Come Back for Me (Arrowood Brothers #1)(42)

“Well, then, don’t you think he has a lot to do and you’ll be in the way?” I ask, hoping she’ll leave him be.

Sydney laughs. “I think you should go find him and let him know all the other things that are broken.”

“You know Connor?” The suspicion in her voice rings clear.

“I do. I knew him when he was a little boy who would follow me around, asking to ride my horses.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

Hadley’s brow furrows as she looks Sydney up and down. “Did you know he’s my best friend and he thinks I’m the best.”

“He is? Well, he’s a lucky guy,” Sydney’s voice is light and playful. “I wish I had a best friend like you, but . . . he got you first.”

She nods once. “He did. And he calls me Squirt.”

Sydney’s smile grows. “You have a nickname from him?”

“I do.”

“Wow, do know that Connor loves nicknames. When we were little, I gave him the best one and since you’re his best friend, I think you should have it.”

Hadley claps her hands together and squeals. “Really?”

“Absolutely! You should call him Duckie. He loved it so much, and he would laugh so hard hearing it again!” Sydney’s smile tells me that he will not do that.

“Okay! Can I go, Mom?”

“I guess so, but if you don’t find him in the barn, please come right back.”

“I will!” Hadley yells over her shoulder since she’s already running away from us.

Sydney gives a soft laugh. “She’s adorable.”

I watch her run at full speed, hair swaying side to side, and my chest feels lighter. She looks so carefree, like she should be. I try to remember any other time I’d seen her like this, and I come up short.

Sure, she’s been happy in the last seven years, but it’s different. Right now, I don’t see the hesitancy to just be a kid. It’s as if she’s really found a sense of safety that allows her to . . . be free.

“She’s all that matters to me.”

“And it seems she’s smitten with Connor.”

I nod. “The two of them have formed an instant bond.”

Sydney’s shoulders go back, and she fidgets a bit. I know she’s thinking it, based on her comment about her eyes. If Sydney dated his oldest brother, surely, she saw the resemblance. “Connor is a good man.”

“He is.”

“He’s been through a lot. They all have been, and . . . did you and Connor know each other before?”

I stop her right there. “Connor and I slept together eight years ago, and yes, I know that Hadley has his eyes . . . and his smile.”

She exhales. “I didn’t want to pry, but it was . . . impossible not to see. At least for me because, well, I fell in love with those eyes when I was a little girl.”

If it was so easy for Sydney to see, I can’t help but wonder if Connor’s father ever noticed. He used to look at Hadley with a wash of confusion, but he never said anything or even so much as hinted at it. Maybe he knew? Maybe that was why he was always so nice to us. I figured it was because he was lonely, but what if he saw the similarity?

“Would you like to sit?” I offer. “It’s a long story.”

Sydney and I walk up to the porch, and I can see the unease in her. “This house, it has a lot of memories for me. I haven’t been here since the night Declan left.” She lets out a half-laugh. “I thought if I could avoid it for long enough, it wouldn’t hurt, but . . .”

“Houses have truths that don’t ever die.”

She looks up at me and shrugs. “I guess so, but love sure as hell does.”

Isn’t that the truth?

We sit, and I relay the story of how Connor and I met and all that happened after. It feels easier this time, telling Sydney. I’m able to go through it, and she just listens.

“Wow,” she says once I’m done.

“Yeah.”

“And he knows that you have doubts?”

“He does,” I reply with a bit of hesitancy.

He hasn’t really brought it up. I keep waiting for him to ask for a paternity test, but it has yet to come. I would think that would’ve been the first thing he wanted. Unless, he doesn’t want to know.

Which doesn’t make sense given his personality.

Connor is fiercely protective of his family. He’s made that clear when he speaks of his brothers or his mother. I would think that Hadley would be no different, especially since he already seems to care for her.

“Well, this is a bit of a revelation.”

“Will it change things for the divorce?”

Sydney shakes her head. “Nope. If anything, it’ll make it easier for you since we won’t have to fight about any kind of child support or visitation. Did you guys get a test yet?”

“No, we sort of . . . it hasn’t really . . . I’ve been waiting for him to . . . ask for one. I don’t want to push him. It’s a lot to take in, especially when that night was supposed to just be that. I didn’t even know his name until a few weeks ago.”

She laughs and her eyes are filled with disbelief. “You’re kidding me.”