The sound of a glass being placed on the quartz worktop has me looking away from my cup of coffee and to the glass. It contains a golden coloured liquid, most likely whisky, and ice. My eyes drift up from the glass and to the person who placed it down next to me.

"Drink up," Jane encourages. She raises her glass to me and downs some of her own drink which is the same as the one she's given to me. "You'll need this more than the coffee."

I push the glass away. "Thank you, Jane, but I'm not a whisky drinker."

"Neither was I until my brother went through the same thing as your father only four years ago. The Dr. Kim and Dr. Watts both operated on him and he made a great recovery."

She stops talking and stares at the remainder of her drink. She swirls the liquid around in the glass a few times and sighs.

"That saved him but the car crash he was involved in just last year didn't," she finishes. She raises her glass again. "Nick's mother gave me the same drink and spoke to me about how her father died. She may be old but she's wise. She never drank anything other than whisky but never swallowed a drop of alcohol until that day as it was her fathers drink."

She places her empty glass down on the worktop and sits down next to me. Her hands clasp together on her lap and her chest rises and falls on a silent intake of breath.

"The drink isn't for the sake of drinking. It's a way of trying to calm your nerves and because you tend to drink it slower than the alcohol you're used to drinking, you have the time to think about the good times you've had with that loved one. I drank that when my brother died and it took my mind off the horrible fact that he wasn't here anymore. It was only for a small fraction of time but it worked. I could have easily let that get the better of me but I didn't. I did what I always did and always do and that was stepping up.

"I was able to help my parents and my brother's family make plans for their funeral. I was able to take most of the burden off my family when they were close to going off the rails. I did what I had to which is what I told you I do when we went for lunch in New York."

The woman in front of me has dropped her facade of the strong woman she claims to be. In reality, she's someone who is dealing with an everyday issue that normal people like myself have, unfortunately, come face-to-face with. Simply hearing Jane talk about something as personal as losing her brother in a car accident after she thought she'd lose him when he had a heart attack . . . it's something I certainly didn't think would happen anytime soon.

"I, uh . . ." I clear my throat. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I thought I was alone in all of this," she answers softly. "Everyone single person in my family thought we were alone but we weren't. We had each other and we had our partners there to fall back on when we needed them. You're in the same boat. You have your family to fall back on. You have Luca to fall back on and if you wish, you have both Nick and I if you need us."

I open my mouth to respond to her but cut myself short when I hear Luca's voice overpower a softer voice that seems to be coming into the kitchen.

"You're supposed to be in bed. Louisa, you can't go in there when your gran is having a private conversation. Louisa, come back here. Don't start acting up because there's someone else here. Louisa, come back here. Louisa!"

"No!"

I turn my attention to the quick footsteps that come rushing into the kitchen but only catch the top of Louisa's dark hair as she runs around the opposite side of the island and disappears from view, dropping to the floor to hide from her dad. I look at Luca who enters the kitchen with an angry look on his face, sleeves of his shirt rolled up to his elbows and the top two buttons undone.

"Louisa, this isn't a game," Luca says loudly, walking in the direction Louisa went. "It's way past your bedtime. I don't have the time to deal with your sudden outburst of wanting to run about."

A small giggle comes from behind Jane and she turns her attention to her granddaughter, her demeanour changing to the one I've known her to always have but softer.

"What are you doing still up? I thought you were in bed sleeping like a good princess." Jane gushes, picking her granddaughter up so she can sit on her lap. She fixes the top of her pink spotted pyjamas with contrasting frills on the collar so it isn't bunched up as she sits.

"Daddy's being mean," Louisa responds.

"Daddy isn't being mean," Luca retorts, coming round to stand next to his mum. "Daddy was about to do some very important work when he was interrupted by you coming into his office by running about like a hyper little child."

"You're being mean!" Louisa fires back.

"It's nearly ten o'clock. Your bedtime was two hours ago. You know you can't just get up and start running about because I do work at this time when we're here."

