you might make a wrong one. But I know you’ve never made decisions based on how it would hurt someone else. You’ve always done what’s best for Kylie.”
“I’d like to think that I have, but sometimes the right choice isn’t so easy to see.”
“No, it’s not.” Jillian opened a bag of sliced oranges and poured them into a bright green bowl. “But I promise you that at the time you made the decisions you did think they were the right ones. But life goes on, goals change, we grow, and sometimes what was best in that moment isn’t the best thing now.”
Jillian was right. Kyle’s brothers might have turned their backs on Darcy, but they never would have walked away from Kylie. Which was a huge part of her reservations.
“Kyle’s brothers are a force. His mother is a nightmare. And Gage looked so angry when we ended things the other day.” She didn’t even want to think about Margo’s reaction. The woman would navigate from anger to resentment like a Formula-1 driver. No one did guilt and vengeance quite like Margo Easton. “Once they meet Kylie, there is no getting rid of the Eastons. Even if they make my life hell.”
“It sounds like Gage reacted out of shock, and you can’t blame the guy,” Jillian reasoned. “That was a hard way to find out he had a niece.”
“I know.” Remembering his shocked expression was enough to forgive him of everything he’d said. “I should have handled it better back then, but I wasn’t strong enough to face any more rejection.”
“Strong enough? Honey, Hitler would have been scared of Margo Easton. She blamed her son’s cheating on you, said you weren’t woman enough, then sued you,” Darcy’s biggest cheerleader said. “I think you are a saint for even being open to her meeting Kylie.”
“I don’t want to keep her from Margo, I just don’t want Margo’s hate for me to affect Kylie.”
“If you’re afraid of Kylie getting stuck in the middle, or them making things hard on you, then meet them on neutral territory and voice your concerns,” Jillian said. “That’s what Jerry and I had to do when we separated, to make sure Sam didn’t miss out because of our issues.”
“You want me to sit down with all of them? Have you seen the Eastons together? They are like a gladiator team.”
“Fine, then start with Gage. You said you were friends? Friendship is a great place to start. You can set the boundaries and the rules up front, leaving zero room for misunderstandings.”
“And if Margo won’t listen?”
Jillian’s face took on a fierce expression that only came out when she was talking about her family—and she thought of Darcy and Kylie as hers. “In the end, you’re Kylie’s mom. Period. So what you say goes. Including who she gets to spend time with and how they spend that time. It’s that simple.”
Darcy snorted, because nothing with the Eastons was ever simple. They were the most intense group of men Darcy had ever met. But they were also big softies when it came to family. Darcy hated it when people held her responsible for Kyle’s choices, so she refused to do the same.
“I’ll email Gage when I get home, tell him we can meet to talk about Kylie. As for the wedding, I’ll make it clear that it is a separate issue, and if we agree to move forward I’m not taking more than my asking rate.”
“What about Kylie?” Jillian asked. “Are you going to bring her?”
