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tighter.  She hadn’t expected this from him but it certainly solved her
immediate problem.  “Well, if you think it’s okay...”
    “It is,” he said
without hesitation.  “Now drive safely.”
    When he hung up Meg
rested her head on the steering wheel and gave a sigh of relief.  Thank
goodness he was an understanding man.  He may have been a jerk but at least he
had this one redeeming quality.  He was sympathetic to the plight – and the
scarcity of options – of a single mom.
    Within fifteen minutes
of their conversation Meg was holding Jessie’s hand as she rode the elevator up
to the fortieth floor of the Duncan Investments building.  Eyes big as baby
moons, Jessie watched the numbers light up as they went higher and higher.
    “Are we going all the
way to the rooftop, Mommy?”  she asked as she clung just a little bit tighter
to her hand.  She sidled closer and pressed against her mother’s hip.
    Meg chuckled. 
“Almost.  We’re going to the penthouse floor.”  She tousled her daughter’s
hair.  “Don’t worry.  We’re almost there.”
    She nodded her curly
blonde head but the way she clung to her dolly told Meg she still wasn’t
comfortable.  When the elevator door opened she popped out even before her
mother could take a step.
    “I got out first.  I
beat you, Mommy.”
    “Yes, you did.  You’re
the winner.”
    Before Jessie could
give her usual celebratory yell, Meg caught up with her and put a finger to her
lips.  “Now we’re going to be really quiet when we go into the office, aren’t
we?  Quiet as a mouse.  Can we do that?”
    Jessie lifted her
little shoulders then nodded.  “Yes, Mommy,” she said in a staged whisper. 
“Quiet as a mouse.”
    The receptionist
greeted them warmly and took them to Drake’s office.  Jessie, eyes huge with wonder
at the strange new sights, stopped in the middle of the doorway and refused to
take another step.
    “Come on, Jessie.”  Meg
took her hand and tried to urge her forward but she would not budge.
    “So, is this the little
princess who's come to entertain me?”
    Meg looked up and there
was Drake, all smiles, looking for all the world like a doting dad smiling down
at his beloved daughter.  There was not an ounce of guile about him.  His smile
was genuine and she found herself smiling back, grateful that he was making the
effort to put her child at ease.
    Jessie stepped closer
to her mother as she stared shyly at Drake.  “I’m not a princess,” she said. 
“I’m a little girl.”
    Drake paused and cocked
his head to one side.  “Are you sure you’re not a princess?”
    Jessie shook her head.
    “Well, you look like a
princess to me,” Drake said, then he crouched down so the little girl could
look him in the eyes.  “And do you know what little princesses get?”
    Her eyes big and blue,
Jessie shook her head again.
    “Lots of tickles.” 
Before she could move, Drake reached out to tickle her cheek then her arm and
soon she was laughing out loud.  When she stopped laughing she was all smiles. 
Gone were the shyness and the hesitation.  She looked ready to play.
    Meg shook her head. 
“I’m not sure those tickles were a good idea,” she said, smiling.  “Now she’s
going to stick to you like glue.”
    “I don’t mind,” he
said, looking totally unconcerned.  “My nephew is only three so I’m used to
having a little one around.”
    Meg watched as he took
Jessie’s hand and led her over to a small table on which were laid out several
sheets of paper and colored pencils.  He lifted the child onto the seat then
stepped back.  “There you go.  An art studio of your own.  Now let me see what
you can create.”
    It was so weird,
watching this mega-powerful business executive, a billionaire no less, catering
to the needs of her child.  Who would have thought he would be so caring, so
thoughtful as to go out of his way to make Jessie feel comfortable?  This was
the total opposite of how