ZOE BARELY HAD time to process everything in the short time between Byron’s leaving and her needing to pick up Lilah from school. As much as she didn’t want to become a part of Byron’s campaign, she’d known this day was coming. Known she’d have to contend with leaving the spot blank on her daughter’s birth certificate.
Without a father listed Kendell could return, request a DNA test and fight to have himself listed as a legal guardian of their daughter. If she admitted the truth then Byron wouldn’t have to be named, his campaign could go on unbothered and he could walk away just as she’d walked away all those years ago. Except he didn’t want to walk away. He wanted to continue to keep their secret even though claiming a child now could cost him the election.
The thought poked at the soft spot in her heart she’d always carried for him. Byron was still out to save the world. She’d thought he was full of shit when they’d first met in college. No way the pretty rich boy who had almost every girl on campus tripping over themselves to get close to him was really into community service and volunteerism. In the end he’d proved her wrong. She’d grown to respect and like him. So much so, she’d been willing to accept Kendell’s anger every time she brought up Byron’s name. Byron’s always dating someone from the high society group was the only reason Kendell didn’t believe he really was a threat.
Lilah came bounding out of the school in her blue plaid uniform, a bright smile on her young face and her best friend, Julie, by her side. Zoe’s heart squeezed with love and a fierce protectiveness every time she saw her daughter. Lilah’s dark skin, wide, expressive eyes and ready smile was evidence Zoe had given her child a better life than she’d had. Lilah wouldn’t grow up fearing what type of shitstorm she’d walk into whenever she went home. She’d be confident, know her self-worth and what love wasn’t, so she’d never become prey to a man like Kendell.
Lilah spotted Zoe in the SUV and waved. She said something to her friend, and they laughed and hugged before Lilah jogged over to the car. Her long, dark braids swung around her shoulders. A boy stopped Lilah on her way to the car. He said something that made her daughter light up like a Christmas tree before giving her a small envelope and walking off.
Zoe’s brows drew together. At thirteen, Lilah was definitely at the interested-in-boys stage of her development. That boy, T.J. Dawkins, was the one who garnered all of her daughter’s attention. Lilah hadn’t claimed T.J. as her boyfriend, but Zoe feared the declaration was coming soon.
God, I’m not ready for that.
Lilah pushed a few braids behind her ear and watched T.J. walk away for a second before continuing to the car. Zoe cleared up her frown and greeted Lilah with a smile and a kiss as she got in the car.
“How was school?” Zoe asked as she eased her car into the flow of traffic leaving the school.
“Same as always. I did great on my science test today and got an A on my English paper.” Lilah tore open the envelope and scanned the small card inside.
“What’s that?” Zoe glanced over but couldn’t make out anything before she had to focus on the road again.
“An invitation,” Lilah said, sounding distracted.
“To what? I saw T.J. give it to you.”
Lilah turned in her seat. “Spying on me?” she said in a teasing tone.
“You’re mine, aren’t you? That gives me the right to meddle in your life as much as I want,” Zoe replied, matching her daughter’s tone.
Lilah rolled her eyes but laughed. “He’s having a pool party for his birthday. He said he wants me to come.”
Pool party? Teenagers hopped up on hormones they were still learning how to deal with and bathing suits. As soon as the thought crossed her mind Zoe chastised herself. Lilah and her group of friends were responsible. All of Zoe’s internet sleuthing and undercover monitoring of Lilah’s cell phone proved that much. She wanted Zoe to go out, make friends and have fun. She wasn’t quite ready for an at-home pool party with the boy Lilah was hung up on.
“What did you tell him?”
Lilah raised a shoulder. “I told him I’d think about it, and that I have to see if we have anything planned for that weekend.”
Zoe’s hands loosened the death grip on the steering wheel. “Let him sweat a little.”
“Exactly. T.J. is the cutest guy in school, but I don’t want him to think I’m pressed to be his girlfriend or anything.”
