this is your business how?”
He lifted his chin and narrowed his now ice-blue eyes. “I have a vested interest in them and have every intention of protecting them. I expect to have the opportunity to spend time with them and really get to know them. I’m their godfather, which you would have known if you had bothered to attend Harper and Hudson’s christening.”
“Wow. Judgmental much?”
“Just telling it like it is.”
Miranda’s first impulse was to argue with him, except for one tiny detail—
He was right.
She had missed the twins’ christening, something that she now deeply regretted. If she could dial time back...but she couldn’t. All she could do at this point was own up to her past mistakes and move forward from here.
“You’re right,” she admitted softly.
Simon looked as if he was about to speak, but then he cut himself short and stared at her openmouthed.
“I’m sorry. Did you just say I was right?”
Clearly that wasn’t the response he’d expected. For a man who didn’t know her, he certainly had his opinions about her firmly in place.
She couldn’t help but be a little resentful, but she pressed back the prickly feelings in her chest and continued.
“I wasn’t at the babies’ christening, and I should have been. With John’s schedule as a surgeon, Mary and John were only in Wildhorn for that one weekend. They couldn’t change their schedule, so I should have. No matter what my reasons, I let my career take precedence over my family, and there’s no excuse for that, so I’m not offering any.”
Once again, he hesitated before speaking.
“Special client?” he guessed, curling his hands around the mug of coffee.
“A-list actors in a private ceremony.” She sighed. “It wasn’t about money or prestige. Both actors were and are close personal friends of mine. The wedding had been planned for a year in advance and I had committed to shooting it well before the twins were even conceived, never mind born. In any other circumstances, I would have excused myself from the shoot and found another photographer to take my place for them.”
“That probably wouldn’t have been a good move for your career, though, right? You wouldn’t want to be seen to be reneging on your obligations,” he said drily.
She couldn’t tell whether he was beginning to see her side of the story or whether he was trying to coax her into digging herself deeper into the muck of remorse and shame. Not that it mattered either way.
“Maybe. I had a reputation for being especially trustworthy. But I would have survived, even if my career took a hit. As it is, now that I’m stepping into my new role as Harper and Hudson’s mother, my celebrity photography days are history, anyway. So in the long run, it didn’t really matter.”
She felt slightly nostalgic at the admission, but surprisingly not sad or regretful. She’d left celebrity photography in the past, where she now knew it permanently belonged. How could it be otherwise?
It didn’t matter if she’d made the decision to forage into the realm of motherhood unaided by circumstance, or whether she’d been thrust into the role by a tragedy. She had done everything she’d desired to do in her career, and it was time to come home. Hudson and Harper’s guardianship had simply given her a push in the right direction.
Home.
“This must be a jarring change for you, going from the lifestyle you’ve been leading to living in a guest cabin on your brother’s ranch.”
Again, she felt as if he was probing for answers beneath the surface and possibly trying to trip her up.
She shook her head. “Don’t forget I grew up here. It’s not that much of a culture shock for me to return to my roots.”
And if it was, she most certainly wasn’t going to admit that to Simon. She still had the feeling he was pushing her to justify the decisions she’d now made, just as she had put it all out there about her past and admitted her mistakes.
Well, her decisions were her own, and none of his business.
“You said you want to be a special part of the twins’ lives. What, exactly, does that look like?”
She tensed for the answer. She didn’t trust him as far as she could throw him, which wouldn’t be far, big lug that he was. And she suspected he didn’t trust her, either.
“Exactly?” he echoed. “I don’t know. You let me in to your life. I let you in to mine. Maybe we can do things once in a while. With the twins, I mean.”
He cringed. He literally, actually cringed, enough that Miranda could see it in his expression. Was he looking for reassurance that the twins were safe and loved with her? And was it really that distasteful for him to consider spending time with her?
He was certainly no picnic, either.
She narrowed her gaze on him.
“Like what?” she asked warily.
“Take them to the playground. Attend community events together. Maybe have them come meet my puppies. Simple country living.”
If that was all it was—and if Simon was really serious about this...
The twins could use another good male role model in their lives. Emphasis on good.
If Simon started acting like a jerk, this arrangement stopped.
“I accept.”
“Simple country living,” he repeated, appearing surprised that she’d relented so easily.
“Yeah. I got that,” she said sardonically.
“You won’t miss your old life? The parties? The society? The dazzle?”
The truth was, she was tired of the limelight. Even being the one behind the camera, every aspect of her life was exposed to the public eye. A nice, quiet cabin on a remote Texas ranch didn’t sound so bad.
Okay, so maybe not quiet, what with two babies who made their needs known loud and clear at all hours of the day and night. But private, in any case.
She stared at him for a moment, trying to read his expression, but he did a good job concealing his thoughts.
“I suppose I won’t have many opportunities to wear any of the glitzy cocktail dresses I’ve accumulated, but I can still tote around my designer purses. I’ll have the best-dressed diaper bag in town,” she joked.
He didn’t laugh. He didn’t even crack a smile.
He didn’t think she was good enough to be Harper and Hudson’s guardian.
Well, join the club, buster.
He was going to have
