"That sounds reasonable. I'm sure Walker will want your help," I said, but she didn't look as positive as I felt.
"If Dakota is a Wilde, then she'll have all of us. We're a package deal," Eli said, and we all nodded. We took care of our own.
Addison stood and handed me a card. "Dakota is a lucky girl then, but it might take her a while to see it. She's understandably upset and grieving. If Walker is her father, she’ll have to leave her home and everyone she knows in Virginia. This is my information. Please let me know as soon as you've spoken with Walker. I'll need to see him when he's back in town so we can secure the testing and get the ball rolling on her transition. I don't want her in foster care any longer than necessary."
"That's what we all want," I said to her, seeing her out of the office. When I returned to the room, everyone was quiet.
Eli moved to his phone. "I'll get in touch with Walker."
"I'll clean up downstairs." I helped clear the leftover food and clean the dishes.
When we were done, I searched for Tori. "Where did she go?" I asked Noelle, who was watering the poinsettias.
"She said she needed some air."
Was something wrong? Thinking she'd probably gone to our trail, I put on my boots and grabbed my skis and poles. I had a feeling I'd find her at our spot overlooking the lodge. I saw the indentation of her skis in the snow and followed the trail off the path and into the woods.
She sat on the boulder. The lights were still twinkling in the trees. "Is everything okay?"
"My dad told me that you came to him."
It felt like I'd been sucker punched. "I didn't feel like I had any other choice."
Her gaze was on the snow in front of her. "You know I didn't want to pressure him."
"Yeah, but he needed to know how you felt."
Her face was pinched. "It wasn't your place."
"What did he say?"
"He wants to partner with Dr. Sterling, so that I can buy the practice from him in installments."
Relief surged through me. "That's perfect. That's exactly what you wanted."
She lifted her gaze to meet mine. "But I didn't want it to happen this way."
"I'm sorry I overstepped. I should have talked to you first. But it worked out."
Tori's gaze lowered to the ring that sat on her finger. "The engagement. Was it for show?"
"Of course not. Why would you think that?"
"Because this entire relationship was fake, and then you mentioned the marriage pact in your proposal. My birthday is on Saturday, and yours is on Monday."
"I wanted to show you that I was serious about my feelings, and I couldn't think of a better way to do that than to propose."
"We could have talked about it first. I just assumed it was part of our fake arrangement. One more way to prove that you were serious about your job."
I sat next to her, hoping I'd be able to convince her that she was wrong about me. "It stopped being about proving something to my family or yours a long time ago. I love you, Tori. I want to create a life with you. Everything I said was real, and I'm sorry if I made you feel like it wasn't. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I'm sure I'm gonna make a lot more, but I'm hoping you'll be by my side."
"This is real? Your feelings. The ring. The house?"
"I want you to live with me in our dream home. If you don't like the one I put an offer on, then we can keep looking. I want every decision we make from now on to be joint."
"I love that house, and I want to live there with you. It's like every one of my dreams is coming true."
"If you need time to process everything, I'm a patient man. I'm not going anywhere. When we close on that house, because I'm putting your name on the deed, we'll move into it together. We'll get married when you're ready."