Loving Quinn Novel by North Rose

(Quinn)

After we pick Grace up, I drive home while she tells us all about her day. I am enjoying hearing about everything she feels is important enough to share with us. I normally have been hearing the highlights of her week when she is with me over the weekends. Hearing it the day of is much more enjoyable since it is fresh in her mind.

Grace is so animated when she talks when she is excited about something. She talks with her hands a lot. She gets that from Annora. I used to find it funny when we were teenagers, seeing the same habit in our daughter is cute.

By the time I pull into the garage at the penthouse, she has launched into what movies she would like to watch for our movie night tonight. Three of the titles she mentions make me cringe internally, but I don’t say what I am thinking. I don’t really care what we watch. For me, it is the time I will spend with my family.

My family. Wow, I am amazed that my life has turned out this way.

This is something that I have always wanted to have with Annie. I dreamed of it for years. Then things with Dionne got serious, and I attempted to put the dream of Annie into the past. Now, Annora and Grace are my future.

“Come on, Grace, let’s go easy on your father for his first family movie night.” Annora laughs.

Grace goes quiet as we get out of the car and head towards the elevator, David waves me over to the security office. I tell Annie and Grace to go on up, then I walk over to David. I wait until they are in the elevator to ask him what he needs.

“A very well-dressed man came by this morning after you left. He wanted to go up to give you something but when I told him that isn’t possible, he got angry.”

“Did he tell you his name and what he wanted?

“When I asked his name and offered to pass on a message for him, he handed me a business card, then stormed off.”

David hands me the card.

The name on it surprises the hell out of me. Evan McAllister of McAllister Industries. Why the hell does he want to talk to me? Guess there is only one way to find out, I will call him tomorrow at the office with Aaron there with me to overhear the conversation.

“Thank you, David.”

“No problem, boss.”

He gives me a smirk after I laugh. I leave him and walk to the elevator. When I open the door to my penthouse, it is oddly quiet. After dumping my keys on the hall table, I peek my head into the kitchen. It is empty.

Grace is probably in her room doing her homework. Now to find Annora before I head to my home office to check my voicemails. When I walk into our bedroom, I hear the shower running in the bathroom. The temptation to join her is strong, but I write her a note instead and leave it on the bedroom mirror.

Deciding that a shower is a good idea, I grab some clean clothes, then head downstairs to the bathroom on the first floor. After I take a quick shower, I head to my office to listen to my voicemails. I close my office door, then sit behind my desk.

The first message is from Aaron letting me know that the sale went through on the property for the outreach center. We should have the official paperwork delivered to the office by Friday. His second message is informing me we had an unexpected visitor this afternoon.

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When Aaron asked what the man wanted, Evan told him he would prefer to say what he needed to say when we were both together. So, Aaron told him to come back first thing in the morning. That saves me a phone call. I can just find out what he wants tomorrow in

person.

When I get to the message from my lawyer, the first thing he tells me is that Dionne was arrested like I was hoped she would. The second

part of his message confuses me, then has anger rushing through my veins.

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I now know what Dionne wanted to tell me this morning. She has a child and is claiming that it is mine. I know that isn’t possible since she had an abortion. There is no way this child is mine. She filed documents with the court claiming child abandonment. How can I have abandoned this child that I never knew existed? What f**ng game is she playing?

Then, like that, it dawns on me. Three weeks passed between the time she has the abortion to the day that I learned about it. Is it medically possible for her to have gotten pregnant in those three weeks? I open my laptop to do a little research.

I feel all the blood drain from my face as I read that there is a possibility, a slim one, but there is a chance that the child she has is mine. Holy f**ng s**it. My only question is why is she doing this now? Why not when she found out she was pregnant? She had my number and ample opportunity to tell me about the child.

On the trail of that thought, another one slams into it. I know why she is doing this now. It has everything to do with what she saw on Saturday and what Annora told her on Monday. This is her revenge.

She is punishing me for leaving two years ago, for keeping my past with Annora from her, and not caving to her flirtatious demands that I become her lover again. How the hell am going to tell Annora about this? We are finally in a good place in our relationship. Now this s**t will threaten all the progress we have made.

I know one thing for sure, a DNA test is in order. Yes, there is a possibility that her child is mine, but it has been two years since we broke up. There is a chance that I am not the father. She could have met someone during that time.

At the knock on my office door, I close my laptop, then stand up to open the door. Annora is standing there with a smile on her face. Despite what I just learned, or maybe because of it, I pull her into my arms for a hug. I hold on to her tightly for a few moments more, then I let her out of my embrace.

“Is everything ok?”

No.

“Yes.” I lie.

“Come on, Grace is ready for movie night, and I have a pizza in the oven.”

I can tell from the look in her eyes that she doesn’t believe me. However, she holds her hand out to me so she can lead me into the living room. I push all thoughts of Dionne and the bombshell that she just dropped on my life. I will tell Annora about it later when we are in the privacy of our bedroom.

For now, I want to spend what time we have left together as a family. Because I have a gut feeling that as soon as I tell Annora about Dionne’s child, she will pack her things and leave me. If I were in her shoes, I would run too.

So, I put a smile on my face, then help Grace pick a movie while Annora checks on the pizza. Grace lets out a squeal of excitement as she finds a movie she wants to watch. I groan internally when I see what movie she picked. The Princess Diaries.

