Live-In Position (42 page)

“That’s not what I meant, Collin.” I covered my face with my palms and sat on the couch.

“Then why would say that?” I felt his approach.

“I said it because you act as if I’m not here when I speak. I talked to you before about controlling everything. We argued about it and now you just do it again, only a little worse.” I sat back and rolled my head around, trying to relieve some tension from my neck muscles.

Silently, he sat down on the coffee table in front of me. Nothing was said for a couple of minutes.

“I don’t know what to do.” He barely spoke the words aloud.

“About what?”

“I’m not good at this, Sophia, and I’m terrified you’ll be gone at any moment.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I suppose I’m trying to hold onto you as much as I can so you don’t leave.”

“I would never just leave, Collin.” I placed a hand on his knee.

“But you could leave,” he whispered.

“Anyone
could
leave, but it’s not my plan, unless you want me to.”

He grabbed my hand as I slid it from his knee.

“I don’t want you to go, ever.”

“You say that now.”

“I mean it, forever.” He was nothing but serious. There was no mistaking his intentions. I knew this was a major point. I’m not completely sure how I knew it, but I did. Collin Bishop was planning to marry me. The evidence was all over his face and in his words. If I didn’t want marriage, Collin, Victoria, and possibly more children, then this was the moment I needed to end everything. Either I walked away now or I stayed for the duration. I pulled him toward me and wrapped my arms around him, accepting my future.

C
hapter
T
wenty

-Five

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Collin, Victoria, and I sat in the kitchen eating breakfast together.

“Victoria?”

“Yes, Daddy?” She looked at her father with eyes of adoration.

“Sophia and I would like to talk with you about something. We want you to tell us your honest feelings, okay?” She nodded nervously. Collin cleared his throat.

“Sophia and I are engaged.” He paused and we both gauged her reaction.

Her eyes glazed over for a moment, but then a fire lit in them and a large grin spread across her face.

“You’re getting married!” She jumped from the chair into my arms. “Can I be in the wedding? I want to be the flower girl. Please, please, please? Can I call you Mommy now or after the wedding?”

“Slow down, Victoria. We are not planning a wedding at the moment. It will be a long engagement.” I tried to back pedal a little.

She crinkled her face in confusion.

“What Sophia means is that we will be taking some time to plan things so most likely the wedding will not be very soon.” Her face fell at Collin’s words. “But I promise you will be our flower girl.” She perked up a little at that.

“What about calling you Mommy?” She turned expectant eyes on me.

“Sweetheart, I’m not—”

“I don’t see an issue with it,” Collin interrupted.

My shocked eyes shot at him. I scowled.

“What?” He looked at me confused. “I figured you would like it if she did.”

“Oh, I want to call you Mommy. Can I? Please, Sophia? Please?” Her hands were clasped like she was saying a prayer, but instead this little red-headed angel was begging to call me her mother. The Antichrist sat across from us with a large satisfied grin on his face.

“I’m not sure you should—” She cut off my words with the large pout of her bottom lip. “Okay,” I surrendered.

“Yes!” she cheered. “Thank you so much Soph…Mom!”

My heart skipped a beat the instant she called me mom. I only wondered what kind of reaction this was going to get from his family.

“I’ve got a mommy, Sophia is my mommy,” she sang as she sat back down to her breakfast.

The multiple feelings washing through me were weird. I was happy, excited, terrified, confused. Sophia may have thought of me as her mother figure before, but now she had an official label to slap on me. One that I couldn’t just take back.

For the rest of the morning, until I dropped her off at school, every question or response was accompanied with “mom.” “Yes, Mommy…Mommy, do I have to go to dance tonight?...No, Mom.” It was somewhat humorous.

The drive back to the house was quiet, allowing my mind time to go through everything. In less than a year, I had started a new job, fallen in love with a little red-haired girl, finished my book, fallen for my boss, and silently agreed to marry him. I groaned into the empty silence of the car. How did so much happen? And what the hell could possibly happen next?

I never should‘ve asked myself that question because two weeks later, a guest arrived in the Bishop home – an unexpected guest.

Victoria was in her room, cleaning up all the art supplies she had gotten out for a school project, and I was working on dinner when the house alarm went off. My first instinct was to run to Victoria, but when I reached the front of the house, I stopped. Allison was staring at the alarm pad.

“Goddamn thing! Why did he change the code? Christ!”

She didn’t hear my approach. I reached over her shoulder and punched in the code. She jumped to the side.

“Jesus, are you trying to give me a heart attack?” She was her typical grouchy self. The phone rang. I hurried to answer it.

“This is Charles with Cole Security Systems—” I cut him off.

“Sorry, Charles, it was a false alarm. There is no emergency.”

“Can I have the password, ma’am?”

“Password?” I questioned.

“Yes I need a confirmation—” The phone was pulled from my ear.

“Grace,” Allison spit into the phone and hung up. Her eyes turned to me. “I see you’re still here.”

“I see you’re still in a bitchy mood,” I countered, heading back toward the kitchen. She followed me.

“I can’t believe you haven’t been fired yet,” she huffed. I ignored her.

“Where is Collin?” she spat.

“Work,” I answered curtly.

The twins rushed into the kitchen.

“What are you making?” Gregory questioned.

“It smells so good,” Michael added.

I turned and smiled down on them. They had grown so much, two mirror images of Jonathan.

