The Journey Home(57)
Author: Kelly Elliott

I watched as tears began to make their way down Jack’s face as I fought to keep my own tears at bay.

“Monica! Oh, God.” Jack pulled his wife close and they kissed.

I glanced to Lily and saw her inching toward the cookie that Jack had dropped. I nudged Maddie and pointed. “Look! Look at Lily!”

Maddie gasped. “She’s crawling! She’s crawling.”

Jack and Monica stopped kissing, and Jack practically pushed Monica away. “That’s right, baby girl. Come to Uncle Jack. Come on. Come on.” Jack was clapping his hands as he tried to get Lily to come to him.

Monica snarled, hitting Jack on the arm. “She’s not a dog, for Pete’s sake.” She grabbed the cookie and held it so Lily could see. Lily laughed, turning toward Monica.

“What the hell?” Jack yelled. He grabbed the cookie out of Monica’s hand. “Lily, look at what a big girl you are, crawling! Come to Uncle Jack. I have two cookies.”

“You prick!” Monica shouted. “Give me that cookie.”

I looked at Maddie who was crying as she watched our daughter crawl for the first time. I glanced back and said, “Lily, Daddy has a cookie.”

I reached for the cookie Maddie was holding and held it up. Lily stopped and looked at me. She smiled, and all I could see was the two little teeth that had broken through her gums. I couldn’t believe how fast she crawled toward me with those blue eyes sparkling.

“Hey! That is totally not fair. She was coming to me first. You cheated!” Jack said.

When Lily crawled up to me and reached for the cookie, I scooped her up and kissed all over her face as she laughed.

Maddie jumped up and clapped and said, “Yay! Look at our big girl!”

Jack and Monica both stared up at us, smiling. I couldn’t wait for them to experience all of this with their own child. I smiled at Jack as he nodded.

We spent the rest of the afternoon following Lily around as she crawled everywhere.

I looked over at Maddie and laughed. “Shit. I think our world just changed in a major way.”

She giggled and nodded. “I think so too.”

“MR. BLACKWOOD?”

I glanced up from my computer to see Katrina, my assistant, smiling at me.

“Yes?” I watched as she moved toward my desk.

I was going to have to talk to her about her work attire. It was getting tighter and tighter. I was pretty sure she didn’t have a bra on today—her nipples were showing through her light blouse.

She stopped at my desk and leaned over. “Mr. Powers needs that presentation to be ready first thing in the morning. He asked me to stay late in case you needed anything.”

I narrowed my eyes at her, then checked the time. Fuck. It was six-thirty already. I picked up my phone to see that I had a few missed texts from Maddie.

Maddie: Hey! Are you working late tonight? I haven’t heard from you all afternoon.

Maddie: You must be busy. Lily and I are going to the park with your mother. Call me.

Maddie: I’m guessing you’re working late. Just gonna make something for me for dinner. Hope everything is okay.

I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. I can’t believe I hadn’t even talked to Maddie at all this afternoon. I began typing her back a reply as I talked to Katrina. “Why are you here so late? And why didn’t remind me of the time?”

“I knew you had this big presentation, so I just assumed you wanted to be alone to work on it. Then Mr. Powers asked me to stay, too. Would you like some dinner?”

In that moment, my stomach decided to answer for me. Katrina giggled and said, “It’s a good thing I ordered Chinese, isn’t it?”

I smiled. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

Me: Hey, baby. I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it was so late and my damn phone was on silent from a meeting earlier this morning. Your dad is expecting this presentation first thing tomorrow morning. I’ll probably be at least another hour. I’m sorry.

Maddie: No worries. I’m just glad everything is okay. I was about to call Daddy.

Me: Why didn’t you call my office number?

Maddie: I did, twice. Your assistant said she gave you the messages, but that you were working on a big presentation.

I looked toward my office door. Weird. Katrina never gave me any messages from Maddie.

Me: I never got any messages. I think Katrina needs to go. She’s still here. Working late.

Maddie: Really? I called twice, once just a few minutes ago.

Me: I’ll take care of it. Give me an hour and I’ll be home, baby.

Maddie: We’ll be waiting. Not sure the princess will be able to hold out that long. Her and Grandma had tons of fun today.

I smiled as I thought about my mother and Lily playing. My mother had become a new person this year. Something about Lily had changed her, and we had never been closer. My father was happier too.

I looked up to see Katrina walking in. She had taken her hair down and was holding a bag of food. I had to admit—it smelled heavenly.

Me: I’m glad they had fun. I’ll try to hurry. I love you, Maddie. More than anything.

Maddie: I love you! Please hurry. I have something for you.

Me: I love you, too, baby. I’m counting down the minutes. I’ll be as quick as I can.

She sent a photo, and I waited for it to load. When it did, I about dropped my phone. Maddie was standing naked in front of her full-length mirror. I licked my lips as I thought about all the dirty things I wanted to do to her tonight.

Me: Holy shit, Maddie. I’ll wrap this up as fast as I can.

Maddie: Don’t rush. Just know I’ll be waiting for you.

Me: I’ll text you when I’m heading home.

Maddie: K!

“Dinner’s ready,” Katrina said as she placed everything out on the table, then sat down on the sofa.

I had a huge office. A conference table and eight chairs were on the left side of my office, and a sofa, coffee table, and two chairs sat on the right side. I got up and walked over to the sofa. I was attempting to think of anything besides Maddie’s naked picture and my rock-hard dick. I grabbed the food and made my way back to my desk.

“You’re not even going to take a break and eat with me on the sofa?” Katrina asked.

I looked over my shoulder at her.

She licked her lips. “It’s after hours, so I thought we could be a bit more relaxed.”

I turned away from her. “It may be after hours, but we’re still working.”

I sat and went through the spreadsheets one more time. Everything was pretty much ready to go for the presentation, and I was just double-checking everything before I finished up. Since Katrina was here, I would send the file to James—Maddie’s dad—and Katrina could send it to everyone else after she got it all in order. James just needed the data ahead of time. He didn’t need it looking all pretty.