Keeping You (18 page)

“
You know what you sound like when you talk that way, Dad?” Her words vibrated with anger. “You sound like a nasty, narrow-minded, old bigot.”

“
Aria Beth, don’t you—”

“
And it breaks my heart,” she said, voice breaking, “because I know you’re better than that. I know you are a kind, loving man who was a wonderful father to me and a wonderful grandfather to my baby, but when you act like this… I don’t even know who you are. But I know I don’t like that person, and that I don’t want that person hanging around, looking down on the people I love.”

Nash swallowed hard, feeling his own shame tightening around his neck like a rope at a hanging. He shouldn’t be spying on Aria. He should have trusted her without needing to sneak around and eavesdrop.

“
And that’s why I lied about being married to Liam, Daddy,” Aria continued with a sniff that made Nash guess she was either crying or trying hard not to. “I didn’t want you looking down on my baby just because I wasn’t married when she was born. There is nothing wrong with Felicity, and there is nothing wrong with the Geary family, either.”

“
I know there’s nothing wrong with Felicity,” Bob said in a gruff voice. “Don’t cry, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“
Well you did, Dad,” Aria said. “You more than upset me. You made me afraid of what’s going to happen to this family in the future.”

“
What do you mean?” Bob asked cautiously, starting to sound as if he realized what a pile he’d stepped in.

“
I’m not going to divorce Nash. He’s my husband and I love him,” Aria said, sending another pang of guilt worming through Nash’s heart. “He’s a good man and he’s done nothing to deserve the way you look down on him and his family.”

“
Nothing?” Bob practically shouted. “Taking advantage of a fifteen year old girl isn’t nothing, it’s—”

“
That was twelve years ago, Dad,” Aria shouted back. “It’s time to get the hell over it.”

“
I will not get the hell over it!” Bob snapped. “I’m your father. And if you had been able to see the way you looked standing next to that boy that night… You were still a baby, sugar. You looked like you were twelve years old, and he was a full-grown man.”

“
Dad, please. Nash and I are less than three full years apart!” Aria said, obviously close to losing her patience. “It doesn’t matter what—”

“
It goddamned well does matter!” Bob’s shout was so loud that Nash wasn’t surprised when, a moment later, Felicity began to cry out from her bedroom.

“
What the hell was he doing, wanting to sleep with someone who still looked like a little girl?” Bob raged on, ignoring Aria’s request that he lower his voice before he scared the baby. “He’s a child molester is the only thing I could think of then.”

“
Daddy!” Aria scolded, the shock and outrage mixing in her tone mirroring the revulsion rising in Nash’s chest.

Nash stood, heading for the back door, no longer caring if Aria or Bob saw him coming.

“
And it’s the only thing I can think now,” Bob said, obviously on a roll and not intending to stop anytime soon. “And I don’t want my baby granddaughter growing up in a house with a man—”

“
Get out of my house,” Nash said in a voice so low it rumbled through the kitchen, seeming to vibrate the paintings on the wall.

He closed the door behind him gently, barely resisting the urge to slam it with the full force of one powerful arm. If he started slamming doors, he had a feeling it wouldn’t be long before he’d be slamming a fist into Bob March’s face.

Chapter Fifteen

“
Get. Out.” Nash repeated. “Now.”

“
Nash, wait,” Aria said, eyes going wide as she positioned herself between him and Bob. “Daddy didn’t mean that.”

“
I sure as hell did mean it. Once a pervert, always a pervert,” Bob said, striding around his daughter.

Aria grabbed his arm and hung on tight, her expression growing progressively more frantic as Felicity began to cry in earnest in the other room.

“
I’m going to go get the baby,” Nash said, speaking directly to Aria, as if Bob wasn’t in the room. “When I get back, I need him out of the house. For both of our sakes.”

Aria nodded a little too frantically. Nash hated seeing her so anxious, but he couldn’t comfort her now. All he could do was remove himself from the situation before he popped Bob March in his mean little mouth.

