For more than two years Maura kept the cards, letters and gifts that he had sent from reaching Julie. For reasons that would forever remain a mystery to him, Maura didn’t destroy them. Instead, she locked them up in a box she kept hidden in the back of her bedroom closet.
And then, as fate would have it, when Maura went into the hospital for an appendectomy, Julie accidentally came across a letter he had mailed to her while her babysitter was in the other room. Since it was obviously addressed to her, Julie read it. Surprised, stunned and exceedingly happy that her father cared enough to write to her, he found out that Julie became convinced that there had to be more letters she hadn’t seen. A relentless search through her mother’s things led her to find the other letters that Maura had hidden.
When he received that first letter from his daughter, he couldn’t begin to describe the immense joy he experienced. Although he didn’t approve of deception, he felt this was the only way that he and his daughter could get to know one another so he sent the girl money and told her how to set up a postal box in a local office supply store, so that he could send his letters to her there.
The hope was that until Maura could be convinced to allow him to meet their daughter face-to-face, they would continue making contact this way. He knew he could take this to court and fight for visitation rights, but he didn’t want an all out war with Maura because he didn’t want Julie caught in the middle. It would only hurt her. But neither did he want Julie to feel that he was giving up on her, so he kept writing to the girl.
But he never gave up trying to convince Maura to let him into Julie’s life.
Once she was aware of what was going on, Hailey encouraged him to keep working on Maura.
“No luck?” Hailey asked after she watched Dillon terminate yet another phone call to the girl’s mother.
Dillon shook his head, frustrated. “She still refuses to let me see Julie, or even talk to her. If she ever realized that Julie and I were communicating, she’d probably disappear with the girl just to spite me. I’d wind up never hearing from Julie again.”
Hailey ached for him and the pain she knew he had to be going through.
“Maura can’t just take off like that,” Hailey said, trying to make him feel better. “You said she was married, right? Her husband has a job, doesn’t he?” she asked.
Dillon knew where she was going with this, but he also knew that Hailey wasn’t totally aware of the whole situation.
“He does,” Dillon answered. “But from what I gather from the things she did tell me, her husband has no spine. That means that he does everything Maura wants in order to keep her happy and maintain peace.”
The woman sounded like some sort of dragon lady, and in Hailey’s opinion, Dillon had definitely dodged a bullet when Maura had turned down his proposal almost thirteen years ago.
Not wanting to sound critical, she kept that to herself. But she did say something that occurred to her just now. “If she keeps refusing to let you even meet Julie and you’re worried that they might just vanish if you so much as push Maura to let you see the girl, then why are you still considering moving to Florida?”
He knew she probably thought he was hitting his head against a wall and maybe he was. But he shrugged helplessly, saying, “On the outside chance that I could wear her down eventually.”
Because it was her habit, Hailey tried to see the situation in the best possible light. This time, that best light was about Dillon’s attitude.
“I guess there is a bit of an optimist in you, after all,” she said, smiling at him.
“Maybe so, but that optimist is fading pretty fast,” he told her.
Even so, Hailey was determined to fan that flame and keep it alive until it could burn on its own. She felt it was also the only chance for them to have any future together.
“If you give up now, you’ll never get to see your daughter and that’s that,” she told him. “But if you keep on trying to get through to Maura, to get her to change her mind, you still have a chance.”
Dillon shook his head, amazed. “You really believe that?”
“With my whole heart and soul,” she answered with feeling. She put her hand on his shoulder. “You have nothing to lose if you keep trying and everything to lose if you don’t.”
He laughed, but it wasn’t at her. He was reacting to the warmth her words generated. “Do you get these sayings off bumper stickers, or from fortune cookies?”
“From life,” she answered, then smiled. “Like I said when I first met you, you could stand to take part in one of my spa sessions.”
He slipped his arm around her, pulling her in closer so he could kiss her. Heaven help him, she did make him feel better, even though he didn’t quite share her overall outlook, or her peppy sayings. It was the way Hailey said them—and the fact that he needed to have something to hold on to—that gave him a lifeline.
Despite everything he had done to try to discourage Hailey, she continued to maintain her optimism—and to give him hope. He was lucky to have her in his life. “Want to see her picture?” he asked.
“I’d love to.”
Dillon took out his wallet and took out a small snapshot. “I made a print of it in case I ever lose my phone.”
She loved hearing the pride in his voice. “She’s adorable,” Hailey told him.
“Yeah,” he paused to look at it a moment longer, “I think so, too.”
Dillon had just finished going over the final layout for his construction company’s next joint project: Provisions, the restaurant that was going