"You're mean!"

"Louisa, you're not making this easy on me today," Luca groans.

"I want to stay up!"

"You're not staying up. You're going to go to your bed like a good girl and you'll fall asleep until you wake up in the morning, and I can get my work done."

"Is your father in the office, too?" Jane queries, putting an end to the argument between her son and grandchild.

"He's dealing with the lawyers on the phone in the living room," Luca tells her. "I need to speak to Fredrick but he's busy with Jade at the café with the decorators."

"At this time? It's quite late for that."

"They want it done by the end of the week so they're working overtime to get it all done and dusted before the furniture and everything comes next week."

"Doesn't leave much time for Kaylee here to organise the party Jade will be hosting."

"We're having a meeting tomorrow to go over the list of suppliers we spoke about today," I enlighten. "There's about two or three weeks before the actual event so we're not bad on time."

"Jade won't need much done. Mainly just a caterer, some rental things, and a few decorations," Luca adds. He moves to stand next to me and keeps his gaze on his daughter. "I'd be able to help out if I had the time I normally have to do work if a certain someone would stay in bed."

"She's just excited tonight," Jane defends. She places a kiss on Louisa's cheek which generates a giggle from her granddaughter. "You just want-"

"Hi Kaylee," Louisa smiles at me, fluttering her lashes and tilting her head back as she looks at me.

"Hi," I reply softly.

Louisa grins and looks back at her dad, her grin dropping as soon as she looks at him. "You didn't read me a story."

"I did read you a story as soon as we arrived home. It was the first thing I did when I came in," Luca defends.

"Not the one I like."

Luca huffs. "If I read the story you like, will you go to bed?"

She nods her head.

"Alright, time for bed again, then."

She shakes her head.

"No? Why not?"

"Kaylee has to do it. Not you."

I look up at Luca, shock clearly visible on my face. I have only briefly met Louisa once and that was by accident. I've not had a proper conversation with her and yet she wants me to read her a story without Luca by my side. I don't know how to handle this one or what to do. The pleading look I'm giving Luca to get me out of this is going unanswered and I'm starting to feel myself hyperventilate from the inside out.

"Sweetie, I don't-" Luca starts.

"I want Kaylee to read me a story!" Louisa protests.

Luca raises his hands in defeat. "Alright. Fine. Fine. Kaylee will read you a story."

Wait, what?

I look at Jane who smiles and places another kiss on Louisa's cheek before setting her down on the floor.

"Goodnight, princess." Jane says before Louisa steps to me.

"Come, Kaylee." She grabs my hand in hers and begins tugging for me to go with her. "I'll show you my room."

I look back at Luca while getting to my feet and allowing Louisa to drag me out the kitchen.

"Please just go with it," he pleads quietly to me.

"I don't think I have much choice," I counter.

Louisa drags me to the staircase. She lets go of my hand and starts walking up the stairs with her hand on the banister so she doesn't fall or trip up. Out of instinct, I walk behind her to catch her if she does fall or trip.

At the top of the stairs, Louisa takes my hand back in hers and pulls me in the direction of the bedroom that's across from Luca's. The door is ajar and she pushes it until it's opened completely, dragging me inside without clarifying anything.

I'm expecting everything to be pink and white but it's not. It's lilac and white; the walls are lilac with white edgings, the wall where her double bed is against is a plush white and lilac headboard that is the full height of the room and the full width of the bed. Built-in shelving and cupboards line the wall to my right, all white with chrome finishings. A couple of books, toys, ornaments, and some trinkets occupy the shelves.

"Your room is beautiful, Louisa." I compliment.

"Thank you." She lets go of my hand and rushes to the bed, walking up the white wooden two-step step stool that sits at the side of the high double bed and crawls to the space she vacated earlier where the covers are all pushed aside from. "My room back home is pink and white."

Figured as much.

"I like the change but it's not as cosy feeling like this," she finishes before settling under the duvet.

