His-and-Hers Family

“Are you all right?” she asked a little breathlessly.

“I’m just …” He stopped. I’m just thinking about kissing you. “Nothing.” He pulled the car keys from his pocket and rattled them. “Thanks for the beer.”

“Thank you for dinner.”

“No problem. I’ll be in touch.”

She smiled. “Well, good night.”

“Good night, Fiona,” Wyatt said and got out of there as quickly as he could before he forgot all the reasons why he shouldn’t be attracted to her and did something really stupid.

Chapter Three

“So, what’s she like?”

Wyatt had barely walked into the main house at Waradoon late the following afternoon when his mother corralled him with the question. He dropped his keys on the hall stand. “She’s nice.”

“Nice?” Janet Harper’s silvery brows rose swiftly. “That’s all?”

In no mood for the third degree, Wyatt uncharacteristically ignored his mother and headed for the big kitchen at the rear of the house. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and tossed the lid in the trash.

“Yeah … nice,” he said when he spotted his mother ten feet behind him, with her hands firmly on her hips.

“Have you agreed for her to meet Cecily?”

It hadn’t been a difficult decision. He instinctively knew Fiona was a good person. Despite also knowing she was holding something back, his concerns were minimal. It was unrealistic to think she’d simply lay her life open because he wanted answers. He could wait. In time he’d know everything about her. He’d make sure of it. “Eventually. Once I’ve talked with Cecily about it.”

“She’ll be home from her riding lesson soon. And full of questions. She’s almost jumping out of her skin over this.” Janet’s voice dropped an octave. “I hope this woman doesn’t—”

“She has a name,” he said quietly. “And don’t stress—you’ll like Fiona.”

Wyatt wished he didn’t like her as much as he did. He’d spent the past twenty-four hours thinking of little else.

And the fact I wanted to kiss her last night.

“Fiona,” his mother echoed, and he quickly got his thoughts back on track. “Yes. And she’s nice. So you keep saying.”

Wyatt frowned. His mother had way too much intuition for his liking. “Stop smiling.”

“I trust your judgment,” she said and sat at the long table. “If you say she’s nice, I’m sure she’s exactly that. You’ll do what’s right for Cecily and the family. You always do.”

Did he? He certainly hadn’t when he’d jumped into his relationship with Yvette. He’d invited her into his family and paid the price. But Wyatt understood the meaning of his mother’s words. He had every intention of ensuring Cecily’s well-being. And he wanted to protect Fiona, too. As for the family, they were all curious about Cecily’s birth mother, especially his sisters. He certainly wasn’t about to unleash them on an unsuspecting Fiona.

“Uncle Wyatt! You’re here!”

Cecily stood in the doorway dressed in her riding garb, and he was amazed how much she looked like her mother. Not her mother. That was Karen. Her birth mother.

She raced across the room and landed against him with a resounding thud.

He hugged her tightly. “Hey, kid, good to see you.”

“You, too,” she said on a rushed breath. “So, tell me everything. Did you see her, did you talk to her, does she want to meet me?”

“Yes, yes and yes.”

Cecily’s eyes filled with moisture. “Really? I can meet her. I can talk to her?”

Wyatt nodded. He knew Cecily was eager, but he also knew he needed to show caution and get her to take things slowly. “She’s going to write to you. Once she’s done that, you can make up your mind about what you want to do.”

Cecily pulled back and straightened her shoulders. “I already know what I want, Uncle Wyatt. I want to meet her. And soon.”

She gave a determined sniff and left the room to change and attend to her homework.

“I told you she was keen.”

Cecily wanted to meet her birth mother. Fiona wanted to reconnect with the child she’d given up. If it worked out, everyone would be happy. But if not, Wyatt could see the potential for disaster.

“You know,” his mother said in that way that meant he was supposed to listen, “you could take some time off and take Cecily to see her. It might be easier for Cecily to meet her birth mother away from Waradoon. I’m sure Miss Walsh would feel overwhelmed to come here with all of us hanging around, if that’s what you were planning.”

He wasn’t planning anything. The logistics had been on the back burner. But bring her to Waradoon? Wyatt’s focus had been on getting to know Fiona before he made any decisions.

And now that I know her, I can’t get her out of my mind ….

He paid his mother attention again. “You mean take Cecily to Crystal Point?”

“Why not? How long has it been since you’ve taken a vacation? And you know how Cecily loves the beach.” Janet raised her brows. “It might do you some good, too.”

He didn’t miss the dig. “I don’t need a vacation.”

She clearly didn’t agree and pulled no punches in telling him so. “Your father had his first heart attack when he was forty-two because he worked too hard. I don’t want to see that happen to you. There’s more to life than Harper Engineering.”

Wyatt knew what was coming. He needed a life. He needed a wife. But that wasn’t going to happen.

“The business will be—”

“Fine,” she assured him. “Alessio will be there,” she said of his brother-in-law and right-hand man. “Take a few weeks and—”

“A few weeks?” Wyatt stared at his mother. “I can’t do that.”

“Sure you can,” she said and smiled. “School breaks up soon for two weeks. I don’t think pulling Cecily out of classes for an extra week would hurt her.”

A few weeks in Crystal Point? Cecily would jump at the opportunity, he was sure. And Fiona … would she agreed to whatever he suggested if it meant having the chance to reconnect with her daughter?

I’m just not sure I should be spending three weeks around Fiona Walsh.

But other than sending Cecily to Crystal Point alone, which he would never do, or invite Fiona to Waradoon, which he wasn’t sure she’d agree to, what option did he have?

“So it’s all arranged?” Fiona asked her friend Evie Dunn.