thought. Here goes. “I offered to call him after you and I talked. He wants you to stay at his house for a week or so. He also invited me to come with you.” She paused to collect herself. “But he’ll come here if you’d prefer not to go there.”
“Oh, wow. Really?” Kaley reached for her water, and the ice clinked in her half-tipped glass. “I’d probably get to know him better if I went there. Don’t you think?”
She wanted to discourage her daughter from making the trip, but sitting here gazing at the girl’s wistful expression, she couldn’t do it. “It’s your choice. He’s your...” She couldn’t bring herself to say “father” or “birth father” or anything that identified him as family, so she let the sentence drift.
“Are you willing to go with me? Or is that totally out of the question?”
Victoria’s heartbeat accelerated. “Is that what you want?”
“Are you kidding? I’d be really nervous without you. Besides, I know Dad would feel better if you were there.”
The dad she spoke of was Eric, the man who’d shaped her into the amazing young woman she’d become. Victoria would be forever grateful to him. “You’re right. He would worry otherwise. And so would I.” Expecting Kaley to visit with Ryan for the first time by herself wasn’t in the girl’s best interest. “I’ll go with you.”
The teenager fanned herself. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Neither could Victoria. She felt as if she were having an out-of-body experience. If someone would’ve told her that someday she would be sleeping under Ryan’s roof with their grown child in tow, she would have deemed that person crazy. Plus Kaley didn’t know that Victoria had loved Ryan. No one did.
She looked across the table at her daughter. Every excruciating detail of the day Kaley was born was still imbedded in her mind. While she’d held the swaddled infant, she’d waited desperately for Ryan to show up. She’d also glanced endlessly at her parents, begging them to ask the representative from the adoption agency for more time. But eventually the extra time ran out. The most painful moment was right before they’d taken Kaley away. She’d clutched the baby close to her chest, wishing she could nurse her, wishing she could take her home, with or without Ryan. It was the worst day of her life.
But now she had her daughter back. Kaley meant the world to her, and if making peace with Ryan was part of the deal, then that was what she would do.
Even if being in his company still made her hurt.
Chapter Two
This was it. Victoria and Kaley would be arriving at Ryan’s house any minute, he hoped. He’d offered to pick them up at the airport and lend them his truck whenever they needed a vehicle, but Victoria insisted on renting a car.
They would be staying for the equivalent of a week, starting today, which was a bright and sunny Thursday.
He waited on the porch steps. At this point, he didn’t care if he appeared anxious, sitting outside the way he was. He needed the fresh air. Besides, he was anxious, and no doubt Kaley was, too. He imagined Victoria was as well, but not for the same eager-to-bond reason. She was probably dreading every upcoming second that she’d agreed to spend in Oregon.
His dogs sat beside him, glancing around. From his body language, they obviously sensed that something was up.
A midsize sedan pulled up to the curb, and Ryan jumped to his feet. The dogs followed his lead.
“Behave, you guys,” he said.
They looked at him with expectation, as if to ask who was coming to see them.
“My daughter,” he automatically replied, heading out to the vehicle. “So make a good impression.” He said the latter part as much to himself as to the dogs. He desperately wanted Kaley to like him. Victoria, too, but he didn’t know if that was possible.
Kaley got out of the car first, and he lost every ounce of breath in his lungs. He recognized her from her pictures, only she was taller than he’d expected, and in the sun, her long dark hair glinted with hints of auburn. She was more beautiful than anyone he’d ever seen. Because she was his, he thought, wishing for the millionth time that he’d been there when she was born.
They both stood a little awkwardly, gazing at each other. He noticed right away her colorful clothes and bangle bracelets.
Finally, they said hello and reached forward for a hug. He was cautious not to hold her too tightly for fear that he would smother her with his daddy desperation.
“It’s so good have you here,” he said.
“It’s good to be here.”
They separated, and he noticed that Victoria had gotten out of the car and was lingering off to the side. He suspected that she was staying in the background deliberately, giving him and Kaley a chance to get acquainted.
The teenager glanced down at the dogs. “Look how adorable you two are.” She asked Ryan, “What are their names?”
He smiled, grateful that animals were an icebreaker. “Perky and Pesky.”
She laughed. “Let me guess. Perky is the black-and-white one with the bright expression, and Pesky is the chubby guy wiggling for attention.” Upon hearing his name, Pesky grinned, flashing his crooked teeth. Kaley laughed again.
Ryan couldn’t take his eyes off his daughter. There she was, so grown up, standing right before him and wanting to be part of his life. He longed to hug her again. But he didn’t. He knew it would be weird to keep grabbing her.
Victoria came forward, and she and Ryan exchanged a quiet greeting, a simple “Hi” in the presence of the child they’d created. Talk about surreal.
Trying to act casual, he said to Victoria, “If you pop the trunk, I’ll get the bags.”
“We can help, too,” Kaley said. “We brought a lot of stuff. We even bought some new outfits for the trip. But it was just an excuse for us to shop.”
“Mall fever,” Victoria put in, making Kaley grin.
Ryan didn’t mind that they’d over-packed. The more stuff they brought, the more of a vacation it seemed.
Everyone pitched in with the bags. The women had an easy rapport with each other. He was definitely the odd man out, but he’d expected as much.
While they headed for the porch, Pesky stayed close to Kaley. Ryan asked her, “Do you have pets?”
“We have two cats. Dad calls them the bougainvillea babies because when they were kittens, they used to hide in the flowers on our patio. Sometimes Dad calls me a bougainvillea baby, too. He has all sorts of nicknames for me. He says I’m a daddy’s girl, like the cats. They’re girls, too.”
Although Ryan smiled, he struggled with a twinge of envy. He knew that he shouldn’t react that way every time her adoptive father was mentioned. If anything, he should be thanking the other man for making her a daddy’s girl.
He opened the door, and they went inside.
Kaley
