“You will come back, won’t you? There’s more to the story and I think you should know what’s going on.” Marlowe stepped away from Bowie’s side and moved in closer, pulling Nova into a hug. Although Nova knew she was putting up an emotional wall, she couldn’t deny the woman’s hug and gentle words meant something.
And the idea that there was more? Nova was having trouble processing this news, let alone anything else that would shake the tenuous ground beneath her feet even harder. “I will. But I need a little bit of time to think.”
“I can understand that. What we just told you is a lot to take in, on top of all that you’ve already had to come to grips with. But there is something I want you to know.”
“What’s that?”
“Ace is my brother. I feel that way, and so do all my brothers and sisters. That email, or a DNA test, can’t change that. More, it won’t change that.”
Nova didn’t know what to say. The fierceness and the absolute loyalty to the man they had always called brother was humbling to witness.
“What it also will not change,” Marlowe continued, “is that you are a part of our family, too. Ace is my brother. You are, too, if you are his daughter. The child you carry would then be Ace’s grandchild. We would all be a family.”
A large lump settled in the middle of her throat. Nova wanted so desperately to take what was being offered. To bask in the glow of family and know innately that she belonged.
Oh, how she wanted that.
Only something held her back.
The DNA test that would prove Ace was her father, but would also prove she wasn’t a biological Colton.
Ace—a man she’d believed was a good, upstanding person—was on the run, suspected of trying to murder the man he’d spent his life calling Dad.
And all of it was happening under the horrible cloud of fear she’d carried all the way from New York.
Why had she ever come here?
“I do hope you know how much I mean that,” Marlowe said before giving her one last hug. “Family is something you make, not just something you’re born to.”
Nova nodded, still numb. “We should go now.”
Nikolas led the way to the door. In moments they were back in his car, navigating through Mustang Valley. The town looked the same as it did before. Empirically, Nova knew that. Only this time, when she looked at the mountains that rose up in the distance, and the sun that warmed the earth, she saw a desolation she hadn’t noticed before. A heavy shadow from the mountain. And a sort of scorched earth from the sun, which had turned the land brown and cracked.
She’d come here and she was too close to giving birth to leave.
But it had become impossible to think that this place would ever become home.
Nikolas didn’t say anything as they drove; he just kept his eyes on the road and seemed to accept the now-awkward silence between them. She caught him glancing over at her from time to time in her peripheral vision, but she didn’t have the energy to turn and meet his gaze. Nor did she really want to.
The man owed her nothing. If anything, she owed him. For his hospitality with his home, the generosity of sharing his food, and his willingness for a short time to help her. She wouldn’t think of the fact that it had felt like the two of them were forming a connection. Nor would she give any breathing room to the hurt and anger that still lingered from the way he had turned on her.
Nikolas pulled up beside her car, which she had parked in one of Mustang Valley’s public lots. She still needed to pick up the few things that she had left in his guest room that morning, but she wanted to use the remaining afternoon hours to look for a job. Determined to tell him as much, Nova turned in her seat.
And came face-to-face with a look of misery so profound it shook her to her core.
“Nikolas? Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not. I’m sorry is what I am. Deeply, deeply sorry.”
It was what she had wanted. An apology. One she knew she deserved. Yet somehow, sitting there staring at him, she felt her anger evaporate. “Thank you for that.”
“It’s only what you deserve. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“I wouldn’t put it that way.” She tilted her head, considering the overwhelming barrage of thoughts that refused to let up. One after another, they rolled through with all the force and power of a high-speed train. “You didn’t have to give me the benefit of the doubt. I would’ve appreciated it if you’d saved your doubts specifically until you asked all your questions.”
“That’s just splitting hairs.”
“No, it isn’t. You don’t know me. I don’t know you. I came to town with nothing but a story. On some level, if you didn’t have a few doubts it would make me wonder about you.”