by Gigi Moore
He would like to think that he and Wyatt were more than a little responsible for her glow.
Lily cleared her throat and Dakota felt his heart stutter in his chest, anticipating the familiar sound of her pure musical tone raised in song. He remained ever honored to be among the many who would hear it again.
Dakota closed his eyes when Lily’s voice drifted out over the crowd. Memories of happier times growing up with his mother and father engulfed him as the band’s piano player joined Lily’s rendition of a familiar, popular ballad about love lost and love found.
Before Lily and Wyatt took him in Dakota had not known how much he missed his parents and grandfather or even the company of their people. He had been out on the road on his own for so long now—working in various capacities for the US Marshal, the cavalry, and ranchers throughout the territory—he had forgotten what it felt like to settle down among kindred for any length of time. He had forgotten what it was like to have a family.
Lily and Wyatt had given that feeling of family back to him. He dreaded the idea of forfeiting it, but knew he had to, that it was the only way to test the bonds of their relationship and prove that they could survive, that they all wanted to survive, as a family.
“She’s something else, ain’t she?”
Dakota opened his eyes and turned to see Sabrina standing beside him now. He glanced back at Lily and then the dance floor to see it filled with couples swaying back and forth to the gentle rhythm of the ballad she sang. “Yes she is.”
Sabrina hooked her arm through his. “Care to grace me with some of that fancy footwork I saw you treat Lily to earlier?”
“I…”
“Oh, c’mon now. I done plumb tuckered out Luke and Joshua, and believe it or not, there’s no one else here I want to dance with.”
Dakota did not know the two men of which she spoke. If he had to guess, however, he noticed two cowboys at the punch bowl—one blond, the other brunet—who had not taken their gazes off of Sabrina since she had started talking to him.
“Don’t worry none about their flinty-eyed looks. They reckon because they stay at my place they’re responsible for looking out for me all the time, but I’ve been looking out for myself long before they came along and I will when they’re gone.”
From the looks of them, Dakota did not think this Luke or Joshua would be going far from Sabrina anytime soon. He did not tell her this, however, unwilling to intrude in her business any more than he had to. If she agreed to Lily’s request, after all, Dakota would be living under the same roof with her and her current boarders. The last thing he wanted to do was cause strife before he even arrived.
“Well?” Sabrina arched a brow at him, gesturing toward the dance floor, her smile so open and welcoming Dakota did not want to disappoint her.
He spared a glance at the critical expressions of Avery and Brand before he followed Sabrina out on the dance floor, and their stares were not the only ones to track him.
As when he had danced with Lily, Dakota felt most of the partygoers’ gazes following him and Sabrina out onto the floor. With Lily he had been able to block out the townspeople’s silent contempt and displeasure, but with Sabrina he was not as successful at managing this.
“Don’t pay no never mind to these snooty folk. I been living in this town for a good piece of years now and they still haven’t fully accepted me. Some of them probably never will, but I ain’t going to worry about them because it’s their problem, not mine.”
Dakota glanced down at Sabrina and smiled. She was petite, several inches shorter than Lily, and he could see why most men like the aforementioned Luke and Joshua would be protective of her. He felt protective of her himself, her poise and strength notwithstanding. She reminded him of Lily in many ways, despite Lily’s having lost her way after returning home. Both women were survivors, passionate and strong like his mother and many of the Kiowa women with whom Dakota had had the privilege of growing. Though he had not always agreed with the way things were done in his tribe and he knew the Kiowas could be just as judgmental as the people of Elk Creek when it came to him, he respected his people’s courage and determination.
“So how are things going for you out at Lily and Wyatt’s?” Sabrina asked.
“As well as could be expected,” Dakota said, quoting one of Wyatt’s famous phrases. He realized that the more he stayed around Lily and Wyatt, the more both of them made an indelible impression on him. He only hoped he made the same impact on them.
“I was just wondering since someone put a little bug in my ear that you’re looking for a place to stay.”
“Lily spoke to you already?” When had she found the time?
“She mentioned it in passing.” Sabrina smiled as if she had a secret and Dakota felt himself fidgeting beneath her gaze. “And Maia might have said a thing or two about it.”
What else about him had Lily and Maia mentioned?
In the aftermath of his mother’s and father’s deaths when he had come to live with his grandfather, it was not in Dakota’s nature to be overly trusting. Yet, he had never been as suspicious of a kind word and face before.
“If you’re still interested, I’ve got a room free and with your name on it.”
“You do not even know me,” Dakota rasped.
“I know Lily and Wyatt and that’s good enough for me.”
Dakota swallowed over the lump in his throat. At least everyone in Elk Creek was not hostile to Lily and Wyatt.
“You’re a lucky man to have those two vouch for you. Not to mention Maia and her two men seem to like and vouch for you, too.”
Dakota silently nodded, too overwhelmed to speak without choking up.
Sabrina wasn’t one to settle for his quiet and asked, “What’s the matter, Dakota? Cat got your tongue?”
“I am just grateful,” he said. “Thank you for your hospitality.”
“Oh, I’m hospitable all right, just don’t go getting no ideas that this is a free ride. I expect you to pull your weight.”
