Her Secret, His Child: A Little Secret by Tara Quinn (rosie project .txt) 📕

X ray just in c.-e," he was telling their instructor as they reached the door.

"The swelling's gone down already." the woman said. "I'm sure she'll be just fine.'

Kyle nodded, pushing open the door with his back. One of the two bags dangling from his arm caught on the handle.

"Let me get thai!" The instructor freed him, then waved them off.

After that, he was on his own. And quite proud to be managing so well. As daddies went, he wasn't doing too badly. He'd handled his first crisis and there were no fatalities.

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Jamie panicked when she walked in the front door and saw two little crutches lying in the middle of the living-room floor.

"What happened?" She rushed in to find Kyle on the sofa, sound asleep, a little girl curled up under each arm, two little heads against his chest. And Ashley's ankle had tripled in size since Jamie had last seen it, due, she hoped, only to the elastic bandage wrapped around it. She no longer had to wonder who the crutches belonged to, only how serious the damage was.

Oddly enough, upsetting as it was to see her child hurt, Jamie was relatively calm as she stood there, smiling at the three sleeping faces. Kyle wouldn't be lying there so peacefully if Ashley's injury was serious.

And she hadn't had to handle the crisis on her own. She'd never shared the responsibility of caring for Ashley, the worry. Never imagined what a relief the sharing would be.

"Hi."

Kyle had opened his eyes and was watching her.

"Hi, yourself. Been busy?" she asked.

"We had a little accident at dance."

"I told you she wasn't a dancer," Jamie said, wishing she could get a look at the extent of the damage herself. "What'd she do—fall over when they were doing plies?"

Shaking his head, Kyle sat up very slowly and laid the sleeping girls down on the couch, side by side. "Didn't even make it into the dance room," he told Jamie, a half grin on his face.

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

It wasn't until late in the evening that Jamie heard about the worst part of the afternoon.

"I take her to the emergency room and they won't let me sign for her treatment!" Kyle said, pacing between the counter and her kitchen table.

"That's ridiculous! What if she'd been bleeding to death?" Jamie stood with her back to the sink. They'd just finished the dishes, having left them earlier to give Ashley a bath and get the exhausted little girl to bed.

He shrugged. "I hope they'd have treated her and worried about legalities later. Thing is, I don't ever want to find out."

Picturing what could have been a horrific situation, Jamie didn't want to find out, either. Not the hard way.

She grabbed two glasses of iced tea, and motioned with her head toward the back door. "Let's take these outside."

Following her, Kyle pulled her little white parson's table between two lawn chairs. "We have to talk about this, Jamie," he said, sitting down only after she had. "She's not even on my insurance."

"She doesn't need to be. She's on mine."

"It's time I started providing for her."

"You've bought every single thing she's needed in the past three months, and paid for her dance lessons, too."

"And you've been providing a roof over her head, food for her to eat, clothes for her to wear and a million other things for the past four years."

Jamie enjoyed doing those things. "I had to have

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food and a roof over my head, anyway. Besides, she's mine. I should provide for her."

"Fine," he said, nodding, his hands linked across his belly. "And so should I."

"Fine. We split this fifty-fifty."

"It's not that easy."

"Sure it is. You get the school bill, I get household stuff and clothes, we buy birthday and Christmas presents together and we'll figure out the rest somehow."

"I want to share more than her upkeep, Jamie."

Kyle was looking at her intently. He meant business. And that scared her to death.

"Okay," she said slowly. "Just what are we talking about?"

"I want custodial rights."

His words took the breath from her lungs. Back in the beginning, when she'd first met Kyle again, she'd been terrified this might happen. That he might try to take Ashley away from her. But after getting to know him, after falling in love with him all over again, she'd never even considered such a thing.

What a fool she'd been.

"Hey." He leaned forward, rubbing the back of her hand where it lay listless in her lap. "Don't look so hunted," he said. "I'm not talking about taking anything away from you. I just want to share all the responsibility. To have all the rights of any other parent."

Jamie tried to hear him, but the noise in her head was incredibly loud. She just sat there, frozen.

HER SECRET, HIS CHILD

"I couldn't get my daughter medical treatment today, Jamie."

It was the pain in his eyes that got through to her. His request was reasonable. Honorable. Responsible.

She should've thought of it.

"Okay, we'll look into it," she said, convincing herself there was no threat in doing so. That, in fact, Ashley's well-being, possibly her health, depended on it. And if Kyle had legal responsibility for Ashley, wouldn't that protect Ashley's rights, as well?

They'd certainly never have to worry about paying for dance lessons again.

"What we need first is to name me as Ashley's father."

"That's done."

His head shot around as he stared at her. ' 'It is?''

Jamie nodded. "Always has been."

"You named me as her father when she was born?"

Again Jamie nodded. It had been the right thing to do.

"I just assumed…" He looked shocked. "With you thinking I'd paid and left, like all the others…" He broke off again.

He grinned, so boyishly pleased Jamie smiled, too, glad now that she'd made the decision she had all those years ago. She'd anguished about it for months.

"Thank you." His voice was thick.

Eyes glistening with tears, Jamie nodded.

"Okay," Kyle finally said, "so what we need is joint custody."

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Jamie started to relax—until Kyle proceeded to outline,