“Just like that.”
Luca sprang to life from that. It seems impossible.
“On the first try.” Axel gives a modest shrug. “I actually don’t think she thought I would bring it to her that quickly. She seemed surprised. But then she got out the turkey baster, took my sample with her to her bedroom, and I guess, made Luca.”
“Huh.” I furrow my brow.
“Like I said,” Jane says, “that was not responsible. You should have gone straight to a lawyer.”
“I would have signed anything she wanted,” Axel says. “I wouldn’t have taken her baby from her.” He gives me an alarmed look. “I wouldn’t have. I swear.”
A guilty expression moves over Jane’s face. “Yes, that was also the first assumption of Ms. Bellanti. But I told her that she was leaving herself vulnerable to having her child taken from her. You make much more money than Ms. Bellanti ever did, Mr. Knight.”
“The Boston Blizzards pay well,” Axel says, his voice flat. “I didn’t think it would lead to?—”
I reach for his hand, but he’s already standing.
“I have to—” He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t look at me. “I’m sorry, Jane.”
And then he leaves the bed, leaves the room, maybe leaves my life.
Jane blinks at me from the other side of the Zoom.
“I hope you don’t think that my advice was poor, Mr. Bellanti. It is my job to consider every scenario. I wouldn’t be a good lawyer if I didn’t.”
“Your advice led me to not speaking to my best friend for three years,” I say. “I-I thought they slept together.”
Jane’s expression shifts. I wait for her to apologize. I wait for her to tell me that she never intended that, that she’ll change for future clients, that she’s so very apologetic.
And then I’ll tell her that that doesn’t change the past, but I will be gracious.
She doesn’t say any of that. Instead, she stares at me. “Well, that is not my issue.”
“But—”
“Did your sister tell you she slept with Mr. Knight?”
I try to remember. She hadn’t wanted to tell me who the father was, but I’d begged. I’d wanted to know who I shouldprotect her from. It hadn’t been my business, but I’d pushed and pushed, and then she’d told me that Axel was the father.
Maybe she assumed it would make me happier. That I’d be glad Bellanti genes and Knight genes were mixed. That if Luca ever has children of his own, Bellanti and Knight genes will be mixed for generations upon generations until they’re flying into space.
Maybe she’d thought I would be happy.
But all I’d thought was that Axel and Gaby had slept together. I hadn’t wanted to think about Axel caressing my sister the way I’d wanted to be caressed. I’d been angry and rage-filled, more than I’d ever been in my life.
I thought I’d misjudged Axel. That I’d brought a man into Gaby’s life who’d ruined her. I’d known she’d wanted children in a hypothetical way, but I hadn’t known she’d wanted to become a mother badly enough to do it on her own.
I’d hated Axel.
And I’d apologized to Gaby. I’d told her he slept around and partied and was untrustworthy.
No wonder she didn’t tell me she’d intentionally asked for a sample from him.
“Well?” Jane asks briskly.
“She didn’t tell me she slept with him,” I admit.
I’d assumed.
