The sun was out, and I felt it more than in the sixty degree high we were expecting today. There was a lightness in me that I was cautious to call happiness, but it was there all the same.

I knew exactly who was responsible for it: Bailey.

Last night...God, she’s been so perfect that I wanted to wax poetic. My eyes strayed to the section of the counter I’d taken her on, and my body inconveniently reacted.

Jesus, you fucked her three times last night, settle down.

Once in the kitchen. Once in the shower. Finally, once in the bed when we’d woken up this morning. We hadn’t really gotten around to talking about what happened, though. She’d been gone by the time I’d gotten out of the shower, and I wasn’t expecting her until later when we’d give Lettie her present a day early.

It was hard to hide a swing set the size of a small building.

“—so that’s when I told her that I wasn’t really looking for something serious,” Rory said, pulling another beer from the fridge and me from my own thoughts.

“Sounds fair to me,” Warren said with a shrug. “You got those, Gage?”

“Yeah,” I said, taking the last beer and slipping it into the cooler.

Beverages on ice and ready for delivery, we carried the cooler out the back deck and down the flight of stairs to the only level place I had in the yard.

“Beer!” Rory called out.

While the other Sharks grabbed a cold one—half the team had shown up to help build this thing—I surveyed our almost-done handiwork. The castle itself was huge, with two towers that boasted rock-climbing walls, and two slides. A set of swings came off one end, and a little zipline would be on the other. Maybe she wasn’t quite big enough for the zipline, but it had been really fucking cool, so I purchased the add-on.

“Wow, it looks amazing,” Bailey said from behind me.

I turned immediately, a smile already on my face as I found her standing in overalls with buckets and a huge toolbox. “Hey, I didn’t think I’d get to see you until later.”

She gave me a timid smile. “Your mom took her for a birthday pedicure, so I thought I’d get started on that dragon we talked about.”

“Yeah, that sounds fantastic. Are you sure you don’t mind?” Her talents were way better than the side of a soon-to-be four-year-old’s play castle.

“I’d love to. That way she’ll always have a piece of me here.” That sad smile of hers reappeared.

“Well, I love the idea, but you’ll be here, too, right? Is something wrong?” Fuck. Had I screwed up last night? She’d come at least five times. I’d counted. I’d wanted to make sure that if she ever left my bed, she’d have an impossible time replacing me.

Then again, I was kind of hoping she wasn’t going to want to leave.

“No,” she said, but she was looking at her feet.

“Bailey. We’ve been friends since we were kids, I think I can tell when you’re lying.”

She looked up and hit me with those gorgeous eyes of hers. “I’m fine, seriously. I just… we didn’t really get a chance to talk about…”

“About the incredible, mind-blowing sex? Or the fact that we kind of blew apart the line we’d agreed not to cross? Or how I can’t keep my mind from wandering to how perfect you fit around me?”

She blushed. “Quiet,” she ordered in a whisper.

“Why?” I shrugged. “I don’t care who knows. Hell, I might need to kiss you publically just to mark my territory around these guys. You can’t trust horny hockey players.”

“Let’s just keep this between us for today, ok? At least until we can talk alone, later?”

I wasn’t a fan of the way that sounded. I leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Sure, as long as you know that I plan on getting you very naked later.”

She smiled and shook her head at me. “Later.”

It took every ounce of restraint in my body not to kiss her, but I respected her wishes. Hopefully she didn’t think I was going the one-night stand route, but after all she’d seen, I couldn’t blame her if she did.

I’d just have to rectify that line of thinking tonight. I could hardly wait.

Hammer in hand, I climbed to flat part at the top of Lettie’s castle and started to attach the shingles to the top of the towers. After each row, I looked down to see Bailey at work, her concentration purely on the green-scaled dragon that would guard my Princess’s keep. Not that Lettie needed it. My girl was more likely to grab a sword and defend her own castle.

But I fucking loved that Bailey was pouring her love into Lettie’s present the way she had our home—with no reservations and no regrets. Yet.

I kicked that thought out. Bailey wasn’t every other woman. If she left, it would be for a damn good reason. I just had to make sure I didn’t give her one.

“Hand me another one?” I asked Warren, and he continued our assembly line as I conquered this side of the roof and Rory hit the other.

Another shingle in hand, I lifted it to the roofline and started to swing—

“Well, if this isn’t just the cutest thing!”

The saccharine-sweet voice grated on my every nerve and shot them all to hell in the millisecond it took her to speak. Helen. My head swung to see our intruder, and my jaw dropped at the same time the hammer did.

Onto my mother-fucking finger.

“God fucking damn it!” I shouted, tossing my hammer to the floor next to me and examining my hand.

