Page 62 of Come Back for Me
Sean bursts out laughing. “Sydney . . . like Declan’s Sydney?”
“The same one.”
“How the fuck are you handling all this on your own, Connor? You’re back in Sugarloaf, which is bad enough, but now you’ve got this girl, a possible daughter, and Sydney. Hell, next you’re going to tell me that Devney and her boyfriend are coming for dinner.”
I smirk. “That’s your mess, brother.”
“Yeah, well, I guess we all have shit to deal with, huh?”
“Some more than others.”
I’m not sure how I feel at this point. More than anything, I want to know if Hadley is mine, but there’s a lot of things that could happen once that knowledge is revealed. Right now, I’m not her father. I don’t have to parent her. I get to enjoy spending time with her. Then there are feelings for Ellie that are unexplainable.
I love her.
I know it. I know that it’s also the absolute last thing she needs to hear from me.
She doesn’t need to hear that she is the only woman I want, and I will wait an eternity if that’s what it takes to earn her.
The hell she’s endured might take her that long to get over as well. But if I know Hadley is mine, I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold back.
I’ll want them both to be mine.
“I feel like the bastard knew all this . . .” I admit something that’s been on my mind.
“Dad?”
My father was a bastard, but him putting bullshit stipulations in his will wasn’t like him. Why did he care about us being here? What the hell did any of it matter if we kept it for two years or not? Unless he suspected as well. There’s a reason that he wanted us all to return here, and not just for some sort of nostalgic bullshit.
“Why else did he want us here?”
Sean goes quiet for a second and then snorts. “You know, I wouldn’t doubt it.”
“Declan has unresolved issues with Syd. You love Devney and never grew a pair to tell her. I might have a daughter, and well, who knows what the fuck we’re going to uncover with Jacob.”
“I don’t love Devney.” He tries to sound convincing.
“Sure you don’t.”
“She’s getting married.”
“And she wouldn’t marry that idiot if she thought there was even a chance of having you. We both know it.”
Sean’s voice is low and full of frustration. “We also made a vow.”
We did, but we were kids then. Clearly, shit has changed. “Well, I might have a kid, and if that’s the case, the vow is no longer valid.”
Which is another thing I’m struggling with. My word to my brothers is everything, but I’m willing to endure their wrath if it means I can have her.
Chapter Twenty
Ellie
It’s late and I can’t sleep. I toss and turn in a large and empty bed, my mind going in a million directions. I’m in one of his brother’s old rooms while Connor is on the other side of the wall. The three of us have fallen into a strange routine over the last three weeks.
Each day, I take Hadley back to our house, do something menial, and try to spend a bit more time there than we spent the day before.
Today, she struggled more than usual. She was antsy and kept looking around. A book fell out of my bag, making a loudthwacknoise and causing her to run out of the house. I don’t know how we’ll return to living here if she’s this fearful.
