Page 86 of Wild Promises

Eli stood at the end of one of the tables, giving the speech my father used to give, thanking everyone for coming. Then he said, "Xander has something he'd like to say."

I wiped my hands on my thighs. It was now or never.

Tori was seated at the end of the table like we'd planned so it would be easy for me to get down on one knee. I stood and moved around to her other side so I had room. "Tori, I'm so grateful that you came back to town, that you decided to make Telluride your home again."

She smiled. "I am too."

"But there's something I need to ask you." I dropped to my knee, and there was an audible gasp. I focused on Tori, and not fumbling, I opened the velvet box, showing her the diamond ring I'd picked out last week.

"When we were kids, we made a pact that we'd marry each other if we didn't have a significant other by the time we were thirty. Our birthdays are coming up, and it's the perfect time to tell you how I feel. I want to build a future with you. I want to grow old together. I love you, Tori. Will you marry me?"My speech was supposed to be longer, but that was all I could remember with my nerves and everyone's eyes on me.

Tori's brow was slightly furrowed. Was she not happy about this? Did she not feel the same? Then she looked around at all the people waiting for her answer and said softly, "Yes, I'll marry you."

I pulled her into my arms, kissing her softly. "I love you."

"I love you too." Then we were being congratulated by everyone. By the time we sat down to dinner, it was cold. I didn't have a chance to talk to Tori, but she stayed by my side.

Everyone had eaten, and holiday music played from a speaker overhead. A woman walked in, and Eli said, "There's plenty of food. Help yourself."

I hadn't seen her before. But she could have been a guest.

"I'm actually here to talk to Walker Wilde."

"He's deployed at the moment. Is there something we can help you with. I'm Eli, his cousin.”

Walker came to live with us when his parents died. My parents were his guardians until he turned eighteen and enlisted.

"I have a teenage girl whose mother just died. A letter was found indicating that Walker Wilde is her father. I wanted to talk to him before I introduce him to his daughter. I was hoping he was home for the holiday.”

The entire room was silent.

Walker had a daughter?

"I don't understand." Eli seemed at a loss for words.

I stood. "Maybe we should talk about this in private."

I gathered my brothers, and we met in Eli's office. When everyone was seated, I introduced myself, "I'm Xander Wilde, Walker's cousin, and you are?"

"Addison Montgomery. I'm the social worker tasked with transitioning Dakota to her new home."

"Were you saying that Walker hasn't met Dakota?" I asked, taking the lead since my brothers seemed to be in shock.

"That's my understanding. When I asked Dakota, she said her mother never talked about her father, other than to say he was just passing through. But there was a letter with her mother's will, indicating who the father was and that he should be contacted in the event she died. She had cancer, so her affairs were in order."

"That poor girl," Eli said. "What do we do now? Walker is still in the military. I'm not sure he's in a place where he could provide a stable home for her."

"Should we do a DNA test just to be sure? How do we know that she is his daughter?"

"That's standard procedure, and I'd insist on having that done before we rehome her. The thing is, we don't want to wait too long. She's in a foster home, but that's not ideal, especially if she has a biological father who could take her in."

"If Walker doesn't know about this girl, then it will be a shock. We need to get in contact with him and talk to him as soon as possible." Eli jumped to his feet and began pacing.

"If what you're saying is true, I'm sure he can secure leave to sort this out," I said.

My brothers were in shock, and I felt like I was the only one who was calm in this situation. It was entirely possible that Walker could have fathered a girl when he was eighteen and recently enlisted. If the woman didn't want him to know, or didn't bother to track him down, I could see how something like this could happen. But Walker would want to know and take her in, or at least I hoped he would. He knew what it was like to be orphaned, and this girl had lost her mother.

"Dakota is in a vulnerable place. She lost the only parent she's ever known, and if Walker is her father, she'll be movingin with a virtual stranger. As a result, the court has asked me to follow her closely, to help with the transition."

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