A Camden's Baby Secret Read Free Page A

John Sr. were both eighty years old. And while John Sr. didn’t have any disabilities that Livi could discern, she’d seen enough to know that he moved slowly and very stiffly, barely lifting his feet. So even he was nowhere near as agile as seventy-five-year-old GiGi or her seventy-six-year-old new groom, Jonah. In fact, the attentive nurse seemed to be subtly caring for John Sr. almost as much as she was caring for Maeve, so Livi understood why Greta’s parents had not left her guardianship to the elderly couple.
    Livi didn’t have any difficulty establishing rapport with the Tellers or with Greta, all of whom she liked instantly. And the more they all visited, the more Livi saw how much the Tellers doted on the little girl. They obviously loved her dearly.
    For her part, Greta—an outgoing nine-year-old with long blond hair and big brown eyes—had quickly warmed to Livi and was clearly dazzled by her fashionable clothes and hairstyle. She was so enthralled that Livi had removed the scarf she’d used as a headband today and gifted it to Greta, who was now sitting on the floor at her feet so Livi could tie it around the girl’s wavy locks the way she’d been wearing it herself.
    Even while she was pampering Greta, Livi went on chatting with Maeve and Kinsey. John Sr. wasn’t particularly talkative, but threw in a few comments from time to time.
    All in all, Livi thought it was going smoothly, that she’d lucked out, that this particular restitution would be easily accomplished.
    â€œYou look beautiful, Greta,” Kinsey declared when Livi was finished and the nine-year-old looked to the nurse for approval.
    â€œI wanna see,” Greta announced, running from the room and bounding up the stairs to the second level of the old farmhouse, presumably to a mirror.
    With the child out of earshot, it seemed like an opportunity for Livi to say, “I’m not sure what Greta’s needs are, but we want to do whatever we can for her now and from here on.”
    â€œAnd you would be?” a deep male voice interrupted, coming from behind Livi.
    Maeve and John Sr. were sitting across from Livi and they both looked beyond her to the man who had just come in.
    Livi noted that John Sr. instantly scowled, while Maeve smiled and said, “This is Ms. Camden—”
    â€œOh, no, I’m just Livi.”
    â€œCamden,” the man behind her repeated scornfully at the same time.
    Undeterred, Maeve smiled at her and said, “Livi,” to confirm that she would use her first name. Then she added, “Callan is an old friend of Mandy and John Jr.’s. He’s Greta’s godfather and now her guardian.”
    Livi froze.
    Callan?
    It wasn’t a common name.
    And it was the name of the man she’d spent the night with in Hawaii. The man she’d exchanged only first names with.
    The man who had run out on her.
    But it had to be a coincidence.
    It had to be...
    Then he came around into her line of vision.
    And everything in her clenched into one big knot.
    It was the same name because it was the same man.
    Livi didn’t know whether to slap his face or crawl away in shame.
    â€œLivi?” he said when he got a look at her face, his voice full of shock. His expression almost instantly showed embarrassment before confusion sounded, too, as he said, “You’re a Camden ?”
    â€œYou two know each other?” John Sr. asked.
    Neither of them answered immediately.
    Then Callan said, “We’ve met.”
    â€œOnce,” Livi added, her gaze locked with his.
    Actually, they knew hardly anything about each other. They’d talked about why they were in Hawaii—her for a sales convention, him for a business meeting. Beyond that?
    They’d talked about the enormous sea turtle on the beach right in front of where Livi was sitting when he’d joined her without an invitation. About the weather. The hotel. The restaurants and food.