“Well, I don’t think it’s really appropriate to use that language around our daughter, do you?” she asked, putting her perfectly manicured hands into fists and placing them on her Prada-clad hips. She pursed her lips under huge sunglasses as her long, blonde hair trailed down her back, and ice-cold rage charged my veins.

Every hammer stopped around us as we became the center attraction. “Since Lettie isn’t here, I’ll use whatever language I see fit. What the fuck are you doing here, Helen?”

“Screw that, let me see your hand,” Warren snapped, examining my throbbing third finger on my left hand. “Damn it, you smacked it hard. Can you bend it?”

“Lettie. What a horrid nickname. I came to see Scarlett since her birthday is tomorrow, of course,” she said like it was simple—like she was the kind of mom who even thought about her kid.

“Oh, are you coming to the party?” The rookie asked.

“Shut the fuck up, Rookie,” Rory snapped.

“Party, tomorrow, huh?” Helen asked.

“Can you bend it?” Warren demanded a second time.

It was hard—like looking away from a spider you need to kill—but I took my eyes off her. And bent my fingers. “Yeah, but it hurts like hell.”

The digit was angry, red, throbbing and probably going to need to be taped.

“At least it isn’t broken.” Warren looked over to where Helen waited. “Maybe take it inside,” he whispered. “Not all these guys need to hear your business two days before we take on Ontario.”

I nodded my agreement and jumped down from the top of the castle. Stupid, given that I could have just fucked myself up in a myriad of ways, but this wasn’t going to wait any longer.

“Gage,” Bailey called.

“Later,” I snapped at her, then closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and turned toward where she stood, splattered in paint, even on the tip of her delectable nose. “God, I’m so sorry, Bailey. Just...I need to deal with this.”

She nodded, the motion small. I wanted to kiss the frightened look off her face, to assure her that I wasn’t going to do anything with Helen that I might regret, but I needed to get the viper out of our house first.

“So nice to see that you’re still trailing after Gage, Bailey,” Helen sang.

I saw red. “Get in the fucking house, Helen.”

She sashayed her ass up the stairs ahead of me as I composed what I was about to say. I wanted to rip her limb from limb for abandoning our daughter, but I had to keep my head on straight. I’d been waiting for this opportunity for almost two years and I couldn’t blow it.

“It’s nice,” she said, surveying our breakfast room into the kitchen. “An artist, huh?” she asked as she saw the twin easels Bailey had set up in the sunlight so she could paint with Lettie.

“Bailey’s a good influence,” I said, as I passed her and went straight to the desk in the kitchen. I pulled open the file cabinet at the bottom and pulled a manila envelope from the bottom.

“I’m actually really glad you came by,” I said, trying to keep my voice as even as possible as I came back into the breakfast room. I didn’t want her in the kitchen. Helen was like a disease, and I wanted her as far away from Bailey’s favorite room, and my favorite memory as possible.

“Me, too,” Helen said, pulling her sunglasses to the top of her head. “I’m sorry that Scarlett isn’t here, though. Does she ask about me?”

Her eyes were wide, but there was no sadness there, no genuine concern for the little girl we’d created.

“No.”

Her mouth popped open. “Really? I mean...I’m her mother.”

“In biology,” I admitted, but that was it. “You left when she was barely two, the minute the doc said I’d miss the rest of that season and all of the next. All she knows about you is that you’re not here.”

She straightened. “Well, I’m here now.”

“For three days. You haven’t so much as called her since you walked out.”

“She was two!” she snapped. “What do you say on the phone to a two-year-old?”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose with my uninjured hand and tried to ignore its insistent throbbing. “You know what? I don’t want to fight.”

She sighed and walked over to me, swinging her hips. Her fingers trailed over my chest, and I swallowed back the urge to vomit. “Me, either, Gage. I know walking out on you was horrid, but it really was for the best. And I have missed you, I promise.”

“Right.” I stepped out of her range.

“I want to see Scarlett.”

“It’s always about you, isn’t it?” I snapped. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar. Mom’s advice swirled in my head and I did my best to cool my temper. Besides, we each had something the other wanted. Leverage was never bad. “Look, I’ll let you come tomorrow on one condition.”

“What’s that?” she asked, putting on a fake, sexy pout that held no allure. Not after I’d spent an entire night listening to Bailey’s genuine, breathless sighs in my ear.

I stood a little straighter, realizing that for all the charms she’d had, Helen really had no hold on me anymore. “You sign these.” I handed the papers to her.

She opened the envelope and her eyebrows rose. “You want me to sign over all my rights to Scarlett?”

