Page 90 of Wild Hearts

"Oh, I love painting."

Dakota smiled. "Yeah? Maybe you can come over sometime and we can paint."

"Can I, Dad?" Joey asked Oliver.

"Can I what?" Oliver asked, looking from him to Dakota with a bemused expression on his face.

"Can I go over to Dakota's and paint? She got an easel for Christmas."

Oliver looked at Walker. "If that's okay with Dakota and her dad."

"Joey's always welcome at my house," Walker said.

Conversation went on around us, but I noticed that Walker was pleased that Dakota was interested in Joey. She was good with him.

Walker turned his attention to me. "How are you holding up?"

"This is different from my family, but it's nice." You couldn't feel alone surrounded by this many people who were all in a jubilant mood.

"I, for one, am pleased to have another grandchild at the table this year," Clara said with a smile.

Dakota flushed. "I'm happy to be here too."

"It would be nice to have a few more grandbabies around here. I haven't held a baby in a long time," Clara said with her brow raised.

"Grams, I'm still a baby. You can always hold me," Joey said around a mouthful of roll.

"You are my baby, aren't you?" Clara said affectionately.

Talk continued around us, and I reveled in being part of the Wilde family. There was no way that Walker could walk away from this again. He seemed happy, and so was Dakota. She was fitting in here and enjoying spending time with her new family. I didn't have to worry about them going to Virginia. Nothing was going to change.

After dinner, I helped clean up.

Clara took a dish from me. "It's good to have you around again, Addison."

"It's good to be here. Thank you for including me."

"You've always been good for Walker. He needs you in his life. I don't know what happened that caused you two to break up?—"

For the moment, it was just us in the kitchen. "I suppose it was bad timing. We were young."

She pressed her lips together. "For what it's worth, I told him he was an idiot for breaking things off. You can meet the one you're supposed to be with when you're young. It happens."

"You don't think that maybe it was just not the right time for us? We're older and more mature now. We're in a different place in our lives."

"Oh, definitely. Yes."

Scarlett came in with the leftover bowls. "What are you two talking about?"

"Walker and Addison. I thought they made a great pair in high school. Walker was hard to reach back then, and Addison was the only one who could make him smile."

"Oh, I don't know about that," I said a little embarrassed by the scrutiny.

"He'd just lost his parents and felt out of place here with us. No matter what we did, he didn’t feel like a part of the family. I think that's why he enlisted. He thought he wasn’t enough for any of us. But now, it seems like he feels differently. I think he finally feels like he's part of our family."

"I think so too," I said softly.

"I'm happy to have another woman at these things. Sometimes there's a lot of testosterone in one room, if you know what I mean," Scarlett said conspiratorially.

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