Yes, yes, thank the Lord, yes! “Well, let me know when you make up your mind.” Zoe kept her inner celebration hidden and replied in an even, disinterested tone. Every time her daughter listened to her advice instead of succumbing to the pick me attitude toward boys Zoe used to have, was reason to celebrate. Parenting was hard, getting her kid to grow stronger where she’d been weak was harder and Zoe was going to rejoice after every damn win.
Lilah chatted about school and the latest drama with her friends on the rest of the ride home. When they pulled into the garage, Lilah jumped out of the car and rushed into the house to change for archery practice. The previous fall Zoe and Lilah had attended an outdoor women’s retreat where they’d tried out a variety of new things like camping, fishing, outdoor cooking and archery. Lilah had fallen in love with the sport, and after begging Zoe for a bow and arrow for Christmas, Zoe decided that lessons would come first before committing to purchasing all the equipment. Six months later and her daughter’s enthusiasm hadn’t faltered.
Zoe followed Lilah up the stairs. After practice Lilah would have homework before going to bed. If she didn’t talk to her about Byron’s visit and his request now, she’d keep putting it off.
“Hey, Lilah, you got a second? I need to talk to you about something.”
Lilah was rummaging through one of the drawers probably looking for something to change into for practice. She glanced over her shoulder. “Sure. Can we talk while I change, or is this a talk talk?”
Zoe sat on the edge of Lilah’s bed. “It’s about your father.”
Lilah hesitated for a beat before going back to pulling things out of the drawer. “My real dad or the guy who agreed to say he was my dad?” Lilah asked with a hint of sarcasm.
Zoe had hoped that by telling the truth and revealing her own mistakes her daughter would avoid similar situations. Lilah had asked a dozen questions. Mostly about Byron, although she hadn’t given Lilah his name. A smart decision in hindsight since Lilah wanted to meet him, and a quick Google search could have given Lilah everything she needed to contact him.
As for her real dad, thankfully, Lilah wanted nothing to do with the man who’d hurt her mom.
“Both, actually,” Zoe answered. She paused for a heartbeat. Once she gave Zoe his name and what he wanted, there was no going back. “Byron...the man who said he was your father. He was here earlier today.”
Lilah spun around. “He was here? Like, in this house?” Her eyes were wide. Her voice high pitched with excitement and disbelief.
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?” Lilah looked over Zoe’s shoulder toward the hall as if Byron would magically appear.
“He’s gone back to his home in North Carolina.”
Although Byron had agreed to give her to the end of the week, she could tell he’d hoped for an immediate answer. She appreciated his not pushing her into making a quick decision. She wanted to help Byron, and she damn sure wanted to keep her secret. She just couldn’t move forward without thinking about all of the consequences. Not considering consequences when she was younger had been part of her problem.
“What? Why? Mom, did you send him away?” Lilah accused.
“No, I didn’t send him away.” Zoe didn’t want to think about how much a part of her wanted him to stay longer, catch up, talk the way they used to. “He came here because he needs something from us.”
“Something like what?” For the first time suspicion entered Lilah’s tone. Another thing Zoe had taught her. Always wonder what someone wants when they approach you for help.
“He’s running for Senate, and apparently his connection with me, and you, is coming up.” She waved Lilah over to sit on the edge of the bed next to her and gave her the quick rundown. Leaving out the part about threatening emails and the possibility her real father may be looking for her. Until they found out who’d hired the other private investigator Zoe didn’t want to scare Lilah. She’d left that out with Byron, too. She still wasn’t sure if the emails were anything to worry about or not.
“He wanted me to give him an answer today, but I asked him to give me until the end of the week.” Before he’d left, Byron mentioned if she wanted to she could come to his home in Jackson Falls, North Carolina, that weekend to talk things out.
Lilah shook her head and grabbed Zoe’s arm. “No, Mom, you need to do this. Call him. Go up there.”
Zoe immediately regretted mentioning Byron’s parting words in her recap to Lilah. She understood his reasoning. Getting ahead of the lie was best for both of them, but that didn’t mean she was ready to face that reality right now. “If I go, it’ll put a damper on our weekend. I promised you we’d go to Atlanta.”
