Page 33 of The Seal's Promise

“I guess I can try. It’s not lying exactly.”

“Listen, I’ll bring over a bottle of rosé later and we can make a list of all the things you can do with that back child support.”

“Okay. Thanks for listening.”

“Anytime; I love you. And if Tyler shows his face in here, I’ll give him only decaf and add cinnamon to it.”

She couldn’t help but laugh. May knew Tyler was allergic to cinnamon and would get blotchy red marks all over his face if he ingested it.

“Thanks. Bye.”

Brooke wiped at her face then texted Declan,Tyler got served and made a scene at the hospital. He’s demanding the paternity test.

Declan responded right away.I’m sorry you had to go through that. I’ll put in the order, the nurse will call you. We have to have it done through a special office that follows specific protocol.

Okay, she texted back. She set her phone down, then rested her head back on the door. But a second later there was a light tap.

“Hey, Brooke, can I come in for a second?”

“No, I’m on my break. Just ask Nora if you need help.”

“It’s not that. I wanted to say I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have interrupted earlier.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. I know you just want to help, but it’s not helping,” she said through the door.

“Can you please open up? I can’t tell how mad you are, so I’m not sure if this is like a small bouquet of flowers or flowersanda big stuffed teddy bear apology, or if it requires something bigger, in which case I have no idea what to get.”

She couldn’t help but laugh and scooted to the side of the door and opened it.

“Oh, so this is like a yoga session to find our Zen again apology, I got it. I’m bendy,” he said, closing the door and sitting down next to her where there was just enough room for his legs to stretch out under her desk. “I’m really sorry. I promise I’ll try much harder not to say anything to Tyler the next time he’s being himself.”

“Well, that will pretty much eliminate any chance of you ever talking to him again.”

Dalton laughed. “I’m really good with that.”

“We better get back down there, any minute now there’ll be a mad dash of patients with sunburns or some freak accident.” She put her hand down to stand but it landed on top of his, their fingers intertwining together.

“I take it that things did not end on any kind of an amicable note with Tyler, but does he really not believe Max is his? I feel like it’s pretty obvious.”

His hand was strong and enveloped hers, and the way he rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand was both comforting and enticing.

“It was like I ruined his plan to just cast me aside when I got pregnant.”

“Pretty sure that takes two.”

“Yah, we weren’t trying, and I didn’t tell him I was pregnant until after he’d filed for divorce. So he started to say I was trying to trap him. The worst part is, I was actually also upset when I found out I was pregnant. I mean, the man I’d married had turned out to be a cheating liar, and now I’d be tied to him forever.”

He brought her hand into his lap and both of his hands held hers. “That’s understandable, and it doesn’t reflect on how much you love Max. That just proves how badly Tyler treated you.”

“I would say I never should have married him, but then I wouldn’t have Max.”

Dalton nodded. “No regrets, Brooke—they don’t help, and I agree Max is worth more than his weight in gold or one terrible ex-husband. But you don’t have to put up with how he’s speaking to you now. Can’t Declan file a restraining order or something?”

“He did mention he could if things got contentious, but with Tyler’s fortune he could really drag out this process.”

“Then you’ve got nothing to lose. I would think the courts are pretty firm on a man paying his share if he fathers a child, and I know a local cop who would be happy to enforce any restraining orders.”

She smiled and looked over at him. “Thanks.”

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