Angel's Peak (Virgin River #10)(38)

When they hung up, Vivian made a beeline for the manicure, pedicure and facial stuff that had been set aside earlier in the day. If he was going to hold her for a while, she was going to be soft and perfect. And there would be a car in the driveway and the dead bolt would be thrown into place.

Sunday afternoon found Sean packing a duffel at Luke’s house. Then he grabbed himself some fast food that didn’t exactly go down well, and headed back to Franci’s house in Eureka. Not only did he have a nervous stomach, he’d had Scotch for breakfast. When she opened the door, she was completely surprised to see him. “You’re back.” She was wearing an old sweatshirt and pair of jeans, big fluffy slippers and had some kind of feathery dusting thing on a long handle in her hand.

And she looked delicious. He wanted to tackle her on the spot. But…

“Did I screw up your plans for the day?” he asked.

“That depends on what you want. We’re cleaning our bedrooms,” she said. “Well, I’m cleaning mine and Rosie gets a little sidetracked. But she tries.”

“Can I come in, please?” he asked.

“Sean, why are you here?” she asked, but she stepped away from the door to allow him to enter. “You were going to call later tonight.”

“I have to talk to Rosie,” he said. “I have to tell her.”

“Shouldn’t we talk about it first? As in, how it should be done?”

He shook his head. “I’ll just try to get to know her a little, tell her who I am—and I have to do this because next I have to tell my mother.”

Franci put a hand on her hip and let out a breath. “This is moving a little fast,” she said.

“Tell me about it. But that’s what we have, Franci, so let’s just go with it.”

“What do you plan to say to her? Want me to help you? Tell her with you?”

“I don’t know what I’m going to say,” he said first. “No, I want to do it alone. But could you stay kind of close in case I get in trouble?”

She grabbed his upper arm. “Sean, are you going to tell her and then disappear on her? Because if that’s your plan, I need to know so I can do some damage control. I don’t want her devastated.”

He looked into her large dark eyes. God, she was beautiful. He was an animal; he was preparing to tell his daughter he was her father and at that moment all he could think about was getting Franci alone. Alone and naked. “My plan is to begin a relationship with her that will last a very long time. Cut me a little slack—I don’t have a frickin’ clue how that’s done. I’m going to wing it. How much does she know?”

“Nothing. Basically, nothing.”

“You said she started asking questions,” he reminded her.

“Just little-girl questions. She noticed even the divorced kids had dads around from time to time. She asked where our daddy was. I told her you were in the air force. You have to learn to tell children only what they want to know—she didn’t even ask who you were, just where. But that’s when I knew I couldn’t waste much more time and would have to track you down.” She shrugged. “That was pretty recent.”

“Why’d you wait so long in the first place?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “I didn’t want to face it. I knew you’d be angry…she’d be confused—things could get real complicated. And I was afraid you might not acknowledge…her…”

He frowned. “Not acknowledge her?” he asked in confusion.

She took a deep breath and stiffened her spine. “I knew you didn’t want a child—you were very clear. And really, I didn’t want anything from you. So I thought you might say she wasn’t yours and you didn’t want—”

He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close to him, his nose nearly touching hers. “Listen to me. It was only you and me. There were never any others—not for either one of us. We were more married than half the married people we hung out with. If you had a baby, she was mine. You think I wouldn’t own that?”

She let her eyes fall closed. Not purposely, but it was a natural response. What she wanted to do was push him away and take control of the situation. Instead, she inhaled, drinking in his breath, his scent. And she whispered, “I could only hope, Sean. There was a lot of anger between us.”

He relaxed his hold on her waist, giving her a little space. “Franci, the stuff we have to work out about all that—that doesn’t have anything to do with what I have to work out with Rosie. Let’s try to keep those two things in separate corners. I don’t want to hurt her because of our anger with each other. That wouldn’t be fair.”

She tilted her head to one side and looked at him quizzically. “Wow. It almost seems like you got some counseling or something.”

“Can I just talk to her now? And will you stay around in case I need you?”

“What if she wonders why you’re telling her instead of me telling her?” Franci asked. “How do we handle that?”

He shrugged. “Tell her you were surprised to see me. And I’ll tell her that from now on, she’ll always know where I am. We can do this.”

She was totally shocked. “It sounds like we can. She’s in her room and I’ll be right next door in my room. Good luck.”