Chapter 2 - THE FIRST NIGHT HE MISSED
Z
Beckett canceled the Frankfurt conference call.
His chief operating officer nearly dropped the phone.
"You want me to tell Germany you're unavailable?"
"Yes."
"Until when?"
Beckett looked through the glass wall of the pediatric consultation room.
Violet was adjusting Celeste's blanket.
"I don't know."
Silence answered him.
In twelve years, Beckett had never said those three words about his schedule.
He ended the call.
Violet was watching him when he returned.
"You canceled something."
"Yes."
"Something expensive?"
"Probably."
"Beckett."
"What?"
"You don't need to perform."
His expression hardened.
"You think this is performance?"
"I think you discovered you have a daughter forty minutes ago."
"Forty-seven."
Violet almost smiled.
He noticed.
"I also think," she continued, "that right now you're shocked. Tomorrow you're going to wake up, remember every reason you never wanted children, and start thinking about lawyers."
Beckett went still.
"Lawyers?"
"You're Beckett Valiant."
"And?"
"You don't lose things."
His voice became quiet.
"Is that what you think this is? Something you took from me?"
Violet said nothing.
That silence hurt more than an accusation.
He looked at Celeste.
"When she was born..."
His throat tightened unexpectedly.
"Where was I?"
Violet looked down.
"In Singapore."
Of course he had been.
The acquisition.
His biggest international deal.
Investors had called it the defining moment of his career.
"What happened?"
Violet sat down.
The room seemed smaller suddenly.
"My water broke at thirty-two weeks and six days."
Beckett stopped moving.
"I had gone to the grocery store. I thought I had another month and a half."
Her voice was controlled.
Too controlled.
"I drove myself here."
"You drove yourself?"
"There wasn't anyone else."
"What about your sister?"
"California."
"Your friends?"
"I didn't want anyone panicking."
"So you came alone."
"Yes."
He stared at her.
"What happened next?"
"They tried to delay delivery."
Celeste made a small sound.
Violet automatically placed her palm over the baby's back.
"It didn't work."
Her voice changed.
Just slightly.
"Her heart rate started dropping."
Beckett's face lost color.
"They did an emergency C-section."
He looked toward Violet's abdomen instinctively.
She noticed.
"She's okay," Violet said.
"I'm asking about you."
That seemed to surprise her more.
Violet looked at the floor.
"I was scared."
Beckett closed his eyes.
In Singapore that same night, he had been standing beneath chandeliers while executives toasted him with champagne.
While Violet was being rushed into surgery.
While his daughter struggled to breathe.
"Why didn't anyone call me?"
"You weren't listed."
"You knew my number."
"I did."
Something in the way she said it caught him.
Beckett opened his eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
"Violet."
"Don't."
"You tried to call me?"
Her silence answered.
Beckett stepped closer.
"When?"
"Not when she was born."
"Then when?"
Violet's jaw tightened.
"About three months ago."
His heartbeat changed.
"Why?"
"My pregnancy became high risk. I thought..."
She hesitated.
"I thought maybe you should know."
"And?"
"I called your office."
Beckett's expression became unreadable.
"Who answered?"
"Your executive office transferred me to Amelia."
Amelia Cross.
His chief of staff for six years.
"What did she say?"
Violet looked embarrassed now.
That frightened him more than anger would have.
"She said you were aware I had called."
Beckett didn't breathe.
"Continue."
"She said you'd made your position clear and didn't want personal matters interfering with the Singapore acquisition."
The room became completely silent.
"I never received that message."
Violet looked up.
"What?"
"I never received that message."
"Beckett—"
"I swear to you."
His voice was low and absolute.
"No one told me."
Violet studied his face.
She knew his lies.
She had lived with him for three years.
This wasn't one.
Her eyes widened.
"Then why would Amelia—"
"I don't know."
But Beckett already had his phone out.
Violet stood quickly.
"Don't do anything reckless."
"I'm making a phone call."
"Your version of making a phone call can destroy someone's career."
"If someone deliberately kept me from knowing my child existed, their career is the least of their concerns."
He called his office.
Amelia answered on the second ring.
"Beckett."
"Did Violet Laru call my office three months ago?"
Silence.
Two seconds.
Three.
Too long.
"Beckett, where are you?"
His face changed.
"Answer the question."
"I think this conversation should happen in person."
"So she called."
Another silence.
Violet stared at him.
"Yes," Amelia finally said.
"And you told her I didn't want contact."
"I had instructions."
Beckett's blood went cold.
"From whom?"
"Beckett—"
"From whom?"
Amelia exhaled.
"Your mother."
Violet's face drained of color.
Beckett said nothing for several seconds.
Then he ended the call.
His mother.
Eleanor Valiant.
Chairwoman emeritus of Valiant Holdings.
The woman who had spent Beckett's childhood teaching him emotion was weakness and family existed to protect the company name.
Violet whispered, "She knew?"
Beckett looked at Celeste.
Then at Violet.
"Apparently."
"And she never told you."
"No."
Violet's eyes filled with a different kind of pain.
"I thought you rejected her before she was even born."
Beckett crossed the distance between them.
"I didn't know."
"I spent months hating you."
"I know."
"I spent nights in that NICU thinking at least I had been right to leave because you wouldn't have wanted her anyway."
Beckett's voice broke.
"You were wrong."
Violet froze.
"I would have wanted her."
He looked at his daughter.
"I didn't know that until today."
His hand closed around the back of a chair.
"But I know it now."
Violet wiped at her cheek angrily.
Beckett had seen her cry only twice before.
He hated himself for both memories.
"Don't make promises because you're guilty," she said.
"I'm not promising anything."
He met her eyes.
"I'm telling you what I'm going to do."
"What?"
"Learn every appointment I've missed."
Violet's lips parted.
"Every medication. Every specialist. Every feeding schedule. Every sound she makes when something is wrong."
He looked down at Celeste.
"And then tomorrow, I'll start learning everything else."
Violet stared at him.
"Why?"
Beckett answered without hesitation.
"Because she has already spent five weeks without her father."
May you like
His voice softened.
"She's not spending a sixth."
