“Like Tanner,” Dylan said when Eve’s expression darkened.
“Do you honestly want to have another discussion about your brother?” Eve asked, suddenly tired. “I don’t.”
“Can’t say I blame you.”
When Eve yawned, Dylan took a blanket from the seat behind him and draped it over her legs. He pressed a button, sending her seat into a reclining position.
“Get some sleep,” he said, tucking the blanket around her. “We’ll land in Seattle in about seven hours.”
“Daisy.” Eve yawned again.
“I’ll take care of the little miss.”
Eve nodded, already half asleep. For a moment, she thought she felt the brush of a hand across her forehead. Dylan? When she raised her eyelids, just a bit, he was already back in his seat.
A waking dream? Eve smiled before falling into a deep slumber.
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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DYLAN DIDN’T THINK a lot about the house where he lived. He purchased the property on Lake Washington from a former teammate. Built for his wife and three children, the man found out the Knights traded him to Baltimore before his family had the chance to move in.
The price was too good to pass up even though a rambling house with seven bedrooms was more space than a bachelor needed.
“A meadow of wildflowers?” Eve asked as she tipped her head to stare at the mural painted on the kitchen ceiling. “Interesting.”
“The prior owners decorated before they moved.” Dylan didn’t know why he felt the need to explain. Except for once, he couldn’t read Eve’s expression. Her narrowed eyes and cryptic comments made him nervous. “Daisy’s bedroom is on the second floor.”
Carrying the little girl in one arm, her suitcase in the other, Dylan led the way through the living room. The staircase split at the first landing. He went right, stopping at the first door.
“Don’t worry about childproofing,” Dylan said. The house was built with small children in mind.”
“Okay.”
Eve hadn’t said more than four consecutive words since Dylan pulled to a stop inside the five-car garage. She wasn’t the type to let anything intimidate her. Certainly not a house—no matter the size. Yet he could tell something was wrong.
“Are you hungry,” he asked, setting Daisy down on a fluffy pink rug. Hugging her teddy bear, she smiled. “You didn’t eat anything on the plane.”
“Nope.” Eve shrugged. “I’m good.”
“Mom decorated Daisy’s room.” Dylan looked around. “She may have overdone the lace and frills.”
“Girls like frills.”
Eve wandered to the dresser. Opening a unicorn-shaped music box, she shook her head when she heard Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star play from the mythical creature’s curved horn.
“I know Mom went a little overboard.” Dylan cleared his throat. “She’s excited about her first grandchild. I’m surprised she wasn’t here to meet us.”
“What?” Eve frowned then blinked as her expression lightened. “I’m sorry. I have a million things running through my head all at once. Did you ask me a question?”
“What are you thinking, Eve?” Dylan lowered his head until their eyes were level. “Your silence is deafening.”
“I know money can’t buy happiness,” Eve said. “I was worried when you drove up onto the property. Everything screamed, too big. Too grand.”
“It’s just a house.”
“All Daisy needs is love.” Eve ran a hand across the lace canopy over the bed. “But you know what?”
“Tell me,” Dylan said, holding his breath.
“When I was a little girl, I would have killed for a bedroom like this.” Eve laughed. “Even though I’m pushing thirty, it’s all I can do to stop myself from swiping Daisy’s unicorn.”
Delighted, and relieved, Dylan grinned. A pragmatic, no-nonsense woman, he never would have suspected Eve was a girly girl when she was little.
“You’re full of surprises.”
“The pink is a bit much.” Eve shrugged. “But when Daisy gets older, you can let her decide. She might prefer a room that doesn’t look like it was drowned in Pepto-Bismol.”
Dylan snorted, covering his laugh with a cough.
“Don’t tell your mother what I said,” Eve warned him. “The last thing I want to do is hurt her feelings.”
“I won’t tattle,” he promised, touched by Eve’s kindness.
“One question.” Frowning, Eve scanned the room. “How did your mother redecorate the room so quickly? You didn’t know the DNA results until yesterday.”
“Tanner told Mom about Daisy last week.” Dylan remembered the look of excitement on his mother’s face. “When she makes up her mind, she’s hard to stop. She probably had the decorators work into the night so the room would be ready.”
“What if Daisy wasn’t her granddaughter?”
“Hm.” Dylan tried to think of the best way to his mother’s greatest blind spot. “Mom believes Tanner. Every time. Always has. Doesn’t matter how many times his lies are uncovered. The next time, she’s all in.”
“He is her son,” was Eve’s only response.
“Something you should know.” Dylan sighed. “I sent pictures of Daisy to Tanner.”
“As a favor to him?” Eve shrugged. “If he asked—”
“He didn’t,” Dylan said. “I thought if he saw the little girl he helped create, some kind of paternal instincts might kick in.”
“And?”
“I haven’t heard from him.” Dylan felt a wave of guilt by association. “Not a word.”
“What should we have for dinner?” Eve asked, telling him without words that their discussion about Tanner was over.
Dylan scooped Daisy into his arms.
“Why don’t we see what’s in the refrigerator?”
“I want pasta,” Eve said. She tapped the tip of Daisy’s nose. “How about you, Petal? What sounds good?”
“Nana,” Daisy shouted.
“One day soon we need to talk about indoor voices.” Eve laughed. “But not today. You want a banana, then a banana is what you shall have. Right, Uncle Dylan?”
“Absolutely.” Placing his hands over Daisy’s ears, Dylan lowered his voice to a panicked whisper. “What if we don’t have any bananas?”
Laughing, Eve took the little girl from him and left the room. Worried, but certain Eve would know what to do, Dylan rushed to follow.
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