“It’s just the legal form of what you’ve already done. Let her move on. You already have.”

“How about I think it over?” she asked, batting her eyes at me.

Nope, not fucking working.

“How about you get those notarized and then hand them over before you walk in the door tomorrow, or I don’t let you near my daughter.”

“Our daughter,” she corrected.

Hell no. “She ceased being your daughter the moment you walked out on her. Now, if you want to come say goodbye, I’ll give you that. It will be good for Lettie to not spend her life wondering. But those are my conditions.”

We had a wordless battle, staring each other down. But I was stronger than I’d ever been with her—and I thought I’d loved her for being the mother of my child, any trace of that love was gone.

“Fine,” she snapped. “What time?”

“One,” I answered, my chest tight with every emotion it could fit.

“One it is,” she said. “See you then, lover.”

She walked out of the house, and I immediately breathed a little easier. I’d been waiting a year to give her those papers. The process server had tried twice and failed. All I had to do was play it cool and Lettie could be free.

She wouldn’t have to pay for my mistake.

I flexed my hand again, wincing at the pain, and went back out to the yard.

The guys had continued working. We would be done in another hour. But even watching the construction unfold, and Bailey paint her dragon, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d just handed Helen the key to my destruction. Before she was harmless—now, she knew that she had something I desperately wanted.

I walked over to Bailey and tugged her to her feet. “Everything okay?” she asked. I hated the fear in her voice. She was already apprehensive about starting anything with me, and I’d just gone and shoved Helen at her.

“Come with me,” I said, leading her to the sliding glass door of the downstairs level.

I closed it behind us once she was inside and found her wringing her hands. “Look...about last night, and what just happened, I would never stand in the way of Lettie’s happiness—”

I shut her up with a kiss, pressing her against the wall. She melted under me, and I took her mouth the way I wanted to take her body at this moment, with long, powerful strokes that had her whimpering. Fuck, I loved that sound.

I kissed her until she grasped at my shirt, until her leg raised so she could rub that insanely perfect pussy against my already hard cock, until her little sounds turned to moans and my hands filled with her ass and one tightly budded breast.

My lips lingered against hers for a moment as I caught my breath and went through the fifteen reasons in my yard that I couldn’t take Bailey upstairs right now and make love to her.

“Don’t ever say that again,” I warned her, making sure she looked straight in my eyes. “You are Lettie’s happiness. You’re my happiness.”

“But Helen…”

“Is nothing. I gave her the papers to sign over her rights to Lettie and told her if she’d sign them, she could come tomorrow. It seemed like a little price to pay.”

Fear ran through her eyes. “What if she won’t?”

I shrugged. “I’ll eventually have to take her to court. But I also don’t want Lettie to always wonder. She’s probably too young to remember this, but at least I’ll know that I did the best I could to give her a goodbye.”

She nodded, “You’re an amazing father.”

I shook my head. “No. An amazing father would have chosen a better mother for her in the first place. I’m just a guy who lucked out getting two of the best girls in the world in my life.” My thumb traced the soft skin of her cheekbone.

“And...us?” she asked, holding her breath.

“That’s up to us,” I answered. “To me, we’re together. I’m not hiding that from anyone unless you tell me I have to. I know since you work for me, it’s kind of a tangled situation, but if that’s an issue, then you’re fired. You can have a one-million-dollar severance package if you want it.”

She laughed with a watery smile. “Gage, I don’t want your money. I don’t care about it, or the hockey, or the fame. I just want you.”

I kissed her softly. “Then you have me.”

* * *

The party was in full swing, complete with local actors who had been hired to play the entire Von Trapp family. Except Gretl, of course. That role was played by Lettie.

“I’m so proud of you,” Mom said after we toured Lettie’s castle.

“It’s just a swing set,” I argued.

“No, Gage. I’m proud of you for what you’ve done. What you’ve made of yourself. Look how happy she is,” Mom nodded toward where Lettie ran with the other kids we’d invited, her face lit with unfettered joy.

“She’s amazing,” I said. I’d never known what unconditional love was before they’d placed her in my arms. She’d changed...everything.

“And the way you raise her...Gage, I’ve sat through every one of your hockey games,” she shrugged, “well, the home ones, now, at least. But I’ve never been as proud of you as I am when I see how loved she is, what a tremendous man you’ve become for her.”

“She brings out the best in me.”

“And Bailey?” she asked nonchalantly as she took a sip of her soda.

I wasn’t fooled.

“Yes, Mom. We’re together.”

“Yes!” she nearly squealed.

“Mom!” For fuck’s sake, what was she? Sixteen?

“What? Her mother owes me $50. We’ve had a bet on you guys since you were six.”