Dakota chuckled. He had also heard about the tight ship Sabrina ran. She could be kind to a fault, but she expected rent to be paid on time and if one could not pay in cash, then manual labor worked just as well. Dakota had never had a problem with doing his share and more.
Though Sabrina had recently hired a couple of hands to tend to the building and the land around it, he knew from Maia, Thayne, and Cade that Sabrina still did a lot of the work around the boarding house, like the cooking and cleaning, herself and despite the success she now experienced with her and Maia’s shop in town.
Sabrina likes the hands-on approach. Not quite sure why.
Dakota remembered Cade’s words that morning he and Thayne and Maia had come out to return Wyatt’s horse. He wondered how much more upset Lily would have been at the news of his desire to leave the farm had she known he had already raised the subject with the town’s doctor and his brother several days ago. How much more betrayed?
Lily hit a long high note, the band’s piano player joining her in a soul-moving crescendo. Several moments after the last tone faded, the crowd erupted into deafening applause, Lily the center of the attention and approval she deserved.
As much as he detested sharing them, Dakota did not look forward to being alone with Lily and Wyatt at the farm later, for it would only bring him closer to saying good-bye to them.
He vowed to the Great Spirit that he would make their last moments together memorable.
Chapter 18
“What is it you need to say to us, Dakota?”
Lily’s heart stuttered in her chest at Wyatt’s question.
Getting Dakota to agree to tell her later what he needed to about her and Wyatt’s son had been relatively easy. She hadn’t factored in Wyatt’s curiosity forcing Dakota’s hand despite Dakota’s ready agreement to speak to her alone.
She watched as Dakota turned from his vigil at the window where he had been staring out at the star-filled night since they had all arrived back ho
me a few minutes before.
The look Dakota had on his face told Lily he did not want to travel down the road Wyatt was leading him, but if Wyatt pushed, Lily saw no alternative. Next to Wyatt, Dakota was one of the most honest men she knew. He might delay saying something to Wyatt because she’d asked him to, but she did not think he would lie in the face of an outright question like Wyatt’s.
Not to mention she knew how determined her husband could be when he wanted to get to the heart of a matter. He could be relentless. They were married sooner than she’d planned because of that discipline and resolve. Her husband would not take no for an answer.
Just for a moment, Lily thought that maybe it would be better to get all the secrets out into the open—her secrets, Dakota’s secrets—but then she thought about the potential fallout and she knew that keeping the entire truth from Wyatt was the best thing for all of them.
Lily sidled behind Wyatt, gliding her hands up his back to massage his shoulders. “It’s been a long night. We’re all tired…” She nuzzled his neck, trying to distract him. It nearly worked, too. Lily felt Wyatt relent just a little, leaning back against her before he turned, took both of her hands in his, and held them. “I want to know what you two are keeping from me. I need to know.” His blue eyes were heated, unwavering as he watched her.
Lily’s breath hitched in her chest. She tried not to look in Dakota’s direction for a cue or assistance. Wyatt would recognize the desperation and silent plea in her gaze and pounce.
Wyatt sighed, holding her hands between them as if to keep her from escaping his interrogation. “I’d thought we’d all gotten past this.”
Stall. Stall for time. “Past what, Wyatt?”
“We’re a unit now, a family. At least I’d reckoned. I don’t see Dakota as a romantic rival anymore, at least not in the customary sense.” He smiled as if to soften the blow of his next words. “I know you love me, Lilybelle, and that your heart is big enough to include Dakota and love him without detracting any of your feelings from me.”
“That’s right, Wyatt,” Lily eagerly agreed. “And I only want what’s best for you…what’s best for both of you.”
“What’s best for me is for you both to stop lying to me.”
“Wyatt…”
He gently squeezed her hands and lifted them to his lips before kissing her knuckles. “I can’t go on like this anymore. None of us can without getting everything out in the open.”
“Wyatt, you don’t know what you’re asking of me.”
“I know exactly what I’m asking of you, my wife…” He turned to direct his words at Dakota. “And a man I think of as my brother. I’m asking you both for the truth.”
How could she not give him that?
Lily opened her mouth to speak, but that protective instinct that had guided her actions since the attack and rescue kicked in at the last second to stop her.
She would do anything she needed to shield Wyatt, even from himself.
She had more than one secret to tell him, after all. There was nothing forcing her to tell him everything, at least not all at once.
The thought of omitting the truth—as bad as lying in her book— left a bad taste in Lily’s mouth. She had never been so underhanded and manipulative in her mindset, but necessity was the mother of invention and she had been doing a lot of things since her return that she never would have considered before. Lying to Wyatt was just a necessary evil.
She grabbed his hand and led him over to the sofa where they both sat down.
Dakota sat on the edge of the chair adjacent, silent and watchful. She could only imagine his anxiety and confusion at that moment because there was no way he knew which secret she was going to reveal.
Before she opened her mouth, Lily wasn’t sure herself what words would come out until finally…“Wyatt, Dakota and I…we met each other before the shooting.”
