To Have It All(31)

“How do you know I won’t just keep it all?”

“The same way you said you could tell Liam is a good man. Sometimes, we just know. I know you will do what is good.”

I wasn’t sure how this conversation would go, but when Mary threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly, I couldn’t stop myself from hugging her back. I hugged her tightly, the embrace meaning more to me than I knew she would understand. I was grateful to this woman in a way I couldn’t explain to her because she saw Max, not Liam. Whether I was in Max’s body or not, there were some things I couldn’t stop, and this was one of them. Physically, I was Max; healthy and well-off, but it was my soul that existed within him, and my soul remembered the days I lived on the dirtied sullen streets, hungry and hopeless. My soul remembered the kindness of a stranger; the kindness of Mary. I’d tortured myself with wondering if giving Max’s money away was right, but in the end, I decided I didn’t care. Max had plenty of it and had Mary not given Pearl and I a meal that day, I might not have been there, and Max’s body might have been the one to end up in a coma, not mine.

When we pulled away from each other, Mary wiped at her eyes. “Thank you . . .” she paused, realizing she didn’t know my name.

“I’m no one,” I told her. “And thank you. Can you do me a favor please?”

“Sure,” she replied without hesitation.

Taking the gift bag from where it sat in the booth, I handed it to her. “Will you give this to Pearl?”

She looked at it in my hand, her gaze curious.

“You can look,” I permitted.

Taking the bag, she peeked inside and smiled. “A black cat stuffed animal,” she chuckled. “She’ll love this.”

“His name is Murry,” I noted. “Thanks again, Mary.”

Grabbing the dishes from our table, she gave me a curt nod. “I’ll make sure they get fed. I promise.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell her I, or rather Liam, wouldn’t be there anymore. Instead, I nodded back and waved. Then I left, meeting Helen and Pim just outside. Pimberly practically jumped out of Helen’s arms into mine. We laughed again just as a motorcycle whizzed by, stealing our attention. Pim’s face lit up with a bright smile, and she babbled, “Vroom-vroom,” as she pointed at the bike.

“You’ve got good taste, sweetheart,” I told her. “That’s a Harley.”

“Vroom-vroom,” she giggled.

As I stared at Pim, my face hurt I was smiling so big.

“You’re good with her, Liam,” Helen noted.

“Li-ham,” Pim babbled. Helen immediately covered her mouth.

“She’s like a parrot, this one,” I huffed.

“I’m so sorry,” Helen gulped. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“Li-ham,” Pim murmured again.

Taking a deep breath, I decided not to worry about it. Maybe if we didn’t make a big deal out of it, Pim would stop.





When I arrived back at Max’s apartment, I’d calmed down significantly and decided I’d be cordial. There was no need to get worked up or argue with him anymore. All I needed to do was get Pim and leave. I’d made a mistake bringing her here; leaving her with him and now it was time to fix it. I would not be bringing her back regardless if Max signed the papers or not. Maybe he would have rights to her, but I doubted he’d ever exercise those rights, so there was no point in pushing him.

I rang the doorbell once and waited patiently until Max opened the door. When he did, the blood drained from my face.

“Hi,” he rasped as if he’d been asleep. His hair was slightly tousled, and he was squinting his eyes. It wasn’t how he looked that panicked me; it was how Pim looked curled up in his arm, her head resting on his shoulder as she slumbered.

“She fell asleep in my arms, and I was afraid if I set her down, she’d wake up,” he whispered. “Guess I kind of fell asleep, too.” With his free hand, he motioned for me to come in before he turned and headed back to the living room. Moving slowly so not to wake her, he sat on the couch. “How was your day?” he asked quietly.

“Uh . . . It was fine,” I answered numbly. Was I in some kind of alternate reality? That’s all I could think as I stared down at him holding our daughter. This man was not the Max Porter I knew. It seemed as though someone had literally flipped a switch inside of him. The Max I remembered wouldn’t even look at his newborn baby daughter, let alone hold her for hours while she slept because he didn’t want to wake her.

“She was really good today. We went out for breakfast—”

“You took her out?” I interrupted him, my voice raising an octave.

Raising his brows, seemingly surprised at my anger, he answered, “Yeah. We went to breakfast and the park.”

Glaring at him I opened my mouth to yell, to rage at him for taking her out when he barely knew her, but I decided better of it. He would never see her again. There was no point. Snapping my mouth shut, I spun around and proceeded to pack up Pim’s belongings.

“Are you angry?” he inquired with one brow raised in confusion.

“It doesn’t matter,” I fumed as I chucked Pim’s diaper bag in the wagon. I hadn’t meant it to be loud, but the sound startled her and she jerked her head up, her eyes squinty as they adjusted to the light.