Still the One by Robin Wells Read Free Book Online

for the best.”
    A tear dribbled from the corner of her eye. His throat grew tight as she wiped it away. “From everything I’ve heard, Gracie
     had a great home. She adored her parents.”
    “They died last year?”
    “Actually, sixteen months ago. In a car accident.”
    “Oh, the poor girl.”
    “Yeah. Her aunt said it really hit her hard.”
    “Well, of course it would!”
    “After Gracie moved to Pittsburgh to live with her aunt, she really went off the rails. She started cutting class and sneaking
     out at night and drinking and just generally acting out.”
    Katie turned her eyes to him. “You met the aunt?”
    Zack nodded. “She flew out to Dallas. She’d had the police looking everywhere for Gracie.
    “What’s she like? The aunt, I mean.”
    “She means well, but she’s pretty clueless about how to deal with a teenager.”
    “Gracie called her a nazi.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far, but she does seem to subscribe to the rule-with-an-iron-hand philosophy, which didn’t go over too
     well with Gracie.” Zack watched the oak leaf slide down the windshield, pushed by a rivulet of water. “When Gracie ended up
     pregnant, well, the aunt just didn’t know how to deal.”
    “Poor kid.”
    “Poor aunt.” He gave a rueful smile. “Gracie’s a handful.” He stared back out at the rain. “Gracie had a scheme all worked
     out. She wanted me to get custody of her, have her declared an emancipated minor, and give her a big wad of cash.”
    “She’s too young to be on her own.”
    “She’s too young to be a mother. She’s just seventeen.” Which was the same age Katie had been when she’d had Gracie. The realization
     made him swallow.
    “She sounded pretty adamant about not wanting to give up her baby.”
    “Yeah. But she’s going to need some help caring for it.” Zack turned to her. “She’s going to need a mother.”
    The rain softened. So did Katie’s eyes. “The baby, or Gracie?”
    “Both.”
    She worried her bottom lip. “She didn’t sound like she wanted anything to do with me.”
    “We can change that.”
    “We?”
    “Yeah. The aunt will give us joint custody of Gracie.”
    Katie stared at him. “I can’t believe you made all these arrangements without even talking to me.”
    “It wasn’t a conversation I wanted to have over the phone. And I couldn’t leave Gracie by herself while I came down here to
     talk to you.”
Besides, I had to see you.
He squelched the words before they came out of his mouth. When he’d set out on this course of action, he’d promised himself
     that he wouldn’t say anything or do anything that could be misinterpreted. The last thing he wanted was to hurt her again.
     “It just seemed more expedient.”
    “You must have been awfully sure of my answer if you bought a house before you even got here.”
    “I was pretty sure the girl who wrote that letter wouldn’t turn away her own daughter.”
    Katie dropped her gaze, but not before her eyes verified that he was right. “So how do you envision this working?”
    “I’ll temporarily work out of Chartreuse. My job involves some travel, but I’ll try to schedule things for your convenience.
     She’ll live half the time with you, the other half with me.”
    “How long do you see this arrrangement lasting?”
    “Until she has the baby and turns eighteen.”
    “And afterward?”
    He lifted his shoulders. “We’ll see how things go and what she wants to do. Hopefully you two will have bonded by then, and
     you can figure out where you want to take things from there.”
    “Why are you doing this?”
    The question made him freeze. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, you never wanted any attachments or strings or commitment. You could have just sent Gracie back home with her aunt.”
    I had to give you a chance to get to know your daughter.
But Zack couldn’t tell Katie that. If he did, she’d think there was more to him than met the eye. She’d think he was sensitive
     and caring, and