Nash hurried down the hall toward Felicity’s room, ignoring Bob’s shouted order not to touch his granddaughter, and opened the door just as the baby’s tears were hitting the crescendo point. As soon as Felicity saw him, she sucked in a breath and reached out her arms, the relief on her face making Nash feel like a hero rescuing someone from a burning building as he crossed the room to scoop her into his arms.

“
It’s okay,” Nash cooed, rocking back and forth as Felicity wrapped her pudgy arms around his neck and buried her face in his sweat-stained running shirt, obviously not minding the stink. “Being left in your bed for five minutes is the worst thing ever, huh, Skeeter?”

Felicity snuffled in what sounded like agreement, her sobs already beginning to subside as Nash rocked her back and forth, rubbing her back in slow circles.

“
I’m sorry,” Nash said, grateful to hear the front door close and Bob and Aria’s voices move outside. “Mama and I were distracted by a big old mean guy, but he should be gone soon, and then we can go get your milk.”

“
Mi?” Felicity pulled her head from his chest, but kept her little hands fisted in his shirt, as if to make sure he couldn’t get away. “Mi?” she repeated again.

“
Milk,” Nash said with a grin, realizing Felicity had added a new word to her repertoire.

“
Mi,” she repeated again with a grin.

Nash laughed. “That’s right. You’re the smartest girl I know, do you know that?” Nash asked, giving the baby an affectionate squeeze and a kiss on her pudgy cheek.

Felicity moved her hands to his cheeks and leaned in, giving him her slobbery, open-mouthed version of a kiss right on his chin, and breaking his heart a little in the process.

He would never hurt this little girl. He would never hurt any child, and the fact that Bob March had dared to infer that he would… That he was the kind of man…

He couldn’t even think it. It was too repulsive and depraved and terrible a thought to let it swim around in his head even for a second.

He took a deep breath, forcing his rage away and giving Felicity another smile as he carried her to the changing table to get her a fresh diaper.

“
All right, let’s go get that milk,” he said, scooping her back up in his arms when he was finished. “I bet we’re safe now.”

He started down the hall, and had nearly reached the living room when a car started outside. A second later, Aria slammed back in the front door, making no effort to be gentle with her door closing.

“
That man is impossible,” she said through gritted teeth, forcing a tight smile when she saw Felicity. “Good morning, sugar, did you sleep well?”

Felicity held up one hand and let forth a stream of chatter that sounded so much like conversation Nash would have believed she was talking a real language he simply wasn’t familiar with if he didn’t know better. But he didn’t have to know the language to understand that the baby was telling Aria all about being left in her bed to cry and how terrible it was.

“
Is that right?” Aria asked with a laugh.

Nash couldn’t help joining in. Their eyes met over Felicity’s head, and a silent apology passed between them. But Nash knew he had more to apologize for than getting militant with her father.

“
Well, let’s see if milk can’t make it better,” Aria said, starting toward the kitchen, but stopping when Felicity shouted—

“
Mi! Mi!”

Aria turned, eyebrows raised. “New word?”

“
New word,” Nash confirmed. “I told Skeeter she’s the smartest baby ever.”

“
Well, she obviously gets it from me.” Aria sighed, and rolled her eyes. “You won’t believe what my ex has been up to. I mean, I knew he was stupid, but—”

“
I was listening,” Nash said as he followed Aria into the kitchen, needing to confess as soon as possible.

“
What do you mean?” she asked, opening the refrigerator door and reaching for the milk.

“
I was coming back from my run and saw you pull your dad into the house and…” Nash shrugged, shifting his gaze to Felicity, who was busy patting his cheek, still babbling away. “I wondered what was up, so I snuck around to the back window and sort of…listened in.”

“
You were spying on me?” Aria asked.

Nash looked back to see her hands braced on the kitchen counter, the bottle and milk in front of her forgotten.

“
I was,” Nash said, knowing better than to make excuses. “I’m not proud of it, but… I did it. And I’m sorry. I swear to you I’ll never do something like that again. You deserve my trust.”

Aria frowned and bit her lip for moment before slowly returning to her task. “Okay,” she said, as she poured milk into the bottle and popped it into the microwave. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

“
You deserve that, too,” Nash said. “I wish you’d told me about you and Liam never being married. I wouldn’t have thought any less of you or Skeeter, I hope you know that.”