I walk over to the bed and fix the faux fur blanket that sits at the bottom of the bed. "Do you like coming here?"

She nods.

"Do you always come here with your daddy when he comes here?"

"Not all the time. I stay home with granny and grandpa when I have school. But daddy travels a lot and he likes me to go with him." She pulls her plush bunny toy into her arms and turns onto her side to look at me. She blinks up at me, the table lamp next to her bed brightening her pale eyes. "You're prettier than daddy said you were."

I smile, crouching down next to the bed so she doesn't strain her neck looking up at me. "I'll take that as a good thing."

"Do you love my daddy?"

"I do," I nod.

"Are you going to leave him?"

"We said to each other we wouldn't no matter what happens."

"Are you moving in with us?"

"I . . . that would be up to your dad to decide to ask me when the right time comes along."

"Why are you here now? Why have you only gotten back to him?"

I take a deep breath and allow myself to kneel completely on the soft white carpet. "Your dad and I were together a long time ago. He wanted to make a better life for himself and we broke up. My gran always told me that what's for you won't go by you and I think that applies to your dad and I. We've always loved each other despite not being together and when we met again . . . we just knew it was meant to be."

"He's always loved you," she whispers.

"And I him."

She smiles and her eyelids drift closed. "He's a lot happier now."

I return her smile even though she can't see it. "I have to admit it, Louisa, but you're pretty smart for a five-year-old."

"I take after my daddy," Louisa yawns, snuggling her face into her cuddly toy. "Thank you for making my daddy happy again. Goodnight, Kaylee."

I get to my feet. "Goodnight, Louisa."

I turn the light off next to her bed which has a nightlight turning on on a shelf close by. I walk out the room and close the door over, leaving it open slightly so more light from the hall can enter the room.

I walk down the stairs and smile at Nick and Jane who are now leaving the house with Carlo following them closely. They smile back at me and Nick mouths to me that Luca is in his office. I nod and walk towards Luca's office.

I don't make my presence known when I open the office door. I just stand by the door and watch Luca as he stares intensely at the computer screen on his desk, the light from the computer the only thing lighting up the office other than the garden lights that are on outside which is dulled down with the blinds being drawn.

Luca's mouth moves as he silently reads whatever is on the screen, his eyes following the sentences as he reads. His fingers ghost over the arrow keys on the keyboard, pressing the keys here and there when it's needed.

"You can come in and sit down, you know," Luca says suddenly, snapping me out of my gaze.

"Didn't want to disturb you," I reply.

"You wouldn't be." The hand he had at the keyboard moves to the mouse and he begins clicking away and moving it about, his stare at the screen becoming more concentrated with every click of the mouse. "You never could."

"Louisa is finally in bed and falling into a deep sleep as I speak," I inform, walking into the office and taking a seat across from him at his desk.

Luca looks away from his computer screen and smiles. "Thank you. You didn't need to do that. It means a lot to me."

"It's fine." I brush off. "I was kind of thrown a bit at first but then we had a little chat."

"About anything in particular?"

"Not really." I draw my legs up and hug my knees close to my chest. "She's really smart for her age."

"She is," he agrees easily.

"It was almost like twenty questions."

He laughs. "Must take after her grandmother rather than me."

"I wouldn't start blaming other people because you can be like that at times, too."

"That's because her grandmother is my mother. Hence, why I am like that at times."

I roll my eyes before looking down at my finger that's drawing circles in the knee of the dark grey jogger bottoms Luca gave to me to change into when we arrived at his home.

"What did she ask you?" Luca presses.

"If I loved you. If I was going to leave you. If we were moving in together. Why I've only just turned up on the scene now. That kind of stuff."

"Nothing too strenuous, then."

"Easy for you to say. You can dance around the questions because you know what the right thing to say is."

"I've had time to practise."

"Five years worth," I utter.