Wyatt’s lush eyebrows came together as he frowned. “Met?” He squeezed both of Lily’s hands again as if for strength and glanced at Dakota as if for confirmation.
“Dakota is the man who found me in the woods, buried alive. He rescued me.”
Wyatt silently looked from Lily to Dakota and back again. His eyes searched hers for several long moments before he leapt from the sofa and began pacing in front of it.
Lily watched him as he raked a hand through his hair and took several deep breaths before he stopped in the middle of the floor.
Wyatt pierced Dakota with his look. “If you’re the one who hurt Lily, I swear…”
Lily quickly stood and grabbed his cocked fist. “Wyatt, it wasn’t Dakota. He saved me. If it wasn’t for him I would have died. He took me to his tribe and they nursed me back to health.”
“Okay, but there’s more you’re not telling me.”
It shocked and encouraged Lily that he’d taken her news so well thus far. She had no illusions about how well he would take the rest. She knew he would be devastated. She had lived through it, and the horror, the loss, haunted and ravaged her every day.
“There is more.”
“Tell me.” Wyatt glared at her.
“I—”
Dakota stood, insinuating his body between them. “No, Lily. Let me.”
“But you can’t—”
“Wyatt, Lily is about to reveal something to you when she does not have all the facts.”
Lily’s heart thudded at his words. She’d been about to say that Dakota couldn’t tell Wyatt what he didn’t know, but remembered his earlier words at the party. “There is something that I need to tell you. It’s about yours and Wyatt’s son.”
Wyatt folded his arms across his chest and turned his stare on Dakota. “So you’re hiding things from each other as well as me? I reckon this oughta be good.”
“First you need to know, Wyatt, that Lily…she was very badly injured when I found her. Her eyes were swollen shut. She never actually saw me. She only recently recognized me as the man who rescued her. That is what we were discussing while we danced earlier.”
Wyatt’s stance visibly softened as he dropped his hands to his sides.
Lily could see that he desperately wanted to believe Dakota’s words. Like her, he was ready to cling to anything that would not shatter the illusion he had of his innocent wife.
“Go on,” Wyatt said.
“I left Lily with my people to heal and…to have her baby.”
Wyatt’s mouth dropped open. “Baby?”
“Your son,” Lily whispered.
He turned to her then and the look of hope made Lily sick to her stomach.
How could she tell him now? How could she cause him that kind of pain?
Dakota took each of their hands in his, standing between them like a minister about to oversee their exchanging of vows.
He held her gaze a long time, his blue eyes pleading as if he was asking for absolution before he turned back to Wyatt.
“We have a son?”
Dakota nodded, but Lily shook her head and closed her eyes, waiting for all hell to break loose when Wyatt heard the truth.
“Where is he and why didn’t you tell me about him, Lily?”
The tears came down fast, scalding her cheeks.
“I was going to tell Lily about…your son at the party, but you came to dance with her and we agreed to talk about it later.”
“What could you possibly tell her about our son that she didn’t already know?”
Lily opened her eyes in time to see Dakota turn and face her full. He released Wyatt’s hand to cup her face.
“Forgive me,” Dakota said.
“Forgive you for what?” Wyatt asked. “What’s going on?”
Dakota turned back to him. “Lily is unaware of what I am about to tell you. She thought that…she thought that your son was killed during the raid on the village.”
“Killed? No…”
Lily shook her head at the agony in Wyatt’s voice. The pain of that day rushed over her in great, sudden waves. She saw herself retur
ning from the lake after a swim to find the charred ruins of the village. Blood-soaked bodies lay strewn everywhere.
She hadn’t yet been able to erase the vision of her son’s favorite doll—a gift from his adopted grandfather, Dyami, and something he had never been without since his birth—shattered and crushed among the human and animal carcasses as if under a soldier’s merciless boot.
Until now, Lily had always thought her boy had not survived the massacre. How could he? How could anyone? There had never been any proof that he had, though she had never found his body. Like the rest of the missing she had not been able to locate, he had been lost to her.
She realized then that there was a lot more about Dakota that she didn’t know. Not just that he had been her rescuer, but evidently much more. Even after he had shared that he was half-Kiowa, it had never occurred to her that he had stayed at the reservation, watching over her as she healed, and later, once she’d had her baby, somehow keeping himself hidden from her the entire while. How else would he know about her son, about…?
“You know where he is.”
Dakota nodded. “I have known for a long time.”
“But you didn’t tell me? You didn’t tell us?”
“I…I could not.”
“You bastard!” She wasn’t aware of lashing out until her palm solidly connected with Dakota’s face. The ensuing thwack hung in the air between them all like a crack of thunder.
He stood without even touching his injured cheek, a stoic look on his face as if he knew he deserved her assault or any other invective she could conceive and was ready to take it.
The dignity with which he held himself under attack meant nothing to her.
He’d lied to her! He’d lied to them, no telling how long.
The way I lied to Wyatt?
That was different. She was protecting Wyatt from a man who could literally crush him! Who was Dakota protecting? What reason could he have had for keeping her son away from her?
Lily sank onto the sofa, spent. “Why?” she rasped.
“I had to be sure.”