“Probably,” he admitted, taking Prince from me when he started fussing. “Everything changed the moment she had my kid inside her. That was what mattered—that baby, and even more than him, the woman carrying him. I can’t explain it, man. It does something to you. You’ll see when it happens to you.”
Devlin propped Prince up on his shoulder, as natural with the kid as if he’d been doing it all his life. Two and a half years of being a dad, and he was a pro. He wasn’t just older than me, he was a fucking adult. Married with three kids, a job, a wife. He’d given up Dolly for this. He’d given up Faulkner, too, and all the other Darlings, our entire family.
But Crystal gave it up, too. If she hadn’t had a baby to think about, maybe her psychotic family would have convinced her to leave Devlin alone. If they couldn’t convince her, they would have convinced him. They would have told him they’d hurt her, or even one of us, and he’d have left her alone. When a baby was in the picture, though…
Like he said, a baby changed everything.
In his mind and in hers. She’d left her whole life for him, too. She didn’t worry about chasing her dreams or what she’d wanted before. Everything changed.
Everything has changed for me, too.
And now, it’s going to change for Dolly.
She just doesn’t know it yet.
And by the time she does, it’ll be too late for her to walk away again.
*