He placed the boot down, gently, then sat at the table, raking his fingers through his hair. ‘We’re both at fault,’ he conceded. ‘I shouldn’t have given you the impression I wouldn’t want to know my own child. You shouldn’t have kept her from me. You don’t have to explain about your parents, if you don’t want to. But just know, I would never reject a child of mine. Never.’

I brought his coffee over and sat across from him, taking a sip of mine. ‘I know that, I suppose I always have. I shouldn’t have used it as an excuse. The number of times I thought about picking up the phone …’ I shook my head.

‘Nothing we can do about it now.’ He leant forward, his eyes in mine. ‘All I care about now is making up for lost time. I don’t want to freak Lumin out. But – but I so want to see her, soon. I want to build a relationship with her.’

‘I want you to as well. I know that now.’

I let out a sob. How could I have kept him from her? Had my parents screwed me up so much?

Dylan put his hand on my arm. ‘What happened with your parents, Gwyneth? What did they do to make you think keeping your daughter from her own father was better than the chance of my rejecting her?’

I shook my head, wiping my tears away. ‘I don’t want to get into that now. This is about Lumin, not me.’

‘You’re right.’ He relaxed back in his chair, sprawling his long legs out as he sipped his coffee. ‘So when can I meet her?’

‘What about tomorrow? I’ll tell her tonight, after school. Then you can come here for dinner. We usually eat at five.’

He nodded, dark eyes excited. He looked nervous too and my heart went out to him. He stood up.

‘You haven’t finished your coffee,’ I said, standing with him.

‘I can get one at the hotel.’

‘Oh. Right.’ It was silly I was disappointed. He was here for Lumin, not me, and we’d said all we’d needed to say. But I still yearned for him to stick around a bit longer, let us catch up.

‘She loves art by the way,’ I said as I followed him out. ‘Like you.’

His smile lit up his face. ‘You mentioned that on the phone. That’s great. See you tomorrow?’

I nodded. ‘Tomorrow.’