"More like three," he corrects firmly, hearing loud and clear what I said. I stare at him, patiently waiting for him to go on. "That was when she started asking questions about where her mother is and why there was only me when her friends had two parents." He lounges back in his chair and rubs his forehead with his fingers. "I've faced that question at least once a week since she started asking me. It never gets easier and when she met you, she asked me if you were her mother every hour on the hour. It broke my heart to keep telling her that you weren't and I could see that I was breaking hers."

"Luca," I breathe. "I-"

"You don't realise how much I wanted to say to her that you were her mother but you're not so I can't. There is no doubt in my mind that if we didn't break up, you would have been her biological mother and then I wouldn't be facing all these questions. She would have had a mother there for ever day of her life and her heart wouldn't be breaking like it has done for the past three years. Even more so since she met you."

I blink rapidly, turning my attention to somewhere other than Luca to stop myself from crying like I think I may do again for the umpteenth time in a matter of days.

The burden Luca has had to carry since his daughter was born isn't something someone should have to face. He didn't ask for this to happen but he did what he needed to do to make things work whichever way that may be. The only thing with doing that is that he will have known that the question of where Louisa's mum is and why she doesn't have one will have come up at some point. As for how soon it would come up, I think that's what Luca prepared himself to deal with.

"I'm sorry," I apologise despite not properly knowing why I'm doing it when I'm not the cause of all of this.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," he says firmly. I look at him. "I'm the one who went against all the values I once had and turned my life upside-down. Getting my bitch of an ex pregnant was something that wasn't planned and her walking out on her own daughter sure as hell wasn't part of the deal."

He leans forward and shrugs before settling his forearms on the desk and clasping his hands together.

"I just . . . I don't want my daughter to go through the rest of her life without a proper mother figure there to guide her in the ways I can't. I know it's a big thing to ask of you and I know neither of us can guarantee what will happen down the line, but if you don't want to take that responsibility on I'd suggest you get out now while you still can."

My eyes widen.

I can't believe he still doesn't believe me when I've said to him that I've never going anywhere again. That he doesn't have to worry about whatever comes out the woodwork from his part that I'll still be by his side no matter what. He doesn't realise that I'm never giving up on him irrespective of what will happen.

I shake my head.

"I don't want my daughter to get attached to you only for you to decide a few months or a year or two down the track that you don't want this anymore." He looks down at his fingers that are clenching tightly to a black Montblanc pen. "I don't want to have to break her heart any more than it already has been and I don't want her to see me have my heart shattered to smithereens like it was nine years ago."

I don't find the words to respond to him like I should. Instead, I get to my feet and walk around the desk to stand by his side. I place a hand on his to stop him from clenching the pen to a point where I think, if I were to leave him to it, he'd break it in two if he tried hard enough. He lets go of the pen and I place it out of reach before placing a hand on his shoulder that has him sitting back to look up at me. I run my hand back and forth over his shoulder a few times that has him pushing his chair back a little from under the desk so I can sit on his lap. His arms hold me in place and I rest my head against his.

"I'm not going anywhere," I express loud and clear to him, placing a lingering kiss on his forehead after I say the words that I hope will imprint in his brain once and for all.

"I know you're not," he responds. His hold on me tightens. "I just had to hear it after the day I've had."

I pull back. "Speaking of which, dare I ask what happened at work today?"

Luca closes his eyes and draws his lips in, biting down on them like I wouldn't see. I did and I'm not going to be easily convinced of anything he says next. "It's fine."

"You sure?" I raise a brow at him. "The conversation you had with your dad seemed tense and judging by how you've been for the past five or so minutes, I'd say there was something going on."

"It's nothing both Fredrick and I can't handle."

"Are you sure?"

His hold slackens so he can rub small circles on my lower back. "I am."

"Did you get everything sorted with it?"

"As much as it can be at this stage."

"Alright." I get off his lap, his hand sliding lightly down my back until I turn and look down at him. "I'll let you continue your work."

"Thank you."

"Goodnight, Luca."

"Goodnight, baby."