To Have It All(27)

“What are you doing here, Waverly?” he asked briskly, shuffling some papers around on his desk, barely acknowledging my presence.

“She’s four days old today,” I answered, getting straight to the point. “She looks like me, I think,” I chuckled nervously as I looked down at a sleeping Pim, “but she has your nose for sure.”

“Are you here for money?” he asked, leaning back in his chair with a look of disgust. “How much?”

My entire body felt like lead; heavy with hurt and insult. This wasn’t the first time I’d attempted to plead with Max, beg him to reconsider. It was, however, the first time I had Pim to plead with. I was desperate. I’d loved this man, or so I thought. He’d swept me off my feet only to leave me like trash on the streets. My heart and mind were in different places. I knew he didn’t deserve Pim or me, but I couldn’t let him go for some reason.

“I’m not here for money,” I managed. “I wanted you to see her, Max. Your daughter. This is your baby,” I emphasized.

“Waverly,” he said my name sternly. Leaning forward, he rested his arms on the desk, fixing his blue eyes on me. “I didn’t want this baby or any baby for that matter. When you chose to have her, you chose to lose me.”

My eyes welled up, my stomach knotting. “Max,” I breathed, his name heavy. “I couldn’t get rid of her. I-I-I couldn’t do that. Not to my baby—our baby.”

In a quick, frustrated move, he jerked to his feet and stood behind his desk. “How much, Waverly?”

“I don’t want your money, Max,” I cried. “Just look at her. Please. Just one time.”

Rounding the desk, he stared down at Pimberly. I waited for a smile, a look of softness that a father looking at his infant child for the first time might create to capture his features, but he showed nothing. All I saw was a stoic expression.

“Take her out of here and do not come to my office again. I will be informing security that you’re not to enter the building.”

My face felt numb as the blood drained from it. My child was fatherless. My husband had disowned us. He didn’t want her. He didn’t want me. I was all alone.

When I picked Pimberly up, looping the handle of the car seat over my arm, I couldn’t speak a word to him for fear of falling into a mess of sobs. If I was going to make it out of that building with even the smallest shred of my dignity, that couldn’t happen. So I said nothing.

Speaking one word would be the demise of the fine thread holding me together.

My legs were weak as I moved, my head was foggy, but still . . . I moved, willing my body to go beyond its abilities. Just as I reached for the door handle, Max delivered the final blow. “I’ll sign my rights over to you. Send me the paperwork.”

At that moment I realized I’d been wrong. My heart could hurt more.

As I climbed into my cab, I looked up at Max’s building, wiping under my eyes. Even that memory, almost two years later, could knock the air out of me.

Matt was right. Leaving Pim with Max was wrong. This would be the last day. If he refused to sign the papers, I’d call his father. The last thing Max would ever want is for his father to find out he’d had a baby with someone of my low social class. I wasn’t even sure he knew we were married.

This would be the last day.





It had been ten minutes since Waverly left, and I was expecting Helen to show up at any moment, so when the doorbell rang I wasn’t surprised. When I opened the door, though, it wasn’t Helen. It was a guy.

A big guy.

He looked me up and down, snickering to himself before muttering, “Been a long time, Max.” Even with his Yankees hat pulled down covering his eyes, it wasn’t hard to tell he didn’t like me. Having no idea who he was, I had no idea how to respond. Had it been a long time?

“This is ridiculous, Matthew,” a woman said from beside him. I couldn’t see her, but it wasn’t hard to hear the annoyance in her tone.

“Stay out of it, Alice,” the man, Matthew, piped back.

“She here?” he asked, his stare intent on me.

“Is who here?”

He snorted and looked at the woman beside him as if saying, can you believe this guy?

“My niece,” he grunted. “You know, the little girl I’ve been helping raise because you’re a deadbeat asshole.”

Running a wide palm down my face, I fought the groan I wanted to let out. This dude was Waverly’s brother—of course it was. My shoulders sagged as I realized I’d had yet to meet even one person that thought well of Max. So far, all I’d come across were people that thought he was evil, and they weren’t wrong.

“We’re going to miss our plane, Matt,” the woman asserted, forcing him aside so she could see me. A tall woman, her mouth quirked in a smile that was anything but pleasant said, “Hello, Max.”

“Uh . . . hi,” I managed. Again, I had no idea who she was.

“Matt would like to see Pim before we catch our flight to Europe. May we come in?” Whoever she was, she didn’t waste time. She was straight to the point.

Glancing back at Pim, I noticed she was halfway to me. Smiling, she let out a few excited gurgles as she waddled her way over. Knowing she was excited to see Matt, I stepped aside allowing him entrance.