I have no idea what it is about, but I will happily watch it with her. Anything she picks will help me distract my mind from the storm to come. When Annora calls us to the kitchen to eat dinner, Grace runs out of the living room. I laugh at her excitement, then join them for

pizza.

Later, after we are all full, Grace runs up to her room to change into her pajamas. Annora takes that as her chance to ask me what is wrong. I let out a heavy sigh. If I tell her now, it will ruin Grace’s movie night.

If I lie again and tell her it is work related to the outreach center project, will she believe me? I don’t want there to be lies between us. So, I take a deep breath, then open my mouth to tell her about Dionne’s child. To my surprise, she steps up to me and places her index finger on my lips.

“If it is about Dionne, tell me later. We will deal with whatever it is together. I meant what I said this morning in the car. I will not give up what we have. If it is a fight she wants, it is a fight she will get.”

“Annie…”

“Shh… tell me later.”

Annora stands up on her tip-toes, places a soft kiss on my lips, then walks out of the room. Grace runs down the stairs a minute later with a blanket in one and a pillow in the other. When I walk into the living room, she is making laying her blanket on the floor. That means i get to snuggle with Annie on the sofa.

“Ok ladies let’s get our first movie night as a family started.”

With Annora snuggled up against me, I empty everything from my mind, and enjoy the night with my girls. The movie turns out to be a teenage chick-flick that I lose interest in almost immediately. However, with my arm wrapped around Annora’s shoulder, I am exactly where I want to be.

I quickly get lost in the smell of her hair, the way she keeps running one hand up my arm, and the other one idly stroking my thigh. Her simple strawberry shampoo is intoxicating to me. The warm touch of her hand is calming. Just what I need right now.

Annora taps on my arm, then points to where Grace is on the floor. When I take my eyes off her to look over at our daughter, I can’t help but laugh. She is laying on her belly, both arms under her pillow as she hugs it, and she is fast asleep.

Standing up from the sofa, I walk to her, then kneek to scoop her up in my arms. She holds onto the pillow as I carry her to her room. Annora follows behind me after she turns the tv off and grabs Grace’s blanket.

I lay Grace gently on her bed, then step back so Annora can pry the pillow from her arms and cover her up. As I watch her with our daughter, I am struck by how many nights like this that I missed in her life. I am no longer angry about it, but I wish I could have been there to see her through all the earlier years.

When Annora turns to face me, I gently cup her face in my hands, then kiss her lightly on her lips. “Come upstairs. There is something I have to tell you.”

All she does is nod her head, then she leads the way to our room. A ball of dread forms in my gut as we walk into the room, and she goes straight to the bed and sits down facing me. Her eyes meet mine as she pats her hand on the end of the bed beside her.

“Did they arrest her? Is there bad news there?”

“They did and she will go before a judge in the morning.”

I walk to the bed, but instead of sitting next to her, I kneel on the floor at her feet. I look up at her before I speak again. Her eyes are full of questions.

“I know what Dionne was planning to tell me this morning.”

Annora frowns. “Why are on your knees? Is what she planned to tell you that bad?”

How do you tell the woman you have loved since you were eighteen that you are possibly the father of another woman’s child? Just spit it out and hope for the best? This entire situation sucks.

“Dionne is claiming that I am the father of her child. She filed a claim through the court for child abandonment and she wants compensation for her pain and suffering. Chapter 36

Anger quickly replaces the confusion in her eyes. Then she frowns, tilts her head to the side as if she is working out a math problem in her head. When she looks at me again, her eyes narrow.

“When you found out about the abortion, how long after she had it done did you find out about it?”

“Three weeks.”

“Did she have another lover?”

That question makes me frown. Dionne was a lot of things, but I never had reason to think she was cheating on me. No, that isn’t true, there was once occasion when I did. I smelled another man’s cologne all over her, but she claimed it was a new patient that gave her a hug at the end of their session.

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Knowing how we started, the seeds of doubt were planted that day. I brushed it off since I was called back to base for a training exercise. That incident was 3 around the time she had the abortion.

“What makes you ask that?”

“While there is a slim chance her child could be yours if you were sexually active two weeks after the abortion and her ovulation cycle lined up just right. However, Shawna told me something about the brief time Dionne worked at Mercy General.”

Her clinical explanation and the tone in her voice while she gave it made me stand up to sit on the bed next to her. It is what I already knew from my research, but having her confirm it makes me dread the possibility even more.

“What did Shawna tell you?”

“Remember how I told you that Dionne left the hospital to get married?”

“Yes, I just assumed after the way she showed up here on Sunday that she isn’t married anymore. Do you know something about her husband, well, her fiancé at the time she worked at the hospital.”

“I have seen him and know his name. There was a charity event that hospital threw for the cardiology department. Shawna reminded of it. I didn’t know his name, but I remember his face. He and Dionne were fighting about something and that is why it stuck in my

mind.”

“What were they fighting about?”

Annie shrugs her shoulders. “I couldn’t hear her side of it, but his face was very red with anger. His name was Ethan McAllister. He runs McAllister Industries with his twin brother.”

That explains everything. I had a feeling the reason he was coming after us has something to do with her, but I had no proof. Now I know why.

1 regret ever meeting Dionne Masters.