“Bailey was four.” I did the math.

“Yep and you were smitten. I’ll admit that I was worried for a while when that two-bit tramp got pregnant with Lettie, but since Scarlett is perfect in every way, I’ll forgive her.”

“Nice, Mom.” I wasn’t sure what I was more shocked by—the fact that mom had a bet going, or that I’d just heard the classiest woman I’d ever met say, “tramp.”

She shrugged, then sighed. “And if it isn’t the two-bit whore, herself.”

I turned to where she was looking and saw Helen walking down the stairs with a giant, ribbon covered box. Followed by—fuck my life…that was Adkins.

In my home.

I slammed into the boards, my body taking the impact as he hit me from behind.

The house I’d had built when he’d been traded to Ontario and took my girlfriend with him. The house I shared with my daughter and Bailey.

My shoulder wretched as came up under my pads, my arm at an unnatural angle.

“Steady,” Rory muttered, putting a hand on my shoulder.

His smile gloated above me as I turned over to my back, and the world fell silent except for the yelling from the coaches, the doctors, the EMTs.

That same smile gloating as Helen took his hand and walked out of my hospital room, leaving my daughter motherless.

This was about to be the shortest visit ever.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Bailey move toward Lettie. We’d prepped her last night that Helen was coming, and though I’d been taking care of Lettie solo for two years, it had felt amazing to have Bailey with me. It felt like I had a partner.

“What the fuck is he doing here?” I didn’t mince words as they reached the ground.

“Nice to see you too, McPherson,” Adkins winked at me.

He fucking winked.

“I didn’t invite you into my house, asshole.”

“No, but you invited my wife, so I came with. After all, Scarlett is my step-daughter.”

Unbridled rage ran through me. “You have no claim on my daughter, asshole. You can put a ring on this pair of open legs, but you’ll never be anything to Lettie besides the guy who purposely took out her father’s shoulder because you were scared of losing your spot.”

“Boys,” Helen tsked. “Gage, I gave the papers to Warren when I walked in. He wouldn’t let me in without them.”

Warren nodded behind her, and I let out a huge sigh of relief. It was over. I just had to make it through this one party, and then I’d never have to deal with her again.

“Thank you,” I said to Helen. “You go near my daughter and I’ll cut your fucking hands off. I’m happy to do the jail time,” I told Adkins.

He put his hands up and then leaned back against the deck supports. “I’ll just wait here.”

“Good idea,” Coach said as he walked over. He slapped my back. “How about I keep him company so you can help Lettie out?”

I nodded my thanks and took off across the yard to where Helen was already approaching Lettie, who was leaned back against Bailey’s legs.

“Hi, Scarlett,” she sang in that super sweet voice I hated. “I’m your mommy.”

I came around the side to flank Bailey, and Lettie reached up for my hand, which I gave without thought. I offered to pick her up but she shook her head and stayed where she was, firmly conformed to the shape of Bailey’s legs.

“I don’t have a mommy.”

Well, if that didn’t break my fucking heart.

Helen’s smile was lost for a millisecond. “Of course you do. Who do you think I am?”

Lettie looked up to Bailey, then me, then back to Helen. “You’re the woman who grew me.”

Bailey’s hands tightened a little on Lettie’s shoulders, no doubt reeling the same way I was.

“Right, and that makes me your mommy,” Helen explained, still standing at her full height so that Lettie had to crane her neck.

“Mommy’s don’t leave,” Lettie said simply with a shake of her head. There was no malice in her voice or judgement, just fact.

“Well…” Helen swallowed. “Don’t you want a mommy?”

Before I could stop that question, Lettie answered.

“I don’t need a mommy. I have a Bailey.”

Bailey blinked rapidly and I wound my unused arm around her. That’s right. We’re a team, and you’re not on it, Helen.

Helen cleared her throat. “Oh, okay. Well, I like your castle,” she said with a smile.

Lettie tilted her head. “I do too. Daddy built it and Bailey painted my dragon. He guards it while I’m away. But it’s not a castle.”

“It’s not?” Helen asked, her brow unfurrowed from how much botox she’d had.

“It’s a fortress.”

God, I loved my daughter.

“Oh, okay,” Helen answered, not understanding that in one statement, my daughter told her everything she needed to know about her personality. She wasn’t a simpering princess, she was a warrior. “Well, I know I only really get to see you this once, so I thought I’d bring something for you to remember me by. Is that okay?”

Lettie nodded solemnly, and Helen handed her the box.

“It’s okay, Lettie-lou,” I said when she looked up at me with questioning eyes.

She pulled the end of the giant pink ribbon until it fell from the box, and then pulled the lid off.

