Page 45 of Single Mom's Christmas Wish

I have to admit, it's not the nuttiest idea to marry one of the triplets.

But I’d be marrying solely for the money, for the inheritance. It wouldn’t be real love. I feel deeply for them. I guess you could call it love, though I never thought I’d ever feel love again after what happened with Keith. I cannot express these emotions aloud, though. How could I, given the circumstances?

The triplets and I have a good thing going. There’s no mention of feelings or a future together; we’re just going with the flow. It’s preposterous to even think about a future together, though I often do. But it’s in my mind only, my private, precious, and crazy dreams.

“How would I even go about it?” I ask after a while. “Do I just go up to them and say, ‘Hey, guys, one of you needs to marry me soI can get my hands on eighty million bucks?’”

“That is precisely how you do it.”

“I’d much rather marry for love if I ever marry again.”

She chuckles dryly. “Marry for the love of money this time around. Besides, we both know it’s more than just physical between the four of you. I’ve seen y’all together. I see the way your eyes sparkle when you mention them, the way the tone of your voice changes. You’re in love, Dakota.”

My heart feels heavy. “It wouldn’t be right. What would they think of me marrying for cold, hard cash? Would they even consider it? How would it work? A sham wedding, then a divorce a few months later? There’s no way to cast this in a good light.”

“Honestly, it sounds perfectly reasonable under these circumstances,” Chelsea says. “That inheritance could solve so much for you in mere seconds. It would change your life, and Maisie’s life, for the better.”

“I am well aware of that, but—”

“But your ethics,” she replies, rolling her eyes for good measure. “Do you think the bank cares about your ethics? Do you think Prescott Academy cares about your ethics? When Maisie grows up and inevitably finds out that you passed on an eighty-million-dollar inheritance because of your ethics, how do you think she’s going to react? ‘Gee, thanks, Mom, for keeping me in the public school system when I could’ve hit my full potential as a child prodigy instead.’”

“That’s not fair,” I mutter.

But it’s true.

I owe it to myself and to my daughter to do everything in my power to get that inheritance.

15

Reed

Something changed after Chappaqua.

Dakota didn’t give us too many details about her trip, except that she had to attend her grandmother’s funeral. She may think she’s good at keeping secrets, yet those beautiful brown eyes of hers betray her at every turn.

It’s only a matter of time before we’ll figure it out, but until then, my brothers and I have agreed to give her the space she needs to tell us when she’s ready.

“Popcorn’s done!” she calls out from the kitchen.

We’ve organized a movie night at our place while Trevor and Maisie are doing a sleepover at Chelsea’s house. Maddox is in charge of drinks for the evening, while Archer picked out the movie options.

The more time we spend with Dakota, the deeper my brothers and I seem to be falling. I want it to work. I just don’t know if she’s ready to give it a try for the long term as much as we are.

“Has she said anything?” Archer asks in a hushed voice.

“About what?” I reply.

“Her grandmother’s funeral and the trip to Chappaqua.”

I shake my head slowly. “No. I didn’t pressure her, either.”

“Something is going on,” Maddox grumbles as he takes his seat on the sofa. “Something happened at that funeral.”

“Whatever it is, she knows we’re here for her,” I reply calmly. “Let her come to us on her own time.”

“She’s not a helpless little doe,” Archer scoffs. “She needs to talk to us about it. Get it off her chest. It’s clearly bothering her.”

My brothers are more direct by nature, Archer, in particular. He gets straight to the point. Maddox usually waits until he feels the need to intervene, but they both function on similar strategies of ripping the Band-Aid off rather than peeling it off slowly.

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