Page 14 of Up for Heir (Westerly Billionaire 2)
“I know you do, Skye, but we don’t have the money for it.”
Skye’s shoulders slumped. “Delinda will buy it.”
“Look at me, Skye. Delinda’s money is not our money. This is not our house. I don’t want you to get confused.”
Skye glanced over her shoulder at the children who were watching them. When she looked back at Hailey, her eyes were so sad it took everything in Hailey not to burst into tears and hug her. “I understand.”
I could be doing this all wrong, Ryan, but I hope not. “Do you, Skye? Because I’m waiting on an apology for the way you spoke to me earlier. We’re on the same team, you know, and we always will be.”
“I’m sorry.” No seven-year-old had probably ever sounded more dejected.
“That’s why we’ll find a way to afford that pony. You and me. We’ll let Delinda buy it for you today, but we’ll pay her back. I’ll put aside some money, and you’ll pick up chores around the house to earn it. It’s not going to be easy. We’ll need to buy a saddle and brushes, and stabling a pony is probably very expensive. We can only get the pony, Skye, if you agree to work for it.”
Wonder returned to Skye’s eyes. “You’re letting me get her?”
Hailey held out her hand for her niece to shake. “It depends on you. Do we have a deal? Are you willing to work to buy your own pony?”
Skye bypassed the handshake and threw her arms around Hailey. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
“Does she have a name?”
“Clover,” Skye said. “You are going to be so happy you let me have her. I’m going to work hard and be good.”
She hugged her niece tighter to her. Imagine that, we both have the same personal goals. “Ready to introduce me to your new pony?”
“Oh yes!” Skye bounced and took her by the hand, dragging her toward the pony with the same determination Hailey had dragged her away with.
Delinda watched their approach with a carefully blank expression. “Is everything all right?”
“Absolutely.” The curious audience made any other response impossible. There would be time later for what she needed to say.
Skye ran her hand along the pony’s neck, beneath her mane. “You have to feel right here, Auntie Hailey. She’s so soft.”
Hailey followed the same path down the pony’s mane, and the pony threw up her head and whinnied. “She’s beautiful.”
“And she’s mine.” Skye threw her arms around the pony’s neck, and Hailey was relieved to see the calmness with which the pony accepted her affection.
Michael announced that more ice cream was being served on the front lawn. The children cheered and bolted away. The woman holding the pony’s lead line explained that the pony would be delivered to the barn that evening and they could come by anytime.
Skye looked up at her aunt. “Can I—?”
“Of course.” Hailey didn’t need to wait for the question to be asked. She’d be lucky if Skye didn’t ask to sleep there with the pony.
“May,” Delinda corrected firmly. “May I.”
Confusing Delinda’s correction with a request, Skye turned from the pony and threw her arms around Delinda’s waist. “Of course you can come with us. Right, Auntie Hailey?”
One glimpse of the hopeful light in Delinda’s eyes that mirrored Skye’s and Hailey caved. “Would you like to come with us, Delinda?”
Alessandro joined them. With Skye still clinging to her, Delinda blinked a couple of times quickly, then grasped his forearm. “Aren’t they perfect?”
Perfect for what? The hair on the back of Hailey’s neck rose in sudden apprehension.
Alessandro patted Delinda’s hand.
Skye darted off to hug the pony again before it was loaded onto a trailer. While she was out of earshot, Hailey focused on what she’d planned to say. “Delinda, Skye is going to pay you back for the pony. Please allow her to. She’s agreed to do extra chores with me to earn the money for it.”
“I see no need to have her—”
“I do, and since I’m her guardian and aunt, if I say that’s the only way she will get the pony, it’s the only way. And if you ever plan another event for her without consulting me, I will have no choice but to give you my resignation and find other employment.”
“How dare you—?”
“I dare because no one is more important to me than Skye. I like you, Delinda, and I really need this job, but nothing comes before my niece and what is best for her.”
Delinda pressed her lips together in a line, then looked at Alessandro. “It’s no wonder she can’t keep a job. Do you hear how she talks to me?”
Rather than getting angry with Delinda for the barb, Hailey recognized it as an attempt to avoid addressing the threat. “I’m serious, Delinda.”
“I can’t imagine how you could have a problem with me wanting her to have friends and getting her excited about going back to school—”
“Promise that you’ll ask me before you plan anything else for Skye.”
Delinda narrowed her eyes like a petulant child.
Hailey held her breath and raised her chin.
The second standoff of the day ended much as the one with Skye had—Delinda blinked first, then nodded her concession. Alessandro bellowed out a hearty laugh that had Delinda spinning to wag a finger at him. “Don’t you dare laugh at me.”
His grin was wide and unabashed. “They really are perfect, Delinda.”
“Hush,” Delinda said in a stern voice that did nothing to intimidate Alessandro. Her expression was serious when her eyes met Hailey’s. “I promise to consult you before I even consider doing anything nice for you or Skye. Are you happy now?”
She’s lashing out because she’s hurt. She doesn’t have an ulterior motive. She’s just a lonely old woman who doesn’t know how to connect with people. How awful to be her age, to have all the material things she had, and still not understand how relationships worked.
Hailey took a page from Skye’s book and pulled Delinda to her for a tight hug. It was a bit like embracing a plank of wood, but when Hailey stepped back, Delinda looked both flustered and moved by the experience. “Just because I don’t agree with how you did it, doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate what you did. Thank you for caring about Skye enough to arrange all of this.”
Delinda cleared her throat and in a stern tone said, “Hailey, how do you expect that poor woman to be able to load the pony with Skye hanging all over it? Take her to play with the other children before the day ends without her having made any friends at all. I didn’t invite that unruly herd here just so they could trample my flowers.”
“Of course,” Hailey said with a smile. That tough-as-nails act only makes me want to hug you again. She walked over to where Skye was promising the pony that she would visit that evening as if it could understand everything she was saying. “Skye, you have company waiting to spend more time with you.”
Skye rubbed the pony’s nose. “I have to go, Clover, but don’t worry. You’re my best friend. I’ll never leave you, and you’ll never leave me. Right, Auntie Hailey?” The uncertainty in her voice gave the question a crushing emotional weight.
Hailey wanted to promise her niece that nothing would ever come between her and Clover. Her heart broke at the realization that she couldn’t. Life didn’t work that way. Hailey had been about Skye’s age when she asked her father why she didn’t have a mother. He’d told her the truth, that her mother hadn’t wanted to be a mother anymore. At the time, it had hurt Hailey to hear it, but over time she’d understood that lies would have been worse. At least she had the truth. “Ponies are a big responsibility. Remember that you’ll have to work to repay Delinda.”
Dammit, Delinda. Couldn’t you have gotten her a bunny?
“I will,” Skye promised, and Hailey hugged her.
Hand in hand, they walked toward where the other children were playing. Will I ever watch you fumble through raising your own little ones? I hope so. Not about the fumbling part. I h
ope you do better than I am, but maybe we’ll look back and laugh at what right now feels catastrophic.
After returning Skye to the group, Hailey sat on the stone wall that lined a garden and her mind wandered to Spencer. I really can’t judge Skye for wanting something of her own.
It took being with other men to realize how unique what I had with Spencer was. Her thoughts wandered back to the simple joy of laughing for hours with him at Mangiarelli’s. We never needed more than each other to be entertained. It was that good.
Is it a mistake to go back there? I’m not that carefree girl anymore. He’s not a football-playing computer geek. What could we be now except for two strangers reminiscing over something that had been good but also too fragile to survive when tested?
He thought I broke up with him for someone else.
I thought he’d never even bothered to come after me.
What did we know?