“Mom, who cares about Atlanta,” Lilah said with an eye roll. “You have to go.”
That was not the answer she’d expected. “Did you not hear the part about a political campaign for a national office? Lilah, if I go and agree to anything then people will dig into our life.”
Lilah did not look impressed or concerned with the idea of people looking into their past. “They’ll dig and find what? You’re a safety person at some plastics plant, and I’m a thirteen-year-old who spends more time with my recurve bow than anyone else. There’s nothing to find.”
Nothing except Zoe’s terrible relationship with Lilah’s father, her parents’ own rocky marriage and subsequent not quite legal separation. Other than those things Zoe’s life was pretty basic and routine. She liked the mundane quality of her life. Mundane equaled structure and security. Being a part of a campaign would be far from mundane, and she’d have to relive all of the mistakes of her past.
“There’s the matter of your real father,” Zoe said. “If he sees us, he may try to come back.”
“Who cares. You already said that your friend Byron wants to say he’s my dad. He’ll be able to protect me the way he protected you.”
Zoe held up a hand and shook her head. “Hold up, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This isn’t going to make Byron your real dad or turn him into a knight in shining armor. He’s engaged to someone else. He has his own life.”
“But as soon as you were in trouble he dropped everything to come here and warn you. I bet he doesn’t love her.” Lilah jumped up from the bed and went back to the clothes search.
Zoe’s mouth opened and closed before her thoughts came together. “Lilah, this isn’t something to make assumptions about. If I do this it will only be to help him for the campaign. We’ll make it as quick and painless and possible before we go back to our normal lives. Whether or not Byron loves or doesn’t love his fiancée doesn’t matter. He has one, which means we’ll also have to figure out how to get along with her.” She stood and went over to Lilah. She placed her hands on her daughter’s slim shoulders and made her face her. “This isn’t a game or something we can jump into with unrealistic expectations. Doing this changes everything. It’ll be several months, maybe even until the end of the campaign, before things go back to normal.”
Lilah sighed but nodded. “I understand all of that. I know this doesn’t make him my real dad. But Mom, let’s be honest. It would be easier for him to just tell the truth and be done with us. He didn’t want to do that, and if he wins, he can’t just ignore his ‘daughter.’” She made air quotes with the word daughter. “He’ll be in our life.”
The idea should have made Zoe panic. She was nervous, unsure and wary, but she wasn’t panicked. If the emails were a threat, and if Kendell did consider trying to come back in their life, then having Byron on their side, even if it was superficial, might be enough to keep Kendell away. As much as she hated to have to depend on his help again, she would take whatever options were available to keep Lilah safe.
“He’ll be on the edges of our life,” Zoe said. “Not all the way in it.”
Lilah shifted until Zoe dropped her hands. “Fine. But you need to go up there. Don’t just say no and use Atlanta as the excuse. You always complain about Atlanta traffic anyway. At least go and find out what he really wants. Okay? I’m fine with going to the aquarium another weekend.”
Zoe watched her daughter closely. She hadn’t expected Lilah to be so excited about this situation with Byron. Her daughter was just as private as she was. She’d kind of hoped Lilah would say no way and then Zoe could go back to Byron with a valid reason not to agree with another larger-than-life secret. There was always telling the truth, but the truth came with another set of concerns she never wanted to touch Lilah.
She could go and find out what he had to say. If they agreed that keeping the lie going was the best step, then she’d just have to try and limit the time Lilah and Byron spent together. Her daughter wanted a father, but Zoe didn’t want Lilah too attached to a man who was promised to another woman. The last thing she needed on top of all this drama was for Lilah to think something would happen between her and Byron.
Not like that would be such a bad thing.
No way. She was not going there. Today’s attraction was a mixture of nostalgia and too long since her last relationship. Byron was handsome and she could appreciate that without losing her mind.
“Fine, I’ll go, but I’m making no promises.”