marriage.…
And deep in her heart she suspected this was the reason why.
He was hurting. Two years on and still he couldn’t let it go. Underneath his bitterness at their betrayal must lie an immensely profound love for Dana.…
She gave a groan and rolled onto her stomach to bury her face in the soft down pillows.
She needed time to come to terms with this Sunday-morning bombshell. Once she’d recovered from the searing hurt, she’d confront Connor.
But not yet. Not while she felt wounded, raw … and so horribly exposed.
Connor juggled the slippery baby in his arms as water sluiced over them, rinsing off the suds.
Dylan was in heaven, if his squeals and frantic wiggles were anything to go by. Connor had a feeling today’s shower was going to become a weekly Sunday-morning ritual.
And damned if he hadn’t had fun, too.
He hiked the baby up and gave his sodden head a quick kiss. Soft warmth expanded in his chest.
A part of him.
Dylan was his.
And, God willing, they would have years together. He would watch Dylan grow up and he’d always be looking for parts of himself. Would Dylan’s dark-gray baby eyes lighten to the clarity of his? Or would they change to match Suzy’s angelic blues?
He was Dylan’s daddy. He could hardly wait for Dylan to utter the word. He’d teach it to the baby. But it would take nothing away from Michael.
In asking for his help Michael had given him the greatest gift of all. He’d agreed to be a sperm donor so that the bout of mumps Michael had suffered as a child wouldn’t deprive him and Suzy of the child they so desperately wanted.
He would make sure that Dylan grew up knowing everything about Michael. And his mother, too.
Although there were no signs of Suzy in Dylan yet, they would come. With luck the baby had inherited his own height.
“Never fear, you won’t be short,” he murmured to Dylan who was inquisitively playing with the stream of water that drenched them. “My genes won’t allow it.”
He grinned. Victoria would claim it was his arrogant gene showing through.
Victoria …
Intertwined with thinking about her sleepy eyes and tousled hair this morning came memories of last night. Her heat, her generosity, her gentle love for his son that contrasted so sharply with her blowtorch sensuality, which had forever altered his perceptions of her.
Dreary?
Not a damn.
Last night he’d gotten a very good feeling about the future. And today he intended to solidify what they already had.
“Ouch,” he exclaimed as Dylan grabbed at a sprinkling of chest hair. The baby gave him a grin that was all gums. Connor laughed back, then pinning Dylan securely to his right side, he used his free hand to turn off the faucet.
Dylan protested vocally.
“C’mon, Dylan, time to get Victoria—” He broke off. That wasn’t right. It should be Tory. Come to think of it, he was Dylan’s father … his daddy … and he wanted to make that fact public.
Yet according to Dylan’s birth certificate his father was listed as Michael.
God, this was getting complicated.…
Dylan’s squawks of complaint grew louder.
And as he drew a breath for the next burst, Connor hastily turned the water back on. “Okay, you win, big fella.” Connor rather suspected he was creating a problem for next time. “Just a few minutes, right?”
Dylan gurgled with satisfaction.
A bolt of love for the bundle of determination in his arms surged through him. Guardianship and custody were only a part of the complicated ties that bound him to Dylan. Fatherhood was so much more.
A sudden thought startled him. Victoria was more than Dylan’s guardian, too. She was also his wife. But not Dylan’s mommy.
Yet, although she might not share a biological bond with the baby like he did, Connor knew she loved Dylan.
And he really had no right to the title of Daddy until he’d formalized his relationship with Dylan by adopting him.
It was possible Victoria would want to adopt the baby, too … that way she would become Dylan’s mother in fact. Dylan would have a mummy and a daddy.
He bounced Dylan up and down until the baby squealed with laughter. That was something else for them to discuss today. He had great plans for a day on the beach. Building sand castles. A picnic. Paddling in the shallows. And he was determined that he and Victoria would enjoy the day every bit as much as Dylan.
Today. The first day of the rest of their lives. Such a cliché, but so true.
He could barely wait.
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