Chapter Twenty-Five
The dark gray clouds dripped from the sky as Dina, Sam, and Romeo drove back to Silver Ridge. Sam and Dina decided there wasn’t any reason to stay in Iowa a second longer than necessary and hopped on the next flight out of town. Dina had taken a taxi to the airport so it was nice to grab a ride home with Sam.
“That was quite the trip.” Dina looked out the window as they wound up the long mountain road. She couldn’t believe that her father had kept this from her for over thirty plus years, but it made so much sense.
Only it shouldn’t.
“I can’t even imagine what you’re going through.” Sam slid his hand over Dina’s and squeezed it.
“On some basic level I want to believe that’s why I was the black sheep, but there are millions of blended families out there that manage to get along. Parents are supposed to love unconditionally.”
“True.” Sam nodded. “But there are also a lot that don’t whether they’ve given birth or not.”
“I know you’re right. I just couldn’t imagine not loving any child as my own.” She glanced at Sam who pursed his perfect lips. “Children are so vulnerable and they need love and to feel like they belong. Shoot, you even know how that feels with Romeo.”
“I guess I do make a pretty good puppy dad.”
She laughed, feeling the familiar pull to tell him. She’d planned on telling him yesterday, but things in her life took a sudden turn.
“You know, once my father remarried, he basically forgot about all of us. He focused solely on his new family. But at least when we’d reach out to him he wasn’t a complete ass like your mother. No offense.”
Dina laughed and shook her head. “None taken. This all makes me think my father is really a weak man. Why wouldn’t he stand up to her when he saw me being treated like an outcast? It’s sad. Pathetic actually.”
She squeezed her eyelids shut and tried to push out the rest of the story her brother told her or the pain would eat her up, and she had more than just herself to think about. She didn’t want her baby to get any bad stress hormones or chemicals because she let herself crumble. She was going to stay strong and deal with everything later.
Much later.
“It is.” Sam nodded in agreement. “No decent human being tortures their stepchild, but it happens, and you’d like to think the other parent would step in to stop it.”
“It kind of was a form of torture,” Dina said softly, realizing that she really had endured a lot of underhanded comments, name calling and always being blamed as the root of their problems, but she’d forced herself not to think about it. She always figured it was the family she was dealt and moved on and away.
“After seeing what I saw yesterday, I wouldn’t say kind of torture.” Sam put his hand back on the steering wheel as the first drop of rain hit the windshield.
Dina groaned and stretched her legs in front of her. She was tired of secrets…tired of everything they represented. Suddenly holding back felt dirty, and she didn’t want to be a part of keeping the truth from Sam in any way whatsoever.
As they’d climbed up the mountain, the rain had traded for snow and the dark and dreary clouds became a white sheet of satin in the sky, brightening up everything in her world.
“Sam, I need to tell you something,” Dina said, seeing the Silver Ridge exit sign and feeling like her world just opened up again. Silver Ridge was where she belonged.
“Dina, let’s wait until we get home. It’s only a few minutes out.” He pressed his lips together as if he was contemplating saying something else, but he didn’t so she continued.
“No, I really need to tell you now. It’s important and something I should have told you a long time ago. Months ago, actually.” Dina sat up straight in her seat and stared at Sam, wondering if their baby would have his strong jawline or pouty lips. Would their baby have his color hair or how about his brilliant blue eyes? She definitely needed to tell him this very second. She was almost bursting with excitement and apprehension. Dina just wanted her pregnancy out in the open.
“You’re madly in love with me? Is that what you need to tell me?” Sam pulled onto the exit and made his way through town. “Or is it that you want to break your lease? Please tell me you don’t want me to hire Dom at the resort.”
Dina chuckled as they drove through the heart of town and toward the resort she could now call home.
“I’m not madly in love with you Sam North, but if you keep showing up at my family functions and saving the day it just might happen.” Dina let out a silent and happy sigh. “It was nice having someone on my side for once.”
“I bet.”
“You know, whenever Dom and I would see them, which wasn’t often by the way, he’d always side with them.” Dina shook her head and wondered why in the world she kept going back for more.
“I kind of gathered that.” Sam frowned, as he turned onto the road leading to the resort. “But why do you stay in contact with them?”
Dina sat in silence for a few seconds as she thought about his question. She’d wondered that too.
“I don’t know.” Her shoulders sank. “I guess I hope things will change or they will change.”
“That’s not how it works.”
“You changed.” She flashed him a sly grin.
“No. I think this was always who I was.” He laughed. “I just finally found myself.”
“Is it Romeo you can thank for that?”
“I’m thinking it might be you.” He pulled into her driveway, and she suddenly didn’t want to leave his SUV. She wanted to freeze this moment and the way he made her feel because she wasn’t sure she’d ever get this feeling again once she told him her secret.
“Sam, I—”
Before she could finish, Sam was out of the car, grabbing Romeo and her bags from the back. She sat in the car for a second with her hand on the door handle and watched him climb her steps and stand by the front door.