“Well, tonight is spaghetti and meatball night. I may have just enough for you two as well.” I winked.

“That sounds good.” Will entered the kitchen with a backpack on.

“Hey, how are you?” I stirred the sauce. With a quick glance, I realized Allison had left the room. I relaxed a little.

“Good,” he smiled.

“Come on boys, your mother wants us to get settled in a room.” He looked at me nervously at the completion of his sentence.

“You guys are staying here?” My eyes were wide.

He nodded. “Yeah.” Then he gave me a small apologetic look.

“Well, it will be fun to have a full house again,” I said, winking at him.

“Sophia,” I almost cringed at the sound of her voice saying my name.

“Yes?”

“Put together a salad. I’m not much for pasta.”

There was already one made to go with dinner, but her flippant order was annoying as hell.

“And tomorrow, could you please make something a little healthier?”

I opened my mouth to speak.

“Sophia is not the cook or the maid for that matter. She doesn’t function on your command.” Collin stepped into the kitchen and looked down at his sister’s shocked expression.

“Since she will be making dinner regardless, I don’t see the problem with—” He stopped her by putting his hand up.

“Allison, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need, you know that, but you will respect Sophia.”

I was still internally grumbling over “as long as you need” when he continued.

“Also, you can have the suite to stay in.” I wanted to sink into the floor or suddenly become the invisible woman. “There will be more room for you and the boys. Though Will and the boys are welcome to a separate guest roo—”

“The suite?” she gasped. “And where is it Sophia is staying?”

Collin started walking toward me as she began her questioning. He stopped next to me and kissed the side of my head before turning back to her.

“Oh god, Collin, could you get anymore cliché? Really, the nanny? You’re sleeping with your nanny?” Allison’s voice had risen and was laced in disgust.

“No,” he responded, and silence fell over the room. My insides twisted. “I’m sleeping with my fiancé.”

The moment was palm-to-face worthy so that’s exactly what I did. This was not going to go well.

“You can’t be serious?” Allison spat.

“Oh, I’m quite serious.” He grabbed my waist, spun me around, and lifted my hand to her. “I plan to marry Sophia, and you
will
respect the fact that you are in
our
home.”

Allison’s mouth was wide open, but nothing was coming out. For a moment, I had to stop myself from laughing in her face.

“I cannot believe this. You’re just like our father,” she growled.

“Allison,” he warned. “Our father had an affair. Who am I cheating on?” He pulled me closer to his side.

She opened her mouth and then closed it before she walked out of the room.

“Please don’t let her get to you. It will take time, but she will accept things.” He kissed my lips this time. “She has no choice in the matter.” He grinned before kissing me harder.

“Daddy,” Victoria skipped into the kitchen, “welcome home.” She smiled brightly. “Mommy is making spaghetti and meatballs tonight.” She climbed up to the counter and sat on a stool.

“I can smell that.” He leaned down to kiss her cheek. “I’m going to go clean up before dinner.” His hand and fingers trailed against my back as he walked away. I shivered. Those damn fingers were talented.

“Did she just call you mommy?”

I turned to find an amused-looking Will. My face reddened and I felt the warmth of the blush. I nodded.

“Wow, so Allison was telling the truth.” It wasn’t a question.

“What?”

“Oh, she is up there growling about men always sleeping with the help, marrying the
damn
nanny, being just like their fathers.” He shrugged but then caught the look on my face. I really did feel like a cliché. “Soph, really, it’s not that big a deal. It’s the same as people who meet at a bar and end up together.”

“You are so full of crap,” I laughed at him.

“It’s true. Think about it. You are just two people who met through a means and now you’re a couple. I’m happy for you – if you are happy?” Now that was a question.

I turned with a large smile on my face. “I am.”

“Then that’s all that matters.”

Once dinner was served, everyone started to file in. Collin took his seat at the head of the table; Allison sat to his right with the twins between Will and her; I sat on Collin’s left side, and Victoria took a seat next to me. Collin’s hand rubbed my knee briefly before starting to dish food on his plate. Halfway through the meal, Collin broke the silence and addressed Allison.

“So, Allison, are you in town permanently or will you be going back to Whidbey?” He pulled his wine glass to his lips and looked over the rim at his sister. She patted her mouth with her napkin before answering.

“I had to come back to finalize the divorce.” She tried to appear calm, but you could see the sadness behind her eyes. “I have to meet with Jonathan on Tuesday evening to discuss some final terms before we get everything taken care of.” She placed another bite of the pasta she doesn’t care for in her mouth.

“You‘ve decided to go through with it then?” he asked.

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“Allison, we know you‘ve been through a lot, and we know John is no angel, but you two did share something—”

“Just stop right there. If it was so special then perhaps he wouldn’t have ruined it.”

That was the last they discussed the subject. The conversation turned to registering the kids for their transfer to St. John’s as well as Victoria discussing the school project she was working on. When dinner finished, I was happy to have Will help me clean up. We spent most of the time gossiping. Will spilled about everything that had happened since they’d been away. Apparently, Allison had come to terms with Juliet, and staying with her had been interesting. From what Will said, Juliet wanted to spend time focusing on helping Allison. Allison was hesitant with Juliet and downright rude to her at times, but Juliet did not give up. They ended up bonding through Juliet’s interior design business.

“I think we are staying in Seattle, and Allison is going to start her own branch of the business.”

“Really?” I was a little shocked. The snobby princess was actually going to work?