A Missing Heart(43)

I don’t know what else to do other than wrap my arms around her and hold her as tightly as I’ve wanted to hold on to her for so long. “Can I meet her? Where is she right now?”

“With Casper,” she sniffles. “At the hotel down the street.”

“Casper?” I question, sucking in a breath. “Casper?”

“My fiancé,” she says.

“Casper?” I ask again. “Like, the ghost?”

She laughs through her tears. “He’s never heard that one before,” she jokes, waving a finger at me.

“You’re engaged to a Casper?”

“Yes,” she snaps with a small smile. “I am.”

The smile has fallen from my face, though. “Is he good to you? He could be named Dog Shit for all I care, as long as he’s good to you.”

She presses her lips together, and the smile lines tracing her mouth deepen. “When I see him, he’s great. Works a lot, travels even more. You know how it can be. He’s an attorney.”

“Your dad’s dream, huh?” I add in. I never knew much about her parents, but I know nothing was ever good enough for their Cammy.

“Yeah, Mom and Dad love him,” she shrugs.

“Do you?” Too far, AJ. Too far. First time speaking to this girl in over a dozen years. This is none of my business.

“Of course,” she says. The conversation comes to an awkward pause, and I take the hint about dropping the relationship questions as she puts her hands over her eyes. “Anyway, how about you? You have a wife. Any kids?”

“Yeah, I have a wife, Tori, and we have a one-year-old little boy, Gavin.”

Cammy gives me a genuine smile and places her hand on my knee. “It makes me so happy to hear that you got over your promise of never having another child. I always thought you would make a great father.”

“Wasn’t planned, but everything does have a reason for happening. That’s for damn sure.”

“And I’m going to take a guess that you’re working for your dad now?” Her fingers pinch at the shred from the knee-hole of my jeans.

“Hunter and I are running the show, but yeah.”

“Your life looks pretty perfect to me, AJ.”

“Looks aren’t everything,” I tell her. Her eyes sag a bit with despair, maybe recognizing the truth in my words, maybe feeling sorry for my words, maybe feeling them for herself.

“So, Ever, did she run away?” The questions pop into my head, one by one. It isn’t okay that our thirteen-year-old daughter showed up at Cammy’s house on her own and out of the blue. Something must have caused that to happen.

“Yes, she ran away from a foster home,” she says.

I stand up from the couch before my mind has a moment to tell me to breathe and stay seated. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“She had only been there for two weeks.”

“Why, Cam—Cameron? Tell me why she was in foster care for even thirty seconds?” I’m pacing the living room, feeling ready to run out the front doors and find those f*cking *s who took our daughter and promised to care for her.

“They died. They were in a private jet affiliated with the man’s company, and it crashed. Eight of the ten people aboard died on impact. I’m sure you heard about it on the news a couple of weeks ago. In any case, those are all the details I was able to get out of Ever.”

I did see it on the news. Watching the updates made me feel sick for the families involved. Oh shit… “Was she in—” I stop pacing to ask this question.

“No, she was with her nanny.”

“I need to see her, now. I need to see her. Okay?” My chest is rising and falling at a rapid rate, and I feel like everything within me is erupting with a fuel of anger, resentment, excitement, and utter happiness. I’m out of control, and I’m afraid of waking up from this dream—the only dream I’ve f*cking had since that little girl was brought into my life.

“Okay, I’ll take you to her.”

I fall to my knees because they’ve given out, and I wrap my arms around Cammy’s calves, thanking her over and over again. “Thank you. Thank you,” I breathe out.



The only wish I have for my daughter on her thirteenth birthday is to sit down at a table and share a cupcake with me—and for her to blow out her own candle. This year, my wish is coming true.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


I’M SITTING IN Cammy’s BMW, staring out the window, retracing my steps from the moment I woke up this morning. I had no clue my day would end up like this. “So,” I say, looking over at Cammy in her dark Audrey Hepburn sunglasses. “What did you decide to do with your life?” Other than become stinkin’ rich and more beautiful.

“I’m an attorney,” she says, grinning with pride.

“Oh yeah? You any good?”

“Depends,” she says, her smirk growing a little wider.

“On what?” I laugh.

“If you’re the good guy or the bad guy.”

This reunion feels like nothing between us has changed, like no time has passed at all. I feel like myself, and I feel so proud of her.

We pull into the parking lot of the only four-star hotel in the area. “Casper is cool with meeting me and stuff?” I ask. The last thing I want is to cause any issues between her and this ghost but I’m seeing my daughter whether he’s cool with it or not.