Over the next few days I wracked my brains trying to figure out what had gone wrong. I wasn’t sure how I’d fucked this up so royally, but I had. Penny wasn’t speaking to me. My mother was calling, wanting to know when she could see Zoe again. Michelle was disappointed in me. Even Vera seemed angry about something, though that may have just been my imagination.

I’d been wrong, trying to start something with Penny. The stakes were just too high. She had a baby. A little girl who needed her. Only a total ass would try to start a relationship with a single mother when he had as bad a track record as I did.

I hadn’t spoken to Penny in four days. She’d taken a sick day Tuesday and Wednesday. Because of me. I’d upset her. For all I knew, I’d actually made her sick. And she’d been here yesterday, and she was here today, but I hadn’t talked to her. I scrupulously avoided her desk, and Vera hadn’t assigned her to any tasks that involved her getting anywhere near me.

Truth was, I’d let down every woman who’d ever relied on me. My mother. Penny. Not-Sarah. Even Michelle. Plus countless women in college and beyond whom I’d ditched after they began to fall for me. It was for the best, but of course they hadn’t seen it that way.

Shit. It was nearly four, and I hadn’t gotten a damn thing done this afternoon. Probably I should just get the hell out of there. Head home to my empty penthouse. And my empty life. Yeah, that sounded about right.

I took the back halls so I wouldn’t risk running into Penny. She obviously didn’t want to have anything to do with me. I’d always known she was a smart woman.

My escape route took be past the door the nursery. A terrible racket was coming from inside. I knew for a fact that there were, at the most, seven children in there, but it sounded like a hundred children. All of them screaming at the top of their lungs.

Cautiously, I poked my head in the door. Pat was holding two little boys, on in either hip. His assistant, Amber, was holding a little girl and trying to comfort a baby in a crib.

“What’s going on?” I said, shouting to be heard over all the crying.

Pat looked tired, but calm. Far calmer than I felt. Why were they all crying at once?”

“This happens sometimes,” he said. “One starts crying and then they all start.”

Good god. Suddenly, Pat’s job seemed a million times harder than my own.

Mustering my courage, I stepped into what sounded like a torture chamber. Made my way over to the crib Zoe usually used. When I got there, her tiny face was red. Tears streamed down her chubby little cheeks as she cried at the top of her lungs.

I turned back to Pat. “Call Penny. She can come get her.”

“I tried. Vera said she went to pick up some booklets. A couple of the other parents are on their way, though.” I frowned for a moment and then remembered that Vera had had some new promotional material made a company that specialized in printed. Quite possibly she’d sent Penny to fetch them in an effort to help the younger woman avoid me.

Turning back to Zoe, I tentatively placed my hand on her back, patting gently. Poor baby. She had no way of expressing what was wrong. What she needed. And I sure as hell didn’t know. But Pat did.

“For Christ’s sake, pick her up,” he growled as he passed me on his way to another one of his crying charges.

Me? Hold Zoe? I didn’t even know how.

“Just do it.” Since Pat was now holding three babies, I figured I ought to at least try with one.

Gingerly, I reached into the crib and grasped Zoe under the arms. Was I supposed to hold her head? But that must be for younger babies like the one Amber was holding.

Zoe continued to cry as I lifted her up, but as far as I could tell, there weren’t any additional tears. I didn’t think I was hurting her. I was being as gentle as I could.

I balanced her on my hip, hugging her to my chest as I’d seen Penny do many times. She was so light… she hardly weighed a thing. Hard to believe such a big sound could come from such a little girl.

Zoe leaned her head against my chest, her tears wetting my shirt, but I didn’t mind. I just wanted to make her feel better. Patting her back, I looked at the top of her little head, willing her to feel better. When that didn’t work, I took a step to the side and then back again, bouncing her gently as I did so. It was like dancing with the world’s tiniest partner.

It didn’t seem to be helping, but I stuck with it, rubbing her back, moving around. Slowly, I headed toward the smaller room, away from the others. Maybe if she had a little space she could calm down.

Rubbing her back, I thought maybe she was a little quieter. Maybe. I lowered my head down, smelling the clean scent of her hair. Gently, I kissed the top of her head. She was such a sweetheart.

She was definitely quieter now. Her breath was more even, not coming out in fits and bursts as it has before. And she was clinging to my shirt now, hugging herself against me.

This sweet, sweet little girl was taking comfort. From me. From my arms. Her cries were only whimpers now as she rested her head against my chest. If I had my way, she’d never cry over anything ever again. She wasn’t mine, but in this moment she felt like she was. And I wanted to give her the world. I wanted to show her the world. Tomorrow, I’d set up a college fund. And I’d find some other ways to help, ways that were far more practical than a teddy bear ten times her size.

Soon, Zoe was completely quiet. I looked down, and she blinked up at me, looking sleepy. But smiling. She was smiling at me. I smiled back, but even as I watched, her eyes closed and her head drooped.

She fell asleep in my arms, and I didn’t ever want to let her go.

“Nice job,” Pat said quietly, coming up next to me. He was only holding one baby now, a toddler who looked pretty sleepy, too. Two children in the main room were still fussing, but all in all, it seemed the storm had passed.

“Should I put her in the crib?”

Pat shrugged. “She seems pretty content. Why don’t you just hold her for a while. As you can see, she’s not going to break.”

So he’d known my secret fear. His smirk was irritating, but I couldn’t be mad at him right now. With Zoe in my arms, I couldn’t be mad at anyone. “Can I take her back to my office then?”

Pat’s smile vanished, and he looked regretful. “No. I’m sorry. Only the legal guardian can.”

Damn. She was sleeping so peacefully. I didn’t want to put her down, but I also didn’t want to have one of the most important bonding moment of my life happen under Pat’s eye. “But I built this nursery.”

“I know,” he said, and he sounded sincere as he moved to his tiny office. “But it’s state law. It’s part of our licensure.” He opened a cabinet and pulled out a file, flipping through it one handed. “The only people who can take Zoe out of here are Penny and… let’s see… a Ms. Jana Walsh. Oh! And you.”

“What?” I moved closer, my hand on the back of Zoe’s head.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize she’d added you to the list.”

Penny had done that? Listed me as a person authorized to care for her little girl? “When? When did she do that?”

Pat squinted at the paper. “The same day she added Ms. Walsh. So you’re free to take Zoe to your office. When Penny gets back, I’ll tell her where she is.”

Stunned, I walked slowly back to my office, taking care not to wake the little girl in my arms.

Penny had trusted me. She’d trusted me with the most important thing in the world to her. She’d believed in me.

I paused at the door to my office, careful not to disturb Zoe as I fished my keys out of my pocket. So what had changed? Earlier on Monday, she’d sent me that wine. Wrote that beautiful letter. She’d trusted me then. So what had changed before that awful scene in the hallway when she said I’d let her down?

At the time, I hadn’t wondered why. I was used to letting women down. But I’d been wrong. I hadn’t let down every female in my life. The little girl in my arms was proof of that. I’d never let her down—and I never would.

So why had Penny changed her mind about me?

The answer came to me as soon as I set foot in my office. Michelle. I’d left her here, and somehow, for some reason, Penny must have come in here. Met her. Talked to her.

And who knew what kind of crap Michelle had told her, but it couldn’t have been good.