Aria shook the bottle and handed it to Skeeter, who was clearly past ready to have her milk. She popped the bottle in her mouth, leaned back in Nash’s arms, and went to work, leaving Aria and Nash to their grown up talk.

“
I know that,” Aria said softly. “I honestly didn’t even think about it, Nash. I’d gotten so used to lying about it, and I guess deep down I knew you wouldn’t care, and…I don’t know. It just didn’t seem like something I needed to bring up.”

Nash nodded then took a deeper breath, bracing himself for what had to come next. “I love you, Aria.”

Aria’s brows furrowed as she crossed her arms protectively at her chest. “But?”

“
But I’m done with your father,” Nash said. “I don’t want to be in the same room with the man ever again. And I can’t say I’m thrilled by the thought of Skeeter growing up with a grandpa who thinks people are trash if they don’t have a perfect pedigree or ‘breed’ a little too frequently for his tastes.”

Aria sighed and brought her fingers to rub at her neck. “But he’s not really like that, Nash. I swear he’s not. He says all that stuff, but he doesn’t really mean it. He’d give the shirt off his back to a stranger if they needed it. He’s a good man.”

“
He accused me of being a child molester, Aria.” Saying the words out loud was enough to make Nash want to smash a fist through something all over again. “Do you have any idea how deeply that offends me?”

“
But he didn’t really mean it,” Aria repeated, brows pinched together.

“
Yes, he did,” Nash said. “The man hates me, and after this morning, I can say the feeling is mutual. I’m done with him. If you want to have your sisters or your mother over to our house, that’s fine. Any time. But your father isn’t welcome, and I won’t be joining you and Felicity for any more BBQs at Bob’s house.”

Aria’s frown grew deeper. “Please, Nash. Let’s just…let’s just get through the rest of this mess with Liam and make sure Felicity is safe, and then we can try to sort this out with my dad.”

“
There’s nothing to sort out.”

“
Nash, please,” Aria begged, a note of desperation entering her voice. “I don’t want to spend our entire lives avoiding my father. He’s my father. Surely, if you love me, and Daddy loves me, we can find a way to be civil and get by in a normal, dysfunctional sort of way.”

“
What if my mother had accused you of being a child molester?” Nash asked, digging his heels in. He tried not to be stubborn about stupid things anymore, but this wasn’t stupid. Bob had gone too far to make this better with a handshake and an apology. “How would you feel about making nice with her after something like that?”

“
Well, your mother didn’t call me a child molester last night, but she did basically accuse me of being a gold digger and said her son deserved better than a user like me,” Aria said, anger creeping into her tone. “And I still plan on going back to her house any time you want me there. I’m not going to let one nasty woman ruin—”

“
My mother really said that?” Nash asked, shocked. Mom hadn’t been warm last night, but she hadn’t seemed aggressive toward Aria, either. “Are you sure you didn’t misunderstand her?”

“
Those were her exact words, Nash,” Aria said in a voice that dared him to challenge her. “That I was using you to help pay for things for my baby until something or someone better came along. And that you deserved better than me.”

Nash shook his head, but not because he didn’t believe Aria. He couldn’t believe his mother had had the nerve to go behind his back and meddle in his life like that. He was thirty-one years old, for God’s sakes.

“
Well, why didn’t you tell me that?” Nash asked. “Why did you lie and say you overhead some woman talking at a wedding instead of telling me that my mother—”

“
I was trying to keep the peace,” Aria said. “I know how much you love your mom, and I didn’t want it to come down to some kind of ‘her or me’ situation. I guess…I guess I was worried I wouldn’t be the one you’d choose.”

She crossed her arms again, making her breasts swell above the lacy edge of her sleeveless red pajama top.

She certainly didn’t look like a child now. To Nash she never had. That first day at camp, in that crazy dress, with her hair hanging wild to her waist and those eyes that promised all the best kinds of trouble, she’d been the sexiest thing he’d ever seen. But Bob March was never going to understand that Nash hadn’t seen Aria the same way her father had, or realize that, for all his size, Nash had only been a kid back then, too.