And then there was Dakota. He missed her. As much as he didn’t want to, as much as he was pissed and wondering if she’d done her best to trick him—even though he knew in his gut she hadn’t—he wanted to be with her. He wanted to see her and hold her and laugh with her. He wanted to watch Hannah grow from a baby to a toddler, then into a little girl with bright eyes and a ready smile.
As for the baby… He couldn’t go there. The thought of it overwhelmed him. He’d never considered the idea of more kids. From the day his parents had died, he’d always told himself that when his brothers were finally ready to walk away, he would do all the things he’d missed. He would go where he wanted, do what he wanted. He would be free. He never wanted to “have to” do anything again.
As much as he’d loved his brothers, there had been days he’d resented having to take care of everything. At a time when most guys his age were screwing everything that walked and partying with friends, he was checking homework, doing laundry and learning how to cook. He’d balanced work and parenting. He’d had to be both mother and father, and every single day he’d wondered if he’d been messing it up.
“Finn?”
Finn looked at his partner. “Sorry.”
“You were somewhere else.”
“The past.”
“About the business?” Bill asked. “Can you get back to me by the end of the week?”
“By Friday,” he promised.
Bill nodded and walked away.
Finn stayed where he was. There was a post-flight check to be done on the plane and paperwork to finish. But instead of moving on that, he found himself thinking about Dakota and how she would have to be both mother and father to her two children. She’d sought out the adoption, but the baby was as unexpected to her as it was to him.
He was sure she’d meant what she’d told him—that she had no expectations. That he could walk away. She would probably draw up one of those agreements where he gave up all rights to the kid and she gave up all rights to financial support. She wouldn’t want him to feel trapped.
Which should have made him happy. It had taken eight long years, but he was finally exactly where he wanted to be. Free. He could go anywhere, do anything. Hell, if he sold the business to Bill, he would have freedom and cash. Life didn’t get any better than that.
“I’M FINE,” Dakota insisted, speaking the words for the fourth or fifth hundredth time. “Completely and totally fine.”
Both her sisters stared at her, as if not convinced. The statement would probably have been a little more believable if her eyes weren’t red and puffy from all her crying. During the day she managed to be brave, but as soon as she was alone at night, she kind of lost it.
“You’re not fine and you shouldn’t be,” Nevada told her. “You told Finn you loved him and he left. He didn’t say anything, he just walked away. You’re left here, pregnant with his baby and completely alone.”
“Thanks for the recap,” Dakota murmured. “Now I sound pathetic.”
“You don’t,” Montana said quickly. “You sound like you’ve been through a lot and you have. You’re strong. You’ll be okay.” She and Nevada exchanged a quick look.
“What?” Dakota demanded. She wasn’t surprised they’d been talking about her behind her back, but she was concerned that they’d reached a conclusion that hadn’t occurred to her.
They were at Jo’s bar, with Project Runway playing on the big screen and HGTV on the smaller TVs. Denise had insisted Hannah spend the night, probably to give the sisters time to be alone. As the baby adored her grandmother, Dakota wasn’t worried about her daughter.
“It’s a big thing, finding out about the baby,” Montana said carefully, as if expecting Dakota to blow up at her.
“I know that.”
“He probably needs a little time. You needed time.”
“I was willing to give him time,” she said, doing her best not to clench her teeth as she clutched her glass of cranberry juice. “This isn’t a time thing. He left. It’s the leaving I object to. He stayed in town after his brothers had moved on right up until I told him I loved him and that I was pregnant. That’s when he walked out. Left for Alaska that night. No call, nothing.”
She’d never been left before. Not like this. The closest feeling she had was when her dad had died. That, too, had been unexpected. There was no arguing, no bargaining. There was just absence and pain.
“It’s so like a guy to walk away,” Nevada said. “Now you know he’s that type.”
“What type?”
“He disappears rather than faces responsibility. He only cares about himself.”
Dakota shook her head. “That’s not fair. Finn doesn’t do that. He’s spent the past eight years raising his brothers. He had to give up everything to take care of them.”
“Look how that turned out,” Nevada muttered.
“What do you mean? They’re great guys.”
“One of them wants to be an actor and the other is dating a woman nearly twice his age.”
Dakota straightened. “That’s not true.”
“Sasha doesn’t want to be an actor? He didn’t move to L.A., abandoning his college education one semester from finishing?”
“Yes, but—”