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Adam called into his parents’ place before he left for the airport. His father sat at the table with a cup of coffee and the morning paper when Adam walked in looking better than he had in ages. He walked over to kiss his mother.
“Mom said you were only going for the day, Son.” His father folded up the paper and put it down in front of him.
“That’s the plan but I’m not sure what will happen so I want to be prepared just in case. If I’m not coming back tonight, I’ll give you a call. I need to speak to management and work out what the future holds for me.” He poured himself a coffee and leaned against the kitchen counter. “I’m hoping to be back for the gala in any event. Dakota and Mari have put so much work into it, I’d hate to miss it because I was too stubborn to deal with this earlier.”
“Praying that things go well, Son. Last thing I’d wish on either of my boys is a bad heart like mine.”
Adam walked over and rested a hand on his father’s shoulder. “I know that. Pretty sure things will be fine. If Ross can get a clean bill of health, then so can I. It’s my own fault I left it so long to deal with.” He squeezed gently, reinforcing his point. “Now I don’t want to hear about you stressing out. I’ll call as soon as I know but if you could keep it to yourselves, I’d appreciate it.”
“Of course, Adam. It’s your business. Now get a move on. Don’t want you missing your plane.”
On the way to the airport, he couldn’t resist seeing Dakota one more time. He walked in the back of the hotel, heard her curse and smiled to himself.
“Damn tree. Why did I ever think I could take this on?”
He ducked his head behind the curtain. “Because you’re awesome at what you do and I have faith in you, that’s why.”
She whirled around, a surprised grin on her face. Dakota threw herself into his arms, making him glad he’d made the effort to stop in. “I didn’t think I’d see you this morning.”
“Decided I couldn’t go without saying goodbye.”
A wash of pain rolled over her eyes. Poor choice of words.
“Sorry, that’s not how I meant it. I should have said, I couldn’t go without saying see you later and I’m really sorry I chose now to go and sort this out when I could have done it ages ago.” He pulled her tight against his chest. “I’m looking forward to our dance tomorrow night.”
Dakota leaned back and tilted her head. “What dance?”
Adam put an arm around her, linked fingers with one hand and started moving. “Remember when I showed you the Grange and you made me think about what it was like in its heyday when my parents were young, in love and still childless? I knew then that I wanted to dance with you and tomorrow night is our turn.”
“Adam Clement, you say the sweetest things.” She leaned into him again and together they danced out into the back foyer, lost in their own world.
A cough brought him back to the present. Adam looked up and gazed into the eyes of Mari, standing on the lower steps watching them. A box of holly was hitched onto her hip, one hand on the railing of the stairs. “Shouldn’t you two be decorating the tree and saving that for tomorrow?”
“She’s right. I really have to go, Dakota.” Putting off the inevitable wasn’t going to solve anything for either of them.
“I know you do.” Her voice hitched and she stepped out of his arms.
“I’ll see you later then.” He didn’t want to leave her, not like this.
“Good luck, Adam. I’m sure things will be fine.” Her blue eyes swam with tears and he hated to say goodbye. They were both torn and he wondered if it was for the same reason.
“Hoping for the best but ready for the worst.” He held her hands up to his chest. “Listen, I know I asked you to the gala but how about we meet here? I may get held up getting back and I’d hate for you to be late with so much going on.”
Her eyes closed and he mentally kicked himself. He didn’t want to let her down by not showing up but he had to be practical. Anything could happen and he might not get back. Adam didn’t know how things would go at the doctors and if he would even want to come back home if the news was bad. He couldn’t bear the thought of returning to tell her there was no chance for them because he would be reliant on drugs to stay alive. Not that he thought for one minute she would let that stop them. It would be too hard to walk away from Dakota when she’d become to mean so much to him.
“If you think that would be best.” It was clear she didn’t believe he would turn up.
“Save me the first dance, okay? You and me, together under the stars.” The thought of having her in his arms had kept him going as the tension grew and he took his leave.
“Okay.”
“I have to go.”
“You’re stuck on him, aren’t you?” Mari stood watching as Adam strode out the back door leaving her little sister fighting tears.
Dakota sniffed, wiped her fingers under her eyes and sighed. “Yeah, very much so.”
“Do you think that’s wise, considering what he’s potentially facing?”
“Probably not but I don’t think it makes any difference. We love who we love and nothing can change that.” She jammed her hands in her jeans pockets and looked at Mari. “You fell in love with Rake. Would you have married him, had Noah if you knew what was wrong with him?”
Mari dropped the box of holly on the ground, pulled out a strand and started to weave it around the balustrade as she chose her words. “I ask myself that when I’m alone in bed at night. I wonder how things would have turned out if he hadn’t died. Would I be back in Cherry Lake and the answer is probably not. He refused to come home and see his parents after what they did to him.” She tied off the end and reached for another strand.
“I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason. I can’t help it, it’s the way I am.” Dakota stepped closer, leaned on the balustrade and watched her sister stringing the decorations.
“Me too. Karma and all that. Even the stuff I found hard to deal with when I was younger, you know about my drug addicted mother and Dad. The whole messy breakup and fallout. I know that happened how it should have. I mean, how else would I have you girls for sisters if she hadn’t gone off the rails and walked out on him? He never would have met your mother, never had you girls.”
“So none of that worries you, having a stepmother? Mom and Dad are kind of treading around the subject lightly, not sure if you’ll blow up over it. You did have a pretty crap life you know, compared to ours.”
“Sure but it wasn’t your fault nor the parents either. It was my mother’s fault, let’s be clear about that. She was the one with the addiction, the one who ruined her own life. Not anyone else. It is what it is and it helped shape me to the woman I am today and you know, I like what I see when I look in the mirror or do a little soul searching.” She unraveled more greenery, flicked it out straight and started threading it up the stairs.
“You’ve done well. Mom and Dad are so proud of you. I know they’d like to spend more time with Noah too but they’re a bit scared to overstep the boundaries.”
“Perhaps it’s time we sat down and had a chat about it because I hold no grudges with them. It was my mother who was the loose cannon and I hold her responsible, nobody else.”
“I’m sure they’d like that,” Dakota paused. “You may get that chance a little sooner than either of us anticipated. Mom surprised me with a phone call this morning. They want to stop by for a couple of days to check on me, see the cottage and hopefully you and Noah before they head out on a cruise. Maybe if we can show them that we’re all fine they can ease up on their guilt and their worry. Stop them being so over protective all the time.”
Mari paused, looked at Dakota and groaned. “Do you think that’s why they’re like that, because of me?”
Dakota shrugged her shoulders.
“Sorry. I didn’t think about that. Maybe if I’d turned to them for help earlier, they might have been happier but I couldn’t. I felt sick about the way I treated them but at the time I blamed Dad as well. Not realizing that it was Mom that had the bad habits. Rake was the one that made me see things as they were.”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m all good now and they understand I want to do things my way. But, since they’re going to be here for the gala tomorrow, you can chat all you want to them. Maybe encourage them to come here more often, spend time with Noah because I know they want to.” She turned back to her tree. “I really do have to get a move on. They’ll be here by lunch and I wanted to be finished well before then so the judges can have at it without me hovering over them.”
She looked at her watch. “Heck, its already 8:30.” Dakota walked back to the small ballroom and paused when Mari called out.
“Don’t let him break your heart, okay?”
Dakota smiled. Too late, big sister. Its already his to do what he wants with it.
