ck from Europe. Five years of raising our daughter, Lily, on my own in a sm

ily' s real estate empire needed a connection to my family' s constr

ster, Gabrielle. And she wanted him

ummon me to a chic SoHo café, I k

ust as arrogant as I remembered, sitting across from Gabrielle, who w

. He just gestured

cold, "I'm back. We need t

at Lily, who was h

, a smug look on his face. "For business purposes, our fam

tting the cru

ith us. You can be the family manager, a nanny, whatever you want to call

e thought he had me trapped. He thought because I had his

. done. The last five years of clinging to a sliver of h

n Lily' s ear, "Sweetheart, h

ad been wide with fe

dy? Is it

r, but it was loud enough for

me to Yankee Stad

didn' t know who "Uncle Drew" was,

ross the small space between our chairs. Her small fingerna

yours!" Chloe shriek

, but she didn't make a sound. She just lo

in his voice. He pulled Chloe back into his lap

ook at the scrat

at him, and saw a complete st

ramatic, Maria. I designed a custom dollhouse for Chloe's birthday

is whole time, finally spoke, her

ittle girl so much." She kissed Chloe's head. "We'r

mbling. She had waited five years for a father, and

om his expensive suit. He tossed a

ekend at the estate," he commanded,

their daughter, a perfect, happy

stark reminder of the last few minutes. The tears

r voice choked with sadnes

piece of my heart. I knelt and hugged

I said, my voice thick with emotion.

hand. "I don't want him to be my daddy anymore. I

with Ryan, had been our rock. He was the one who helped me set up my bakery, the one who came to every sc

a pink plastic toy Andrew had given her.

"Can you come back from Seattle? Momm

ady voice on the other end

be there before you know it. Tell Mommy I

I needed Ryan. I thought Lily needed her biological father. But lookin

who had chosen us when eve