Sam’s gaze connected with hers through the windshield and she realized how silly it was for her to still be sitting in the car. She let out a low grunt, touched her belly for good luck, and hoisted herself out of the SUV. Dina couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to move by the end of the pregnancy, but at the moment that was the least of her worries. She was about to tell the father of her child that he was the father of her child even though he was pretty adamant since she’d met him that he wasn’t into that whole father of any child thing.
Yeah, this ought to go well.
Dina unlocked the door and pushed it open as he flipped on the lights. She looked around her cozy space and happiness filled her up. This was definitely her home and being here with Sam North only made it feel better. It was crazy how being in a brand new town still felt more comforting than being with her family who she’d grown up with and who should have provided a safety net. She vowed she would provide that for her child.
“Take a seat.” She motioned toward the couch, and Sam gave her a confusingly knowing smile as he did as she instructed.
“Am I in trouble?” he asked, sitting on the far end of the couch.
She began pacing back and forth and took a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked, looking genuinely concerned.
She stopped abruptly and spun around to face him.
“I am fine.” She nodded. “But there’s not just a me.”
His brows went up.
“I mean I’m no longer only an I.” She bit her bottom lip and blew out a gust of air. “There’s a we inside of me.”
“Did Dr. Seuss just possess you?” Sam asked as she plunked down next to him.
“Sam, I’m pregnant.” Her hands covered her eyes. “That’s why I can’t do guacamole any longer. I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant and I’m pregnant with your child.” She slipped her hands down her face and stared at Sam as a smile broke his expression.
“I know.” He grabbed her hands and pulled them into his.
She scowled. “Did Autumn tell you?”
“She knows?”
“She’s the only person who does.” Dina was waiting for Sam to erupt or panic or bolt.
Romeo hopped up next to her on the couch and climbed into her lap as Sam still held her hands.
His smile only grew. “No, she never said a word. I just had a feeling.”
“A feeling?”
He nodded. “I could just tell.”
“Yeah, right.” She felt the stress leaving her body with every passing second. He wasn’t running out of her house screaming or bursting into tears or blaming her for being careless.
No, he was staying right where he was, holding her hands, and looking at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
“I’m serious. First of all, you have this glow about you.”
“How’d you know that wasn’t purely part of my charming self?” Her brow popped up.
He laughed, pulling her into him. “Second, no one gets sick off of my guacamole. It’s world famous.”
This time Dina laughed.
“And finally, you haven’t had a sip of anything to drink for months.”
“You’ve paid that close of attention to me?”
“When a person is falling in love, they tend to.” His eyes locked on hers, and every fiber in her body lit up with an excitement she wasn’t expecting.
But she didn’t want him to be saying he was falling in love with her merely because she was pregnant with his child or just found out her entire home life was a lie.
She didn’t want to be pitied.
“You’re not falling in love,” Dina said, pulling back slightly.
“Why do you say that?” His voice lowered as he cocked his head. “Why do you think you’re not worth loving?”
His words hit her over the head like a hammer, and she found herself rubbing her belly.
“I’m worth loving. I just don’t think you’re falling in love.” She glanced at her slightly rounded stomach. “It’s probably your emotions talking.”
Sam rolled his eyes and stood up. “You’re so very wrong, Dina. So very wrong. But yes, it is my emotions. Emotions are okay to have.”
He walked over to her kitchen and got a glass of water. “Would you like one?”
“I’m fine.” She met him in the kitchen. “Listen, I don’t want you to feel pressured. I fully intend on taking care of the baby.”
“I don’t feel an ounce of pressure.” He set the glass on the counter.
“I’m not asking for money.”
“It’s fine if you do.” A smirk fell across his expression.
“I just hope you’ll be there for him or her.”
“I fully intend on it.” He leaned against the counter and folded his arms over his chest, watching her carefully.
“But the one thing I refuse to do is get into a relationship with you because I’m pregnant. This isn’t the 1950’s where you need to join the service and take care of us. I’ve got this.”
“I don’t doubt for a second that you’ve got this.” His smile turned into an obnoxiously sexy grin. “But this also happens to be a part of me.”
“True, which is why I want you to be a part of our child’s life.”
“I’d certainly hope so.” He straightened up and glanced at Romeo. “It’s good I’ve gotten some practice, but I want to be here for you and our child.”
Dina knew better than to believe what was coming out of Sam’s mouth. Men had promised her things before and failed to deliver. This time it was too important to fall for a few one-liners. She had a child to take care of and their hearts to protect.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wanted to get to the three month mark and then life happened.” She tightened her lips. “And then I guess I chickened out. I wasn’t sure how you were going to take it.”
“I still think you’re not sure.” He walked over to Dina and looped his arms around her waist. “There’s going to come a time in the very near future when I won’t be able to do this so easily. I better enjoy it while I can.”
Dina laughed and let out a deep sigh. “You’re taking it better than I guessed. I thought you’d panic about your bachelor life changing and—”
“I stopped being a bachelor the moment you came to town, Dina.” His eyes locked on hers, and she felt a flutter in her belly.
“If only it were that easy,” she teased.
“It is that easy, but I’m a patient man, Dina. I’ll wait until you figure that out.” Sam brought his lips down to hers, and for a split second, she let herself believe that Sam North could be a changed man, but she thought back to her family’s inability to change, and her heart tumbled to the ground.