Chapter 23

Amelia

"You want to know the problem now?" I murmur softly as Damian and I get to visit our daughter. She's still unnamed because neither of us could settle on one before the birth.

"Hmm?" Damian doesn't take his eyes off of her, and that's exactly what I wanted.

"You were my replacement at work, and now we're both here."

Damian glances over at me and smirks. "You fired me, so I wouldn't have been there anyway."

"You absolutely deserved to be fired." I study him. "Speaking of, I'm sorry. You… were right. You should have been told. About all of it. Jackson found out a few years ago that the bones were there, and we all tried to keep it under the radar. It was Douglas Bright that got in the way the first time."

"Sorry," he whispers. "I knew that Jackson knew. I thought he'd kept it a secret from you."

I exhale loudly as he leans on the incubator, watching our baby as she slowly breathes in and out.

"You underestimate the level of influence I had over Jackson," I murmur. "He wasn't…" I start again, a prickling behind my eyes. "He never felt like he fit in with the world. Everything was confusing, and he would have these huge episodes where he would essentially refuse to speak for days."

I smile sadly at Damian. "I would look after him while running the company, pretending it was all him. All the employees that thought Jackson was giving them orders? He wasn't. It just had his name on it. I could hide behind a man's name, and Jackson could unravel in private. I would get home not knowing what I would find, after pretending every single day that Jackson was perfectly fine. I've spent years doing it all by myself." I gulp. "It's hard to trust someone else."

Damian moves to sit next to me, taking my hand. "I'm not like him, Mila. I've done my fair share of shit, but I want to work with you, not against you."

I give him a watery smile as the baby moves suddenly in the incubator, taking both of our attentions instantly.

Damian sighs in happiness. "You need to pick a name for her."

"We need to pick a name."

He closes his eyes, and I watch as the considerations play at the edges of his eyes.

"And no picking names of a woman you've slept with," I add.

"That's a lot of names off the list."

I roll my eyes as he chuckles and leans back, pursing his lips as he thinks about it.

"Audrey."

"Don't make me hit you."

He laughs properly before he turns serious again. "Real suggestion…"

"Mm?"

"Jacklyn, but—"

"Jackie for short."

We both look at each other and grin as the newly named Jackie Garrett makes a small noise and kicks her legs in agreement.

It's three weeks before I am cleared to go home and another month on top of that before Jacklyn is able to come home. Damian has been busy during the time I was in the hospital, getting the entire house stocked and ready for both of our returns. After nearly two months, Jackie is a healthy, happy baby girl, and she's got Damian wrapped around her little finger. And everyone else that sees her, but Damian more than anyone.

"She's like her mama," Damian murmurs to me while gazing down at Jackie.

I glance up from my laptop, as I start the slow process of going through all my emails. I'd reluctantly unfired Damian, who has taken over most of the MVM work, leaving Gabby to run the restaurants in his place. But there's still an unsettled future about what MVM and Blake Restaurants are going to do next. As soon as I'm able, the work is getting split, and I'm going back to work. If I have to take Jackie with me, I will.

"As in, she's not going to put up with your shit?"

"Exactly," Damian says with a grin. He picks her up off of the ugly sofa and walks over to me, bouncing her in his arms as she coos happily. He glances at my screen before pointing with raised eyebrows at an email from Douglas Bright.

"Yeah, I know," I murmur. "He's still trying."

Damian hums. "We have a meeting next week about the future of MVM, don't we?"

"Mm…"

"Where's Jackie going to be that day?"

"Eleanor." I slowly close my laptop and turn to face him. "Actually, we'll have the meeting in the morning, but Eleanor has Jackie for most of the day."

"Okay?"

I smirk at him. "Do you know what yesterday was?"

"Tuesday?"

"It was my six-week appointment. According to my doctors and everyone that has looked after me for the last few months, I am officially cleared to resume any… extra-curricular activities, shall we say?"

It takes a moment to register in Damian's head. "You've been cleared for sex?"

"Yes, sir," I murmur.

His eyes immediately darken as his thoughts get the best of him before he reigns it in and grins. "So, next week… Eleanor has Jackie all day."

I smirk as he finally gets my thought process.

Damian's had no contact with Audrey since the day Jackie was born. I know it for a fact, which is why I'm so surprised when I walk into my office to find her sitting there, her expression dark and stony.

"Mrs. Garrett," I say curtly. "I believe you were not allowed on any MVM properties, which includes the offices."

She barely glances at me, and I realize she's looking at the open partition between mine and Damian's offices. We'd knocked down the wall in between, split the large space in two equal parts and placed a divider to be open and closed at will. Jackie's playpen sits somewhere in the middle of the two offices, and now, I don't have to constantly be sharing my desk with Damian. He's currently out with Jackie, taking her to lunch with Brooke and her husband, so I have the office to myself.

"Was there something you wanted?" I ask again, sitting opposite Audrey at my desk and watching the almost lost expression on her face. "Other than a relationship with your son and granddaughter."

