Read Online Baby Benefits by Emily McKay - Free Book Online Page B

room and thrust Isabella back into his arms.
    “Look, you want to bond with your daughter? Just talk to her.”
    As always, Isabella stiffened, holding her tiny body as straight as a rod of steal, her sturdy arms pressed against his chest with all her might. “Talk to her? About what?”
    “Anything. Just let her hear your voice.”
    Staring into the face of his daughter, he finally admitted to Raina, “I don’t know what to call her.”
    “Huh?” Raina asked, clearly baffled.
    “I don’t…” Normally he didn’t have trouble explaining himself. But today, with Isabella and Raina, he felt crippling incompetence. “I don’t have a name for her.”
    “Just call her by her name, Isabella. Or call her Izzie.”
    “Dex calls her Izzie.”
    Raina rolled her eyes. “But sure, you’re not jealous of Dex. No, not at all.” Raina glanced down at her watch. “Call her whatever you want to call her. Punkin’, sweet pea, honeybun. Hell, call her rutabaga for all I care. Or, God forbid, follow in your brother’s footsteps and call her Izzie. She does seem to like it. But I don’t have time for this nonsense. I’ve got to go.”
    “But you just got here.”
    “Yes, and you asked me to clear your schedule for the next two weeks. Which means I’ve still got about fifty phone calls to make.” She spun on her heel and marched toward his home office, leaving him staring from her to Isabella, unsure which female baffled him more.
    Almost as if she sensed what he was about to say, Raina stopped at the office door and added, “And don’t talk to her about work. Anything but business.”
    “As you’ve pointed out, work is my whole life. That doesn’t leave much to talk about.”
    Raina shrugged nonchalantly. “Tell her something you’ve never told anyone. Something about your childhood.”
    When he continued to stare at her, waiting for inspiration to strike, she offered, “Childhood pranks? Amusing anecdotes? Misadventures? Anything? No?”
    “That kind of crap was more Dex’s style. I was too busy keeping the family together.”
    She sighed in a way that managed to sound both beleaguered and sympathetic. “I mean before your mom died. Before your father found those first diamonds. When your dad was still prospecting, you lived in ten different countries before the age of thirteen. You visited places most people have never even heard of. You had ample opportunity to stir up trouble. You had to have been a kid at some point. I refuse to believe that you were some serious-minded little version of yourself even then.”
    But he had been. Even then he’d known it was his job to make sure he and Dex were getting their education, no matter what country they lived in. When their mother died of cancer when he was thirteen, even more responsibilities had fallen on his shoulders. Keeping the family together was never something he resented. It was just what he did.
    When he didn’t answer, Raina propped her hands on her hips and glared at him. “Fine. You don’t want to talk about your childhood? Tell her about your parents. Tell her about Dex. If all else fails, make something up. Just talk to her.”
    As Raina left, Derek could only shake his head in confusion. What was it she wanted from him?
    Apparently when Raina had said he needed to “open up” to Isabella, she’d expected an outpouring of sentimentality. Or perhaps unresolved childhood angst. The truth was, he had no angst about his childhood.
    Naturally, he’d been hard hit by his mother’s death. They all had been. But they’d stuck together. He’d never resented the sacrifices he’d made for the family. He’d just done what needed to be done.
    There was nothing to regret. At seventeen, not long after his father first discovered diamonds in Canada, Derek had taken over the business side of things for his father. He’d been cutting deals with men three times his age. He’d relished the challenge. And the truth was, he hadn’t resented the