Page 18 of Here With Me

Caroline set her coffee cup on the table and leaned forward. “Sadie’s back in town. Taking over the hardware store.”

“I know.” Boy, did he. David would be seeing a lot more of her, too. Shock filtered across his sisters’ faces. Good. Nosy as all get out. “If that’s all this is about, I think I’ll head out now. Can I lay Isabella down?”

“Hold on.” Grant looked at David over the rim of his coffee cup. “You may be done with this conversation, but I guarantee your sisters aren’t, and I’d rather they have their say than listen to them rehash it if you rush out.”

So much for the bro code. “And I thought you said you had no idea what this was about.”

Grant shrugged and nodded toward Caroline. “I said it wasn’t my problem and that I was staying out of it. But if you leave now, she’d make it my problem.”

“How did you find out Sadie was in town?” Leah took a cookie and passed the plate around.

Jon and Grant took two. David passed. There was no need to try—they wouldn’t taste good either.

“I’m working at the hardware store. Ironed out the details this morning.”

Leah shot Caroline a look. It didn’t matter if they were five, fifteen, or grown adults, their silent twin telepathy raised his hackles. “Spit it out. You don’t have to use your twin powers.”

Leah let out a deep breath. “Did you know she has a daughter?”

Sadie had a daughter? It would have hurt less to hammer his thumb. Not that it should matter to him. “She’s married. It’s not that unexpected.”

“She’s widowed.” Caroline tossed her hair over her shoulder, but David stopped her from saying more.

“Widowed? Like her husband died?” David snuggled Isabella closer, needing to flex his hands. He patted the baby gently, thankful for a reason to move.

“Yes, genius.” Grant punched his arm. A glint in his eye. “Need any other words defined?”

“I’ll pull up the dictionary app.” Jon picked up his phone.

Sadie was single? No. That’s not how he’d think about her. Sadie was widowed. His heart ached for her pain. The heartbreak she’d endured. For her child who would grow up fatherless. “She’s a single mom?”

“Yes. Her daughter is nine.” Caroline’s words were slow, laced with something like accusation. She leaned closer, her eyes communicating a message David didn’t understand.

“Nine, David. Pretty girl. Red hair.” Leah twirled a curl of her own hair around a finger.

Caroline made a V with her fingers and pointed at her own green eyes then with more force at David. “She has brown eyes.”

“Red hair. Brown eyes. Make the connection, David.” Grant harrumphed and sipped his coffee.

The faces around the table all stared at David like he needed to figure something out. Like he was guilty. He shook his head and shrugged.

“Come on, Bro.” Leah gestured to her hair and made a V with two fingers on her right hand and pointed at her green eyes, then his. Had his sisters practiced that move?

Isabella let out a little sneeze and stretched in his arms. He looked down to see her sleepy eyes open and then slowly close.

Wait. Were they serious? A nine-year-old girl. Red hair. Brown eyes. Like his.

Of all the ridiculous things to think.

His sisters had such little faith in him? He wasn’t that type of guy, and that they’d jumped to such a conclusion stung.

David stood up and paced away from the table, turning his back to his family. Isabella wiggled in his arms, and he ran a finger down her soft, pink cheek. A daughter? “No. I can tell what you’re thinking, and no.”

Leah bit at her bottom lip. “Are you sure she’s not yours?”

He’d given up his dreams of a family when Sadie walked away from him. No one had compared to her. He hugged his niece a little closer. He’d never have the experience of holding his own daughter, and he’d be leaving his nieces behind soon enough. David spun around to face the table and walked back toward it. “I’m positive she’s not mine. I can’t believe you’d ask me that.”

How could they think that? It wasn’t possible for him to have a daughter with Sadie, but if it had been, he would never have left a baby without a father. Did they really think so little of him?

---