Dakota Born Read Free Page A

apartment window. But it wasn’t the landscape she saw; it was her future.
    Monte was never going to marry her.
    She should have recognized it two years ago, and hadn’t. She realized it was because she so desperately wanted to be his wife, wanted to have a family with him. She loved him, and wasn’t marriage supposed to be the natural outcome of loving a man? But she’d allowed herself to see what she’d hoped to see. She’d allowed herself to believe she could convince him.
    Monte hadn’t lied to her, hadn’t misled her. From the beginning, he’d told her he wasn’t interested in marriage. He loved her, he said, but his divorce several years earlier had devastated him and he’d vowed not to repeat the experience. He’d never indicated in any way that he might change his mind. Lindsay knew there was only one person to blame for her unhappiness—and it wasn’t Monte.
    Soon—maybe six months—after their relationship had begun, she’d left him because he’d been adamant on the subject of marriage. He’d persuaded her to come back and she had, foolishly believing that eventually he’d change his mind and see things the way she did.
    It hadn’t happened.
    The phone rang and Lindsay glanced at the caller ID, relieved and at the same time depressed to see that it wasn’t his number.
    â€œHello,” she mumbled into the phone.
    â€œIt’s Maddy.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œHey, it’s a beautiful summer afternoon and you sound like you’ve just lost your best friend. However, I know that can’t be the case, ’cause I’m your best friend.”
    Lindsay sighed, wondering why Maddy had to seem so carefree and happy when her own world was falling apart. “Nothing’s wrong. Let me amend that. Nothing’s wrong that hasn’t been wrong for the past two years.”
    â€œAh, then this has to do with Monte. What happened?”
    â€œNothing.” That much was true. “Monte and I went out to dinner last night and took a romantic ride in a horse-drawn carriage around Chippewa Square. The magnolias were blooming and Maddy…it was perfect. Until—”
    â€œUntil what?”
    Lindsay squeezed her eyes shut because even saying the words caused her pain. “Until I made the mistake of mentioning the future. The way he reacted, you’d think that was a dirty word. The next thing I knew, he was angry with me and we were arguing. And then I saw what I should have recognized all along—Monte is never going to marry me.”
    At first Maddy said nothing. “Are you breaking it off?”
    â€œYes…I already did. It’s over, Maddy.”
    â€œYou don’t sound absolutely certain of that.”
    â€œNo, I mean it this time. Nothing he says is going to convince me to change my mind. I refuse to do this to myself any more.”
    â€œHe told you from the very beginning that he wasn’t going to get married again.”
    â€œI know, I know.”
    â€œI’m surprised you haven’t moved in with him. I know that’s what he wants.”
    But Lindsay realized now that even if she had, there still wouldn’t have been any commitment, any permanence. She’d actually considered living with him, and felt only relief that she hadn’t gone through with it. His feelings wouldn’t have changed—and her own anguish would’ve been that much worse.
    â€œSo you broke it off for good?”
    â€œIt’s over, Maddy. It’s time I opened my eyes and faced reality. I refuse to put my life on hold any longer.”
    â€œWay to go!” Then Maddy sobered. “I know it’s hard, but…”
    While in high school, they’d frequently had sleepovers and lain awake talking about the men they’d marry. It’d all seemed so simple back then, and here they were, both nearly thirty and not a husband in sight.
    â€œRemember