Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109783 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 549(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
“We’re done. You can make an appointment with the receptionist for Millicent’s next set of immunizations.” He turned away to tap information into Millie’s records.
I clenched my teeth, the sudden image of this fucker kissing and touching Eilidh filling my mind and then my chest with a pain I couldn’t stand. Possessiveness thrummed through every beat of my heart as I strode to the door and opened it. I blamed it for the devil that rode me as I glanced back at the doctor who watched me with a look in his eyes I did not fucking like. “Just so you know … Eilidh’s never thought of me as a brother. And I definitely don’t think of her as a sister.”
I walked out before he could respond.
Millie chatted to me in her baby voice.
“It’s okay, wee yin. Dad’s just having a life-changing, ground-shaking epiphany.”
“Ae!”
Her hopeful little expression fueled me. “Aye, wee yin. Exactly.”
Twenty-Three
EILIDH
It had been a rare day in the Highlands. Summer had come a wee bit early and since Fyfe had Millie all day, I had time to myself to soak up the hot spring sun. I’d taken a lounger and side table out of my parents’ storage at the back of the annex and planted it in their back garden. With the sea ahead of me, light glistening on the water, the heat on my skin, I’d lain there and enjoyed the soothing, rhythmic lull of the waves hitting the coastline below. Throughout the afternoon, I vacillated between napping and making notes about my script.
It was the first day in such a long time that I felt truly relaxed.
However, Millie and Fyfe were never far from my thoughts. I was eager to discover how they’d gotten on today. He hadn’t said why he was taking the day off work, other than he had some errands to run and he wanted to do them with Millie. Thinking that was so sweet and I was so proud of him I could barely stand it, I didn’t question Fyfe any further.
After dragging myself off the lounger just as Mor and Mum arrived home, I tidied everything away and grabbed my phone from the annex. To my surprise, I had several missed calls from both Fyfe and Cameron.
And a text from each.
Fyfe:
Sorry to bother you, but we need to talk. Can you come around to the house this afternoon?
Cameron:
We need to talk. My place? Six thirty?
Bloody hell.
Deciding to text Cameron later, I popped my head into the house to let Mum and Mor know I was heading over to Fyfe’s before I jumped into my G-Wagon.
I remembered Fyfe’s reaction when he saw the vehicle for the first time.
He’d hooted at the sight of it, chuckling as he rounded the four-by-four.
“What?” I’d mock scowled at him.
“We know you’ve got money, Eils. You don’t need to prove it.”
“It’s secondhand!”
“Aye, and I know how much a secondhand G-Wagon costs. They don’t depreciate like other vehicles.”
My cheeks were hot at his teasing. “I’m not showing off. I like it. I like being high off the ground and seeing farther along the road.”
“Defender. Wrangler. Those ring a bell? They’re high off the ground.”
“Everyone around here drives a Defender or a Wrangler. I like to be different. And this is a hybrid, so it’s more eco-friendly.”
He’d given me a tender smile. “I know, sweetheart. It actually suits you.”
“Well, now I don’t know how to take that.”
He’d considered the vehicle and then me. “It’s a Highlander wearing Louis Vuitton.”
At that, I’d burst out laughing.
Even now it made me smile.
That smile, however, disappeared rapidly when Fyfe opened the door to me fifteen minutes later. Although his demeanor was calm, there was a hardness in his eyes that made me wary. Following him into the living space, I strolled over to Millie’s cot to make sure she was okay. Fyfe had bought another cot and put it in the second bedroom. We were in the process of turning the smaller room into a nursery. All of us were coming together next weekend to decorate it.
Millie was asleep in the living room cot. The urge to reach down to touch her was something I had to physically fight. This wee girl had crawled into my heart so quickly. Every time I thought about Pamela abandoning her, I was heartbroken for Millie. But also worried for Pamela, a stranger I’d never met. I couldn’t believe that giving up Millie hadn’t greatly affected her. Even if she thought it was for the best. It couldn’t be easy.
I didn’t say that to Fyfe.
He was too upset for Millie to be sympathetic toward her mother and I understood where he was coming from. Unfortunately, he knew exactly how Millie’s mother’s abandonment would affect her as she grew old enough to understand.
The difference was, though, unlike Fyfe, Millie would have a father who would never willingly leave her. I knew she was going to be all right. Better than all right.