“They were stepbrother and sister by then. Ugh.”
“Yeah. Believe me, she was bothered by that but not enough to stay away.”
“So what happened? He’s Pippa’s father? That changes everything, West.”
“No, he’s not. She wanted him to marry her so they could build a life together, start a family, the whole bit. But he refused. He didn’t want anyone to find out they were together, especially Curt. Curt was already angry and resentful about losing their father in the accident, and Reeve knew Curt would lose his shit if he found out Reeve and Adriana were together. So they kept it a secret.”
“In this town? Jesus,” Nico muttered.
“Well, Reeve was in the Navy, so he wasn’t around much. Most of what they had was through email and Skype calls, I guess. She thought things would be different when he was done with his four years, but he re-upped. Then he re-upped again.”
“Fuck, she waited for him for that long? Jesus, West. How long were they together?”
“He went in at eighteen, right after the accident. They already had strong feelings for each other but didn’t sleep together for another year and a half, which was when he finally had leave to spend time with her. She expected him to come home after those first four years, but he signed on for another four. And then another four.”
“God, my poor sister,” he said quietly. “So they were thirty by then. And all that time she wasn’t with anyone else?”
“Nope. She’d dated around in high school, so she wasn’t really this shy virgin waiting for her first love. She just knew he was the one for her and was willing to wait until he came home for her. Meanwhile, she was lonely as all hell.”
“I guess so.” Nico stopped for a minute to let it all sink in. “Then what happened? Didn’t you say he’s still in?”
“Yep. So after those twelve years, he told her he only needed to do eight more to qualify for retirement. That’s when she lost it. She spilled the beans to Curt—you can imagine how that went over. Then she demanded Reeve make a commitment—get married—so they could at least start a family. She wanted a family so badly, Nico. Kids and everything, you know? But he said he wasn’t ready to do that and wasn’t sure he’d ever be ready.”
“Fucking jackass. I always hated that guy. How could she waste all that time pining for such a selfish prick?” Nico’s brows were furrowed in frustration, and I reached up to run my thumb over the creases on his skin.
“She told him to fuck off. She wanted a baby and by god, she was going to have one. After that, she threw herself into the dating scene. Matchmaking apps, blind dates, you name it. She spent as much time as she could down in Dallas with my sister MJ, trying to meet a nice man, but it just never happened. When she turned up pregnant, she wouldn’t tell me anything about the father. I would have thought she’d used a sperm bank if I hadn’t known her financial situation. It wasn’t until the night of the embolism, when she thought she wasn’t going to make it, that she told me she’d deliberately slept around with random hookups during the fertile part of her cycle until she ended up pregnant.”
“Fuck,” Nico breathed. “So she truly didn’t know who the father was? She used some poor guy for his DNA?”
“Yeah. Once Pippa was born, the reality of it hit her hard. She’d deceived someone into becoming a father, and he’ll never know about it. She had no idea who it was.”
Nico seemed to be processing everything I’d told him. He leaned his face against my chest, and I ran my fingers through his colorful hair.
“I didn’t want her to be alone during her pregnancy, Nico. She didn’t have anyone. She’d been close to my sister, but MJ lives in the city now. And even though Adriana had made a nice life for herself here after your mom died, some people in town remembered her as the surly teen she’d been. It wasn’t until her pregnancy that she truly began to shine and come into her own. I think it was her long-overdue moment of blooming into who she was without Reeve. She was calm and settled… happy. The bakery was succeeding, the pregnancy was healthy, and she finally had a future she could count on.”
“Thank you for being there for her, West.”
We sat in silence for a little while before he asked me another question. “What about Curt?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why is he so pissed at me? You think it’s really because he is taking out his anger at my mom on me? That seems a little extreme.”
“It’s complicated. I think he never felt loved. His mom died when he was a preteen. Then his dad fell in love with your mom and his brother fell in love with your sister. His dad died, and then his brother went away to the Navy. After Reeve and Adriana finally ended things, Reeve got deployed to the Pacific Rim. Hasn’t really been back since. So Curt’s been on his own.”