Oh, Maddie.

Too sick to care very much where she is, or what is happening around her, she is sitting huddled up in one corner of the big, black leather sofa in Erica’s office. Her head is turned to watch the departing figure of her mother, but her mittened hands scratch restlessly at her itchy skin.

Mittens?

One of Regina’s pathetic attempts at mothering her child.

Poor mite. To think Regina flew her across the Atlantic while she is in this condition. She looks so small and vulnerable.

She turns her face back, and sees me. The light from the iPad on her lap shines on her little face, highlighting how many angry red marks there are on her skin. “Daddy,” she whispers.

I know that voice. It comes out when she is very tired, or sick. I walk up to her, push the two pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage on the floor away, and crouch down in front of her. Her eyes are red and crusty. The last thing she should be staring at is her iPad. Gently, I take it from her lap and put it on the sofa out of her reach. I touch her forehead. She doesn’t seem to have a temperature. “Hey,” I say softly.

She blinks hard and tries not to cry. Her mouth trembles and she presses her lips together to take back some control. “Do you think I’ll ever see Mommy again?”

I frown with surprise. “Of course, you will.”

She sniffs. “Are you sure?”

“What makes you think you won’t?” I ask curiously.

“Because,” she pauses to wipe her nose. “I know Juan doesn’t like me. He told Mommy he wants her to have his child. Then it would be just theirs.”

“Oh, honey,” I whisper, and wrap her small body in my arms. I want to fucking kill Regina and her stupid boyfriend. “Your mommy is always going to your mommy, okay? Nobody and nothing can change that, do you hear me? Your mommy needs to go to Europe for a bit so I asked her if I could take care of you and she said yes.”

She moves and stares at me with big eyes. “You did?”

“Of course.”

“But Mommy said, you didn’t want me because you were too busy in the office.”

Jesus Christ, I swear I could cheerfully wring Regina’s neck. “I think Mommy might have misunderstood. I’ve never said that. I always wanted you to live with me, but until recently, you were too young to come and stay with me so the Judge decided that you should stay with Mommy until you were old enough. Now that you are old enough and Mommy is going to be busy in Europe for a few months, we decided that you should come stay with me. If things work out and you like living here, then you can even stay here with me. Is that okay with you?”

She smiles shyly then nods.

“Good. The thing is, I’m not really prepared. Mommy and I were thinking that you would be coming in a couple of weeks, but as it turns out you’ve arrived early and while that makes me super happy, I am not really prepared. I have an emergency at the office and I don’t have the apartment ready for you yet, so will you forgive Daddy if everything is not exactly the way it should be for the next few days?”

She stares at me. “What do you have to do to prepare, Daddy?’

“Well, loads of things. I mean, your room is not even painted yet.” I grin at her. “Which, maybe that is a good thing, because now you get to pick out your own favorite color.”

She smiles, that impish smile that I haven’t seen for ages. Come to think of it, every time I’ve spoken to her on Skype, Regina was always hovering in the background and Maddie always seemed a bit distracted and distant.

“Can I have more than one color, Daddy?”

I grin. “It’s your room, so you can have as many colors as you want.”

Her eyes grow as big as saucers. “Really?”

“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “What colors were you thinking of?”

She starts ticking the colors off on her fingers. “Red, blue, yellow, purple, and green. Oh, and pink.”

My eyes widen, then I chuckle at her excitement. “Oh, wow.”

She nods solemnly. “I’ve got a unicorn and I want him to be comfortable in my room.”

I nod. “Okay. The thing is I’m really, really busy for the next few days, so I won’t be able to get your room organized that fast.”

She claps her hands “I know what. I can camp out here with you. All I need is a tent.”

I stare at her. My daughter never fails to amaze me. “You want to live in a tent in my office?”

Her eyes shine. “Can I?”

I rub my jaw. It would be a terrible, terrible thing to do and yet, it would be the fucking perfect solution until I can get a Nanny sorted out, and I can figure out how to solve my problems at work.

“Please say, yes, Daddy. Please. Please. Please?” she begs.

My parents would have had a heart attack. My staff will think I’ve gone mad. If Regina finds out, she might try to take back custody of Maddie back. I run my hands through my hair.

“Please, Daddy?”

Fuck it. So what if it isn’t the norm? At least this way, I’ll have her with me. I smile. “All right, just until I get a Nanny for you and do up your room, okay?”

“Yah, Yah, Yah,” she sings happily.

Erica comes in. “Do you want me to get anything for you, or Madison, Mr. Cage?”

“Yeah. I need you to go get some stuff. We’ll need blankets, pillows, lots of toys, one of those multicolored Princess tents.” I look at my daughter. “Did I miss anything?”

“Ice cream,” Maddie pipes up immediately.

I wink at her then turn back to Erica’s dumbfounded expression, and add, “A small freezer for the ice cream and a lot of fluids, including milk.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

“Yeah. Find out if everybody in the office has already had chicken pox.”