Daddy and the Manny by Bella Flint

Author:Bella Flint [Flint, Bella]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-09-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Hayden

“Hayden, we have a problem.” Penelope had called him at an odd time of day for her. It was after hours. She hated calling him after hours. Her voice through his phone also had an edge that was new. New even for the recent lockdown they’d been on ever since Violet’s identity had gone public.

Hayden sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Should I be sitting down?”

“I don’t know,” Penelope said. “It might be nothing, but it’s gonna be a big enough problem we have to deal with it.”

“What now?”

“We keep getting repeated calls from this guy…”

“Pfft. Doesn’t that happen all the time?” Hayden said. “That’s why I have ‘people.’ So someone can deal with the repeated calls, and I don’t have to. Right?”

“He claims he’s Violet’s father.”

Hayden rolled his eyes. “People always claim to be related to famous people.”

“This one is different, Hayden.” Penelope’s voice was patient and measured. He hated it when she took that tone with him, even though he knew that it was her way of holding her own temper.

“Tell me why we are listening to this nutcase. How could he possibly make such a claim?” Hayden paced around in a circle as his body wound tenser and tenser. When Violet was concerned, every protective and primal instinct was activated. And this…this was throwing him into overdrive. A strange man laying claim to Violet. His daughter. His Violet.

“Yeah, normally we dismiss these kinds of people. But this time he has enough information about Violet and her mother we can’t rule it out as untrue.”

Hayden sighed. Was fatherhood contingent on knowing things about Violet before she came to live with him? This poked all of his insecurities with Violet — how he had a hard time getting to know her when she first came to live with him. He had no idea what he was doing, had no experience with any children, let alone knowing how to connect with a grieving little girl who resented his very existence. Would this man swoop in and carry Violet off on his metaphorical horse, the better father, the one who knew her better?

That feeling of frustration and failure welled inside Hayden again. It had receded in the past weeks as he and Violet had begun to find their way to each other. But now…now it was back. Ah bitter pain, nice to see you again.

“Hayden, are you still there?” Penelope said, her tone a little softer.

Hayden sat down and blew out a breath. “Yeah, I’m here,” he said. It was just one thing after another these days.

“Did you ever take a DNA test?”

Hayden swallowed. He hadn’t. It hadn’t even crossed his mind. He knew Violet was his daughter the moment he laid eyes on her. She looked just like him but with her mother’s haunting eyes. Even Violet said Hayden looked like her.

“I didn’t,” Hayden admitted. Audrey said she was mine, and, Penelope...she looks just like me!”

“I know she does,” Penelope said, and Hayden wondered if she was patronizing him.

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