"She's not my granddaughter," she says in a cold tone. She looks at me for the first time, nothing but icy fight in her eyes. "I came to see if you'd come to your senses about forcing Damian to become a father to a baby that's not even his."

I sigh. "I have not forced Damian to do anything. He's chosen this life, not by force or by obligation, but because he wants to. I understand that you can't comprehend that a man might want to step up for his children, but it's not something you need to take out on him. He's a good dad. He's Jackie's dad, and he will be for as long as we're both still here."

As if I'd summoned him, the door to his office opens, and he walks through, talking on his phone while carrying Jackie in his arms. He doesn't notice us as he carefully puts Jackie in the playpen and turns his back to continue talking on the phone while taking his jacket off.

He spins as he finishes the call before his grin falls off his face quickly when he spots his mother.

"Mom." His expression hardens. "You're not allowed to be here."

I hold my hand up. "It's okay."

I'm too busy watching Audrey's face as she stares at Jackie. It's the same thing Eleanor did when she saw her for the first time. It's complete adoration. Audrey blinks several times before looking at me. I give her a small smile, but she doesn't return it.

Damian being a father, continuing on the Garrett name, was something Audrey had wanted for a long time, but I don't think she truly understood what it would mean for him to actually be a father. He's not the same as Victor was to Audrey or Damian's dad was to Damian, or any of the men Audrey had encountered in her life. He's involved, and real, and the best dad I've ever seen.

And that is an image too painful for Audrey to look at. Without saying another word, she gets up and leaves.

Damian relaxes and looks at me. "What was that about?"

I stare at the door she just exited with a strange sensation of heartbreak in my chest. I know what it's like to hold onto something so tightly that the idea to let go is painful, but I'd just pried Audrey's hands off of the one thing she'd spent her adult life clinging to. She'd clung to rage and revenge and the belief that men and women had a role to play in society, and whoever bucks the trend is the enemy. Victor had raised her to know women weren't allowed in the president's seat, mothers weren't allowed to work, daughters weren't allowed a voice.

I just had a daughter that will never know that. All that loneliness, confusion, pain… Jackie can take over from me, or she can go and do absolutely anything she puts her mind to, and it's all because of what Audrey went through, what I've gone through, what every woman before her has gone through.

It makes me feel like I'm a part of history.

I smile at Damian and clear my throat, getting back to work.

I take a deep breath and step in front of the podium. "Hi everyone. We have a lot to cover in today's press conference, and I know I'm a little early today, but we'll get right onto the topics, and we can fill any newcomers in after."

Damian stands off to the side and watches with the air of a security guard that is willing to fight. I'm relieved, though, to see many young women in the press room today, minus Rachel Stein, who has been suspiciously quiet since it all came to light.

"We understand that there has been some confusion about the plans for the MVM Glacier Eco-Lodge Retreat that had been planned on a location with a Native American tribe burial site."

I glance up before making sure everyone is on the same page. "As you are probably aware of by now, the bones that were discovered are actually of white British soldiers from the War of Independence and not, as previously told, of Native American tribesmen and women. The story had been faked and leaked in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public about our site. Having said that, we are doubling our efforts with each new site for full investigations into geological and environmental surveys to avoid this happening in the future."

Damian gives me a bright smile of encouragement.

"As for the land itself right now, it is currently in our possession, however no work is being done on it for the foreseeable future."

I gesture to Damian. "That is Damian's responsibility, but as far as I'm aware, there are no plans. On that same topic, there are some changes happening to the staff at an upper management level, with Damian Garrett and myself sharing the position of president of MVM, Miss Gabriela Castillo is Managing Director of Blake Restaurant Group, and Robyn Morrisey has accepted the position of Chief Operating Officer."

Robyn stands at the back and grins at me. I also have Brooke now in charge of design and upgrades for the hotels, having decided that she'll stay in one place now that Jackie's here, and it was an easy decision to put her in the position.

With a majority female group, I feel much better about the future of MVM. Even though Damian is joining me in the top position, he doesn't come to my aid anymore, but I've learned how nice it is sometimes to have a man around.

As soon as the press conference is over, Damian and I walk back to the office. I'm suddenly weary, but I suppress the yawn and give Damian's hand a squeeze. "You were very well-behaved back there. Didn't step in once!"

"I've been practicing," he says with a grin.

I pull him to a stop just before we get to our offices. Our new assistants rush to greet us, but I hold my hand up to stop them before turning to Damian and lowering my voice. "Would you like a reward?"

His gaze flickers with excitement, and he smirks. "Yes."

I turn to the assistants. "Change of plan," I say calmly. "There's been a delay at the new restaurant. Damian and I will be going to check it out. Hold our calls for the next few hours."

"Yes, ma'am."

I notice their sly looks to each other, but I ignore it and turn to Damian.

"Come on. Delays to fix."