A Christmas Miracle for Daisy (Taming of the Sheenans Book 5) by Jane Porter Read Free Book Online Page A

helpful. Because his apology didn’t strike her as sincere. His apology was self-serving. He wanted what he wanted—
    A new message from Cormac arrived. What do I need to do to make this right? I want to figure this out for Daisy’s sake.
    Whitney read the message once and then again. Seconds passed, and then a minute. She forced herself to wait, to not be hasty and when she couldn’t wait any longer she typed, Are you willing to share custody with me?
    He didn’t answer. But then, she hadn’t really expected him to.
    *
    Whitney dragged herself into work the next morning with her head pounding and eyes dry and gritty from lack of sleep. She hadn’t been able to sleep after that middle of the night email exchange with Cormac.
    She was in the middle of washing down a couple of painkillers when he walked in, striding into her office as if he didn’t have a care in the world. He hadn’t shaved this morning, his square jaw shadowed with day-old stubble, and yet he wore the look well.
    Cormac somehow managed to look good even when worse for the wear.
    Whitney took another mouthful of water, before setting down the bottle. She looked at him, lifting one brow, trying to hide the fact that her heart was racing.
    He sat down in one of the chairs across from her desk, and leaned forward, elbows braced on his knees, expression intense. “Why did your lawyer never press for visitation rights?”
    “What?”
    “It’s something you could have won. Every state has visitation rights for grandparents and other family members close to a child to allow them to continue the relationship with the child. Why didn’t you push for those?”
    “I don’t understand what that has to do with anything.”
    “You wanted full custody, or to share custody. But when you didn’t get that, your attorney should have turned around and insisted on visitation rights. It would have been fairly easy to prove that there was a pre-existing relationship between you and Daisy, something the courts refer to as “engendered a bond”, meaning that the bond between the two of you should be protected and that regular visitation is in the best interest of the child.”
    She hadn’t known that was an option. It hadn’t crossed her mind that she could do that. She wasn’t sure why. And yes, she could blame Cormac but what was the point? The blame game wasn’t working well for either of them.
    “I don’t know,” she said frankly. “It would have been an option, probably a good one.”
    “It would have given you some legal rights.”
    She struggled to smile even though her heart felt unbearably heavy. “I could have used some.”
    “It’s not too late, Whitney. If you were living in the same state, living close by, we could look at the visitation issue, see if we couldn’t address it properly—”
    “But I have to be living in Marietta?”
    “She can’t be hauled across state lines. She’s too young, too vulnerable. She needs people who are there for her, committed to her.”
    “You know if I went to Montana I’d be going for the necessary sixty days and leaving. I have no intention of remaining in Marietta. Denver is home now.”
    “What’s in Denver?”
    She opened her mouth to say friends, but then closed her mouth abruptly realizing she didn’t actually have a lot of friends in Denver. She worked with great people. She respected her team and was friendly with her assistant, Andi, but she didn’t really do much of anything but work. “It’s where I belong.”
    “You’re in Denver for your work. Your work is your passion. It means everything to you.”
    Her lips compressed. He didn’t know her. He didn’t know the first thing about her or he wouldn’t have said such a stupid and inaccurate statement. She liked her work, and yes, was passionate about her work. But unlike him, she had a life outside the office. She had friends and a social life…hobbies…
    No she didn’t.
    She had work. But honestly, there wasn’t anyone