Chapter 2 - The Little Girl With His Eyes
Declan didn’t speak.
The restaurant continued around them—plates clinking, people laughing, a waiter opening wine at another table.
But Declan Voss sat absolutely still.
Finally, he whispered, “Her name?”
“Maisie.”
His throat moved.
“Maisie.”
Sienna crossed her arms.
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Say her name like you already have a claim on her.”
Pain flashed across his face.
“I don’t.”
“Good.”
“I missed six years.”
“Yes.”
“I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
That surprised him.
Sienna exhaled slowly.
“I don’t blame you for not knowing. I blame you for disappearing.”
“That’s fair.”
“No, it isn’t. None of this is fair.”
Declan stood.
Sienna immediately stiffened.
He stopped.
“I’m not trying to stop you from leaving.”
“Then don’t.”
He moved aside.
She took three steps.
“Sienna.”
She turned.
His voice was almost unrecognizable.
“Is she healthy?”
The question hit her harder than anything else.
“Yes.”
“Happy?”
“Most days.”
“What does she like?”
Sienna stared at him.
“You don’t get six years in five questions.”
“I know.”
“She likes dinosaurs, strawberry yogurt, mystery books, and correcting adults when they say something scientifically inaccurate.”
A faint smile touched his mouth.
“That sounds familiar.”
“Don’t.”
The smile vanished.
Sienna left.
For two days, Declan didn’t call.
She appreciated that.
On Tuesday afternoon, Maisie appeared at Lakecrest Medical Center because her elementary school closed unexpectedly after a pipe burst.
Sienna had no backup childcare.
So Maisie sat at the nurses’ station with headphones, coloring books, and strict instructions not to wander.
At three-ten, Sienna returned from checking a patient.
Maisie was gone.
Her stomach dropped.
“Where’s my daughter?”
Nurse Kelly pointed down the hall.
“She went to the vending machine with Mr. Alvarez.”
Sienna hurried around the corner.
Then stopped.
Maisie stood beside the vending machines.
Mr. Alvarez was nowhere in sight.
Declan was.
Two security men waited farther down the corridor.
Maisie looked up at him with wide, curious eyes.
Declan looked like someone had punched the air out of his lungs.
Sienna walked quickly toward them.
“Maisie.”
Her daughter turned.
“Mom, this man knows you.”
Sienna reached her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Declan’s gaze dropped to the protective movement.
“He was at your work the other day,” Maisie continued. “I saw him from the corner when Mrs. Ramirez brought me after school.”
Sienna hadn’t known that.
Maisie tilted her head at Declan.
“You stare a lot.”
One of his security men suddenly became very interested in the opposite wall.
Declan cleared his throat.
“So I’ve been told.”
“Are you Mom’s friend?”
Sienna answered immediately.
“He used to be.”
Declan didn’t contradict her.
Maisie studied him.
Then she said, “You have my eyes.”
Silence.
Sienna closed hers briefly.
Of course she noticed.
Maisie noticed everything.
Declan crouched slowly, keeping several feet between them.
“I suppose I do.”
“Mom says mine are dark brown.”
“They are.”
“What color are yours?”
“The same.”
Maisie considered this.
“Were you friends when Mom was young?”
Sienna opened her mouth.
Declan answered carefully.
“Yes.”
“Was she bossy?”
“Extremely.”
“Hey.”
Maisie smiled.
Declan looked at that smile as if it were something precious.
Then Sienna saw the danger.
Not physical danger.
Emotional danger.
For all three of them.
“Maisie, go finish your coloring.”
“But—”
“Now.”
Maisie looked between them.
Then walked back toward the nurses’ station.
Declan stood.
“You didn’t tell me she’d be here.”
“I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“My uncle had a follow-up.”
Sienna lowered her voice.
“You cannot just introduce yourself to her.”
“I didn’t.”
“You talked to her.”
“She talked to me first.”
“That distinction means something in your world. It doesn’t in mine.”
His expression tightened.
“I would never hurt her.”
“I know that.”
“Then what are you afraid of?”
Sienna looked toward her daughter.
“That she’ll love you.”
Declan said nothing.
“And then,” Sienna continued, “one morning you’ll disappear again.”
His face changed.
“I won’t.”
“You said that seven years ago.”
“I know.”
Sienna stepped closer.
“If you want any relationship with her, you do it slowly.”
“I will.”
“No bodyguards around her unless absolutely necessary.”
“Agreed.”
“No expensive presents.”
He almost smiled.
“I hadn’t mentioned presents.”
“I remember you.”
“That version of me had forty dollars.”
“And somehow spent thirty-nine of it trying to impress me.”
“It worked.”
“Barely.”
For one dangerous second, they were twenty-two again.
Then Sienna caught herself.
“This isn’t about us.”
Declan looked at her.
“No. It isn’t.”
But neither of them believed that completely.
Maisie called from the nurses’ station.
“Mom!”
“Yes?”
“Mr. Alvarez says there’s a scary-looking man asking for you!”
Declan looked toward the corridor.
One of his security men was already moving.
A man in a gray suit approached Sienna.
“Ms. Hale?”
“Yes?”
He handed her an envelope.
“You’ve been served.”
Sienna stared at it.
“What?”
“Civil collection action.”
Then he left.
She tore it open.
Her face fell.
Declan stepped closer.
“What is it?”
“Nothing.”
“Sienna.”
“Nothing you’re fixing.”
He saw the amount before she folded the paper.
Past-due rent.
Late fees.
Medical debt left from Maisie’s emergency hospitalization at age two.
Declan’s jaw tightened.
“Let me help.”
“No.”
“That’s my daughter’s debt too.”
“It was my debt when I sat beside her hospital bed alone.”
He went silent.
Sienna’s voice softened, but only slightly.
“You want to be her father?”
“Yes.”
“Then understand something.”
She looked straight at him.
“I don’t need a rich man to rescue me.”
Declan nodded.
“What do you need?”
“A man who stays.”
May you like
That answer followed him all the way out of the hospital.
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