“Gary and Sally Danes,” he said. “Gary’s a tech dude with some computer company. Sally…I don’t know. Investments? Law? Something lofty. But, yeah, I have all the phone numbers.” He made a face. “The cops brought me Carly’s phone after the accident, and I kept it. Was that wrong?”
“It was smart,” Eli said. “Was Carly close to her family?”
He shrugged. “On and off. Her mom wanted her to get an advanced degree—I think she has one—but Carly wanted to stick with hospitality. Honestly? She might have talked to her mother more when she was pregnant and after I left.”
“Are they nice people?” Eli asked. “I mean, could they be reasonable?”
“They’re…grieving people,” he said. “Broken, destroyed, and all they have left of their daughter is in your arms.”
Eli’s heart dropped. What would he do in that situation? Fight like a madman to raise this child. But Atlas belonged to Jonah, and they couldn’t take that away.
Eli looked down at the sweet baby who was…red and filling his pants.
“Sure gave him the right name,” Jonah said, pushing up. “He’s got the weight of the world on his shoulders.”
“Actually, it’s in his diaper.”
Jonah managed a laugh as he lifted the bag next to the dresser. “Here, I got it.”
Eli stood and carefully handed the baby to his son. As he did, their gazes locked.
“You can do this, Jonah.”
“The diaper change? I’m a pro now.”
“Fatherhood,” he clarified. “You can do it and do it well. You are not cursed. You are blessed.”
Jonah just smiled, enough doubt in his eyes that Eli knew his words fell on deaf ears. It would take time.
The question was…did they have time before Carly’s family swooped in and attempted to take this child?
How?How in the name of all that was holy had she, Meredith Elena Lawson—the single most disciplined, organized, efficient, goal-oriented, five-year planner with no room for the slightest detour—let this happen?
Well, she knewhowit happened, but didn’t it happen to…othergirls? Apparently, it could happen to smart ones, too.
Because she was looking at a faint, barely visible, but undeniable line that might as well spell outyou blew it, baby.
Emphasis onbaby.
She stared down at the pregnancy test in her hand—the fourth one she’d taken—as if sheer willpower could change the result, the stick quivering with every tremble in her body.
Very slowly, she lifted her gaze from the sink to the bathroom mirror, staring at her reflection, wishing someone else’s face would appear.
Someone…dumb. Someone…foolish. Someone who made really absurd decisions and fell into bed with a man who was super hot and super temporary and all wrong except for that one moment when he was just right.
But no, it was her. Meredith.
“Whoareyou?” she whispered to the green eyes that looked back at her. “And what did you do?”
One arched brow rose in judgment as a random dark wave nearly fell out of the claw clip that held her hair off her neck and shoulders.
The expression reminded her of Grandma Maggie, the queen of the raised brow. And at the thought of the judgmental and opinionated woman who’d always had a soft heart for Meredith, tears sprang forward.
Maggie would be devastated by this.
And Dad?
She gulped, not really able to think about her father. Poor guy. He was currently up to his eyeballs taking care of the hot mess that was Jonah, the problem child. To Eli, she was the kid who had it all together—the conquering 4.6 magna cum laude superstar who’d just passed her boards and was ready to carry Acacia Architecture into the next generation.
