My billionaire boyfriend’s mother walked into my Vermont farmhouse, placed a blank check on my kitchen table, and said, “Name your price. Then disappear before Adrian learns that child is his.”

yours.”

Adrian looked at me.

“What do you want from me, Elena?”

I considered the question.

Then answered.

“Time.”

His face softened.

“I can’t return the years we lost.”

“No, you can’t.”

“But I can make sure Poppy grows up knowing her father wants to be part of her life.”

Poppy reached between us and grabbed both our hands.

Adrian smiled.

Not the polished expression I’d seen in business magazines.

A real smile.

The smile of a tired man holding his little girl in a small farmhouse kitchen.

And for