Page 76

“I’ll be fine. Don’t leave Lydia and the baby alone,” Evie told me.
I walked her to the door. “Are you sure? You don’t have to leave.” I shared Lydia’s concern.
“Don’t be silly. I’m going to the library to grab the bassinet. I’ll be right back.”
“You could stay. Tell me where in the library to go, and I will fetch it.”
Evie put her hand on my shoulder. “Stay with Lydia and your new son. I’ll be back shortly.”
She closed the door after herself.
“I’m under the impression that no one can tell that woman what to do,” I said.
“You aren’t wrong,” Lydia replied. “She’s very strong-willed.”
“You two are very much alike, aren’t you?” I sat back down on the couch next to her.
“What do you mean?” Lydia asked.
“Once you have your mind set on something, no one can get in your way. I get the feeling that Evie is a bit of a juggernaut. Once she has her eye set on a target, there is no stopping her.”
Lydia nodded. “That sounds about right. We’re both very stubborn.”
“Lydia…” I started.
“You’re going to say we need to talk,” she said softly, but her eyes were on the baby in her arms.
“We should talk,” I agreed. “We can talk about anything you want or nothing at all. Or we can talk about why I’m here.”
She looked up at me, then back down at the baby. “I know why you’re here. What I really need to know is, why haven’t you been here? You’ve missed so much.”
“I have,” I agreed. “But I didn’t miss this.”
“No, you didn’t.”
I reached up and gently brushed the tear that ran down her cheek away with my thumb.
“I didn’t grow up in a town like Brookdale,” I said. “I spent my entire youth trying to escape from the place where I grew up. I didn’t have a place like this one, one that fulfilled your dreams. I came from a town of nightmares, so I couldn’t imagine why anybody would want to stay in a small town. To me, small townswere places you left. Brookdale is the kind of town where you have dreams and make plans.”
“Is that why you wanted to build your resort here?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Not originally. Brookdale is strategically placed. There are mountains, lakes, and trails all within a short drive. But after I came and visited, after you showed me what Brookdale could be, I wanted my project to be here so that I could be here.”
“That’s nice and all. But Miles, you lied to me. You didn’t tell me who you were.”
“That first snowstorm I was here, I didn’t give you my full name on purpose. I didn’t want it to cause any problems. I didn’t give you my full name because if you knew who I was, I was genuinely concerned whether or not you would let me stay.”
I felt her eyes on me, but I kept my attention on the baby in her arms.
“I had no way of knowing that I would encounter you.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
I lifted my gaze and met her eyes. I gently stroked her hair back from her face and ran the backs of my knuckles down her cheek. “You are why Brookdale is so magical. You are why we have a son. You made me feel things for a place I didn’t know I could be invested in. You made me feel things for you.”
I stared into her eyes for a long moment.
“Miles, what are you saying?” she asked softly.