“Are you kidding me?” I snapped when Lettie jumped back. Bailey picked her up, holding her high off the ground.

“What?” Helen asked, taking the kitten out of the box. “I figured she should have something warm and soft to remember me by.”

I turned to where Bailey had her securely in her arms. “Can I get a second alone with Helen, babe?”

She nodded and took Lettie far enough away that we had a semblance of privacy.

“First off, you’re anything but warm and soft.” I stepped in front of Lettie when Helen held the orange cat out to her retreating figure. “Second, if you knew a god damned thing about my daughter, you’d know that she’s deathly allergic to cats. She swells up like a balloon until she can’t breathe.”

Helen blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah, oh. Maybe you would have known that if you’d been around, or if you bothered to know her. Get that fucking thing out of here.”

Helen put the cat in the box. “You don’t have to be such an asshole, Gage. How was I supposed to know that she’s allergic to cats? It was an honest mistake. Maybe I could give her a puppy?”

I scoffed. “Yeah, because we’re home enough for that. Jesus, Helen. Lettie travels with me when she can, because unlike you, I can’t stand to be away from her. She’s phenomenal, and you missed it. In that way, I feel sorry for you.”

“Gage, she’s the only child I’ll ever have. I signed your papers, but if you’ll just give me a chance…”

Well, we had that one thing in common—Lettie would be the only child I ever had, too. I’d never put another child through this kind of torture. “Then you should have stayed, or called, or tried to keep any form of contact with her. But you didn’t. You’re too selfish for parenthood, Helen.”

“Well you sure know how to ruin things, don’t you Gage. Did you ever stop to think that I’ve been thinking about this moment since I knew Seattle was on the schedule?” She arched an eyebrow at me.

“It takes a hockey schedule for you to think about her? I’m actually kind of speechless.”

“Well, that’s a first. Why do you think I left you? The constant griping. ‘I’ll never get my shoulder back,’ or ‘can you please change the baby, I only have one arm.’ Your incessant whining was what drove us apart. You were so lost in yourself that you completely ignored our relationship.”

I blinked. “Wow. Well, thanks for enlightening me. I figured you left me because my contract wasn’t a given and Adkins’ was. My bad.”

Her jaw dropped. “You’re an asshole!” she shouted.

“Well aware,” I replied.

Lettie’s tiny hand took mine. Shit. What had she heard?

“I’ve decided that I don’t like you,” Lettie said to Helen, her voice curious, but even. “You’re mean, and Bailey says I have to be nice to mean people because they need it the most, but I don’t like you. You’re not my friend. You’re not my daddy’s friend or my Bailey’s friend, so you shouldn’t be at my party. You make people sad.”

Helen stared at our daughter, paling. “But...don’t you want to get to know me?”

Lettie looked at her long and hard. “You left...and your face doesn’t move when you talk. That’s enough. But thank you for coming to my party.” She annunciated every word as clearly as possible, with a great deal of thought.

And she remembered her manners. Hot damn.

Her little hand squeezed mine tightly, and when I offered my arms, she took them. I lifted her against my chest.

“You’re just like your daddy,” Helen said, sadness radiating from her eyes.

“He’s a badass,” Lettie said with a nod.

I didn’t bother correcting her.

Helen’s face became tight and she forced a smile. “Well, it was nice to see you again, Scarlett. Happy birthday.”

“Thank you,” she tucked her head into my neck and I leaned my head against hers.

Helen pursed her lips, but turned on her heel and left.

Just like that, and I could breathe, could finally take in my first lungful of untainted air since she’d told me she was pregnant. I wasn’t tied to her, and Lettie was free...and mine. Only mine.

“My Bailey!” Lettie said and raced over to see where Bailey was face painting.

Maybe she was Bailey’s too, but that was okay. I liked sharing with Bailey.

My feeling of euphoria lasted through the party, despite the mess of my back yard. I had my daughter free and clear, I had Bailey in my life and my bed, and my starting spot back. Even my hand wasn’t as bad as I’d originally thought yesterday.

“Gage?” Mom called out. “We ran out of ketchup for the burgers. Would you mind grabbing some out of the fridge?”

“Not at all,” I said, kissing her cheek.

“What was that for?” She asked.

“For taking care of me when I needed it most,” I answered. I made my way up the stairs, and into the house, where I saw the manilla folder on the dining room table sitting next to a magic marker.

There it was, my freedom.

I picked it up, but the envelope was lighter than it should have been. Panic bloomed in my chest as I turned the envelope over to see two words in dark black magic marker.

“Fuck you.”

The envelope was empty.

She’d taken the papers with her.

Damn it.