A Home for Nobody's Princess

Pulling open the front door, he stepped inside and cut the lights.

“Wait!”

He immediately identified Coco’s breathless voice and turned the lights back on. “What are you doing?” he asked as he saw her trotting toward the steps.

“I just needed some fresh air, so I walked around the house a few times. I’ve got a remote intercom in case Emma wakes up,” she said, pushing her hands into the pockets of her hoodie sweatshirt as she walked up the steps. Her nose was pink and her cheeks were flushed from the cold.

“How long have you been out there?” he asked.

“Not that long,” she said. “I’m okay. I just didn’t want to get locked out.”

He sensed a restlessness vibrating from her. She pushed back the hood of her sweatshirt and pulled her hair free. “You sure there’s nothing wrong?” he asked.

“No,” she said, but she didn’t meet his gaze. “I used to walk around my mom’s house that last month she was alive. Sometimes I just feel better after walking a little bit.”

“I can understand that. I get itchy if I stay still too long,” he said.

She finally looked at him. “Really?”

“Yeah, really. You want a cup of something to warm you up? It smells like Sarah may have left something warming in a crock.”

“Apple cider,” Coco said. “And it’s delicious.”

They went to the kitchen, and Coco pulled down the mugs and poured the cider. Benjamin took a sip too soon and it burned his tongue. “Ouch,” he muttered and waved a hand for her to join him at the small table in the kitchen nook.

Coco smiled and sat across from him. “It smells so good. It’s hard to wait.”

She looked so young and sweet she could have been a teenager.

She met his gaze. “You’re looking at me strangely. What are you thinking?”

“I’m remembering how I had to look at your driver’s license twice before I believed you were twenty-four,” he said.

Coco laughed. “I’ve always looked young for my age. My mother always told me there would come a time that I would appreciate that quality. Hated it in high school, though.”

Benjamin took another sip; this one didn’t scald his tongue, thankfully. “So, what made you want to do your little 5K around the house tonight? Have you been thinking about your new-to-you family?”

Coco’s smile fell and she sighed. “I don’t know what to do. I have a hard time believing they really want to meet me. It’s not as if they’ve been beating down the door or calling me.”

“There may some legal reasons that they’re waiting for you to contact them,” he suggested.

“Really?” she said, more than asked, in disbelief. “Well, all I know is if I had found out that I had a sister or brother, I would try to meet them.”

“Then why aren’t you?”

She shot him a dark look. “Because I don’t like to go where I’m not wanted.”

“You don’t really know that you’re not wanted,” he said and leaned toward her. “Listen, if you want to go to Chantaine and meet them, we can work something out.”

“I don’t know how,” she said, staring into her mug and cradling it with both hands. “Emma isn’t settled in yet. She needs more time to feel at home and to get into a routine.”

“That’s true, but she’ll get there,” he said, even though he sometimes wondered if his daughter would ever feel at ease in his house. He was damn determined to do what was necessary to make it happen, though. “I don’t want you to feel that you can’t go,” he said.

She bit her lip. “It’s not like I would have anything in common with them.”

He stared at her for a minute. She looked young, but he knew she’d carried a lot on her shoulders while her mother was sick. She’d taken charge with Emma and dealt with the baby’s nightmares with no complaint.

“What are you scared of?”

She took immediate offense. “I’m not scared.”

“Sure looks like it to me,” he said.

“Well, I’m not. But you have to admit that these people are definitely in a different league.”

He shrugged. “Still gotta put one sock on at a time.”

She shot him a sideways glance and her lips twitched. “Unless they have a servant who puts on their socks for them.”

Benjamin laughed. “That would be pretty pathetic.” He put his hand over hers. “You don’t have to make any rash decisions. You can take your time. Give yourself a break.”

She met his gaze and took a deep breath. “I guess you’re right. I don’t need to work myself into a frenzy over this.”

“Exactly,” he said, and the moment stretched between them. The warmth in her eyes gave him a strange feeling in his gut. Realizing that his hand was still covering hers, he quickly pulled it away. It was one thing to try to comfort his daughter’s nanny, but he didn’t want Coco to misconstrue his sympathy as something else.

He cleared his throat. “Well, I should hit the sack,” he said and rose to his feet.

“Me, too,” she said, following him to her feet. “I’ll take care of the mugs.”

“Thanks,” he said, wondering why his voice sounded so rough. He headed toward the doorway.

“And, Benjamin, thank you for talking me down from that cliff I was climbing,” she said to his back.

He smiled at her description of her emotional state. “No need to scale a cliff unless it’s absolutely necessary. G’night.”

“G’night,” she said as he entered the hallway. He felt another twitch at the sound of her soft voice, and he rubbed his stomach. He’d better take some antacid.

Two days later, as she was about to feed Emma, Coco saw Benjamin enter the house. Midlift of the spoon, Coco thought about the fact that Benjamin had been avoiding his daughter once again. She couldn’t allow this to continue.

She pulled the spoon back from Emma. “Benjamin,” Coco called as the baby frowned at her in confusion. Emma’s soft, plump lips puckered in disapproval.

Benjamin poked his head in the doorway. “Yeah?”

Coco immediately stood. “Emma’s ready to be fed and I … uh … I need to powder my nose.”

Benjamin wrinkled his brow. “Powder your nose?”

“Use the ladies’ room,” she said.