We left the elevator, and Ava immediately made a beeline for Ray, who stood in my kitchen and talked with Miles. Oh, damn. Sighing, I took a deep breath and stopped her.
“Caden is my Daddy.”
Ava spun around and made sure that I was looking at her hands before she answered, “Caden? Caden, who?”
“Caden Evans. I met him at the Rainbow Room.”
“Caden?” Ava cocked her head to the side, a quizzical look on her face. Then her eyes lit up. “Caden, the hot lawyer?”
“Please don’t call him hot!”
“Why? He’s so hot.” Grinning, Ava came back to me and led me over to the sofa instead of the kitchen. She sat me down, then took a seat beside me and signed again, “I want to know everything, and then I want to meet him.”
“Charlie likes him.”
I don’t know why, but that was the first thought that popped into my mind to tell her. And Ava's smile brightened. She knew Charlie long enough to know that my cat hated everyone. The fact that Charlie liked Caden made Ava smile even more.
“He must be an exceptional person if Charlie likes him.”
“He is.” I couldn’t stop myself from smiling and possibly grinning like a lunatic. Caden was special. Very special. “I really like him.”
“Tell me everything!”
Chapter 22
Caden
The doors of the elevator opened, and to my surprise, I was greeted by Henry’s bubbling laughter. The sound of Henry's laugh, carefree, and happy made me smile. It was selfish, but I loved it when I caused those happy sounds. Curious about what was happening, I dropped my keys into a bowl, set the alarm, and walked into the apartment. My gaze found Henry. He was sitting on the sofa. Charlie was on his lap, and a woman and a dark-haired man sat opposite from him.
It took me a moment to realize that the blonde woman was Ava, his aunt. I hadn’t seen her since Ray's birthday party about three months ago. The man sitting next to Ava saw me first and smiled.
What’s his name? Morton? Max? No, Miles!
Right, his name was Miles, and he was Ava's boyfriend. Smiling back at him, I loosened the knot of my tie and walked over to them.
Usually, I tried to be careful not to spook Henry by sneaking up on him, but it wasn’t necessary. As soon as Ava looked at me and grinned, Henry's head whipped around.
“Daddy!”
“Hey there, Roo.”
“Ava came back today!”
“I can see that, Cupcake.”
Laughing, I opened my arms. Henry got up and ran around the sofa to hug me. It was lucky that he didn’t just climb over the back of the couch to jump into my arms. Hugging him back, I ignored Ava’s snorting laugh. Snuggling my Boy was more important than everything else. Especially after a long day I had in court and the office. But while I was enjoying holding him tight, Henry started to wiggle after a moment and leaned his head back.
“Guess what?”
“What?” Whatever it was, it must be good, because Henry beamed at me.
“Ava and Miles are getting married!”
“Is that so?” Henry nodded so quickly I feared he would give himself whiplash.
“Isn’t that exciting? They’re getting married! And I’m going to be Ava's best man!” Henry smiled proudly. Then he scrunched up his nose and frowned. “It would have been so cute if we could have had Charlie walking up the aisle to bring the rings.”
Yeah, that wouldn’t be a good idea. Charlie didn’t hold back his hate for most people. Chances were good that he would attack more people rather than bringing the rings to the alter. And by the way, Miles groaned, he’d been on the receiving end of Charlie’s hate. Based on the fresh bandage on his wrist, not too long ago. To ease Henry's disappointment, I gently kissed him before I looked at him again.
“But you’re going to be the most perfect best man, Roo.”
“Thank you, Daddy.”
Okay, so Ava knew about our relationship. Wondering if that was a good thing, I glanced at her. Ava watched us, but there was a tender look on her face. No anger or suspicion. She even laughed out loud when Henry hit my shoulder to get my attention again.
“You’re going with me, right? Please, Daddy. You have to be my plus one.”
“That’s not my decision, Henry. It’s up to Ava and Miles.”
It broke my heart to disappoint him, but I couldn’t just invite myself to a wedding. That wasn’t going to stop my Cupcake. When he whipped his head around, I laughed.
“I can bring whoever I want, right?” Ava’s answer had me laugh harder.
“No. You cannot bring whoever you want, Henry. You can bring Caden because he’s your Daddy.”
“Yay.” Henry turned so quickly around again that he stumbled. “See. I can bring you. Are you going with me? Please? Pretty please, Daddy?”
“Pretty please with sprinkles?”
“What? Why with sprinkles?”
“That seems to be a common addition to a please in the Rainbow Room. Pretty please with sprinkles. Didn’t Sam tell you?”
Henry erupted into giggles, and I didn’t get a pretty please with sprinkles. After a long moment, Henry calmed down enough to look at me.
“Sprinkles are reserved for my dessert. Sorry.”
“And rewards are reserved for good Boys.” Grinning, I shrugged. “Sorry.”
“But…” Henry’s face fell, but then a twinkle appeared in his eyes. “We’re just talking about food, right?”
“I think that is a discussion for later. After your aunt and soon-to-be uncle leave.”
“Please. I don’t need to hear that.” Ava got up to join us. Tapping Henry on the shoulder, she waited until he turned towards her. “Why don’t you go with Miles and see what we brought you from our trip. I want to talk with Caden.”
“He’s a lawyer!” Henry signed back proudly. “He won’t fall for
