"Safer?" he said as he focused on that single word amongst the rest.
"When Lexie was ill, her sister, Sarah, took over a lot of Hayley's care. They are close, were close," she added, correcting herself immediately. "It was always intended for Hayley to be with her father after Lexie was told her cancer was too aggressive—too advanced." She closed her eyes briefly, and Riley could hear the grief in the words. There was a strange tightness in his chest at the thought he might never have known he was a daddy. "There wasn't time for her to… There's a letter in there which explains it all."
"Thank you." It was all he could say. He didn't ask why the sister didn't have custody; he didn't question why Lexie wanted him to have Hayley. In fact, he was incapable of thinking past getting into the house to see his daughter. He just thanked whoever was listening for bringing Hayley to his door.
"There are bags in the cab," she said. "I wonder if someone could help me?" Jack stepped forward, then Riley, and in less than a minute, everything Riley knew of Hayley's entire life was sitting on the D's drive. "Would you see your way to covering the cost of the cab?" she asked, and Riley immediately pulled out his wallet and grabbed every single bill he had. He didn't bother counting. There was probably more than she needed. He would pay her everything for the single fact that she had cared enough to bring his daughter to him.
"How are you getting home?" he asked, concerned. "The cab is waiting," she said.
"I could organize a car."
"I have my arrangements made," she said simply. Squaring her shoulders, she looked Riley straight in the eyes. "Promise me that you will look after her."
"I will. I do."
"Lexie's sister… It isn't right for her to have Hayley, and Lexie knew that. Lexie always told me you were the one who should take the child."
"I'm her dad," Riley said unnecessarily.
"Lexie wasn't sure."
"Sure of what? Sure Riley was the dad?" Jack sounded confused.
"She wasn't sure it mattered if Riley was the dad or not. She didn't imagine Riley would want her—"
"What the hell?" Riley couldn't hold back the instant and visceral reaction. He might have been an idiot at twenty, but everyone grew up, so who the hell was Lexie to think something so plainly awful?
"Until…" Sophie waved a hand between Riley and Jack.
"Until?"
"It isn't my place to say Mr Hayes—"
"Campbell-Hayes," Riley interrupted, and Sophie inclined her head to acknowledge the mistake.
"She said you were settled in whatever you are settled in." She looked uncomfortable momentarily. "I don't know what's worse—Lexie's sister and her problems or you and your… unconventional… relationship." Riley narrowed his eyes and wondered how far Jack was going to let this go before he lost his temper. "Still," Sophie carried on, oblivious to what reaction she was engendering, "the lesser of two evils it remains."
* * * *
As the cab disappeared up the long drive, avoiding the potholes and cracks in the dry ground, Jack turned to Riley with a grim look on his face.
"What the fuck was that all about."
All Riley could do was shrug. He really had no idea at all.
The two men went into the house. Hayley was chatting about hair and playing with her own by twisting it around her tiny hands. Riley stopped dead. They looked so alike, his sister and his beautiful daughter. And they seemed to be connecting. Irrational jealousy spiked in him, and he shook himself free of it.
"How about your daddy shows you your room?" Eden said gently.
Hayley looked at him expectantly, and he dutifully took Hayley's extended hand. Donna and Eden were talking, but once the door shut between the kitchen and hall, it was just Riley and Hayley. He paused in the hallway. A bedroom wasn't what he had spent any time thinking about. His responsibility. The change in his life. His daughter losing her momma. Those are the things he had focused on, not on providing a little girl haven in among the rough and tough of the D. This was a working ranch. He and Jack shared Jack's two rooms. Donna's was upstairs, although she appeared to spend most nights from dusk until dawn at Neil's house. Still, it was her room, and this only really left Beth or Josh's old rooms at the back of the house. Out of Jack's two siblings, Riley guessed Beth's room was likely more girly than Josh's, and he knew for a fact the window faced the back paddocks. Decision made, he took a right and went down the short corridor to the end to the door marked with a carved name.
"This was Beth's old room; she's Jack's sister," he said, and crouched down again. "I've not seen inside it, and I don't know if it's pink or girly or anything. But, whatever it's like, we can fix it up, okay? You can have any kind of bedroom you want." Hayley nodded, and then standing tall, Riley pushed his way in.
Well, it wasn't pink. In fact, it wasn't really much of anything. A simple room with wooden floors and a large double bed with a carved headboard. A chest of drawers with a small mirror and a desk in the corner completed the look. Clearly, Donna had this room set up as some kind of guest room judging by the simple furnishings.
"It's big," Hayley said, her eyes wide as she circled to see the whole room. "Bigger than my momma's and mine together."
"We can change anything you want," Riley offered quickly, and then watched bemused as Hayley clambered onto the bed and lay back to stare at the ceiling.
"It's kind of cool," she offered in the simple manner a child has. Riley sat on the edge of the bed, the weight of him causing Hayley to roll slightly. She giggled and leaned on one arm to look at him. "You're really heavy," she said with a laugh.
"Guess I am," Riley agreed.
"Way tall. Momma said my daddy was really tall." Riley could have sat there and cried. Lexie had spoken about him? Lexie had known he was Hayley's biological dad but had never thought to contact him? Why had she done that? Instead, he pushed past the hurt and confusion with a smile.
"You may get way tall as well," he said.
"I don't wanna be that tall." Her eyes widened again, and a look of horror settled on her face. Riley laughed.
"I get to see over everyone."
"So not a good thing."