Page 92 of All the Promises We Break

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Elijah

It kills me that I can't help two of the people I love most. It hurts me more than any physical pain I’ve endured. I feel a steady ache in my head. I don’t think any amount of medication can help. I’m still on the phone with a physician friend of mine, when a knock on the door with one of our favorite meals wafts through our apartment.

“Eli?

Dylan’s soft voice calls to me from just inside the door. She’s been amazing all day. I haven’t been able to talk to her about everything. The ride home was in shocked silence and I’ve been on the phone since we arrived. It’s a long shot, but I’m able to set Wes up with a private DNA test tomorrow for him and Hannah.As much as I want to stay and help Wes and Hayley work through everything, they need to do that on their own.

“Thanks, Tony. I’ll give them all the details. I owe you one.” I hang up the phone and pinch the bridge of my nose.

“Do you want to eat out here or inside?” Dylan asks.

“Here is fine. What did you get?”

“Penne and bread from Delmonico’s.” She smiles with a subtle shrug of her shoulders.

“Italiano every time we need to work something out. At least that will seem familiar. I got Wes set up for tomorrow. I’ll text him the instructions.”

“If you’d asked me how I thought today was going to go, this never even entered my mind. I guess I don’t need to ask if it were you what you’d do.”

I rub my hand over my neck, trying in vain to get the knots out. “I’d do exactly what Wes is doing first. I’d know by the science where I stand. Then, if it were true, we’d start sorting out how things would work moving forward.”

Dylan sets the food on the table in front of us then crawls across my lap. She shoos my hands out of the way. “Let me do that. But Wes isn’t you. I’ve always known you’ve wanted to be a dad. That’s never been a secret.”

“I guess my question would be for you, Dylan. If there was a Hannah in my life, would this be a deal breaker for you? Would you walk away?”

Her hands cease moving on my neck. She slowly folds them into her lap. “I’d be beyond terrified and want to run. But feeling what I feel for you, I’d make it work. I’d stand by you.”

I slide my thumb over her fingernails slowly one at a time. “Did Hayley give any indication on how she feels?”

“Not really. She did a lot of crying. I know she was more concerned about Wes and what he wanted. Maybe she’s waitingfor cues from him? I’m not sure. The only thing I’m sure of right now is that I’m not ready for a family for us.”

I pull my Viper tight against my chest and sit back. “I know. That’s okay. What you did today showed me you’re committed to someday, and that’s all I need. Why didn’t you tell me what happened and what you were going to do?”

“Because I knew what you’d say. You’d tell me to go for my dream as it stood. I didn’t know my dream had changed until Elise cornered me, then Jill made her offer. I didn’t know what I’d do until my father gave me some advice.”

“Your father? When did you see Paul?”

“After you went back to the office last Friday. He’d been at the event since dessert was served.”

“I never saw him. He didn’t say a word.”

“That was the way he wanted it. Eli, it was kind of surreal. I danced like I always do; except I used the auditorium stage. I decided to take out an old routine because I wanted to dance something different. I wanted to lose myself in it. Somewhere in the first eight bars I let all the choreography go and just did what the music told me to.

“The beat of the music was my heart. I felt like I could fly. When I finished my father was there. He asked if everyone knows how impressive I am.”

There’s a change in Dylan’s voice as she talks about her father. It’s what I’m used to. I’m glad they’re finally repairing their relationship. “Paul Cooper has surprised me more in the last ten weeks than he has in the last ten years. Then what happened?”

“I told him about Elise, Jill, all of it. He asked me the same very important question. Does everyone know how impressive I am? I said "everyone but that bitch".” I chuckle at her word choice. “He told me to show her. That’s it. Simply show her. So once I did, I realized what I really wanted is what Jill could give me.”

“Which is?” I ask.

“To dance as much or as little as I want, so I can be by your side at AnSa and continue our new project together. She’s as impressed by that as she is with my dancing. We can have it all, Eli. You kept telling me and I didn’t believe you. We can.”

A chilled calm courses through my body. I wrap her hair around my hand and tug, as I pull her tight against me with my other hand nested in the small of her back. “I’ve waited my whole life to be a part of a partnership like this. You’re my penguin.”

Her breath stutters before she speaks. “You’re a hopeless romantic, Mr. Sawyer.”

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