I ran a hand through my hair. “Not yet. I wanted to…I needed to get my head around it first.”
Ava nodded like she understood. “They’re going to want to help, you know. Mom’s going to go completely overboard with baby stuff.”
She wasn’t wrong. Our mom would probably buy half of Target’s baby section.
“You sure about this?” Ava asked, her voice even quieter now. “I mean, you could get a paternity test if you wanted to be certain. And if she is yours…Drew, no one would judge you if you considered other options. Adoption?—”
“No.” The word came out sharper than I intended. “I’m keeping her.”
Ava searched my face. “You don’t have to prove anything to anyone, you know. Being a single dad in college isn’t going to be easy.”
The questions she’d asked just a minute ago hung in the air between us, and I wished I had answers for her.
What was I going to do?
I looked at Rory, sleeping peacefully in my sister’s arms, and a deep calm settled in my chest. It was a sense of certainty, even though everything else in my life was nowup in the air. When it came to Aurora, I would just have to figure it out because she wasn’t going anywhere.
Truthfully, even though I was sure about keeping her, I was still scared as hell. Twenty-four hours ago, my biggest worry was whether or not I’d ever get laid again on this campus after Harper’s poster prank. Now I was responsible for a tiny human who depended on me for everything. I had no idea how to balance being a dad with hockey and school. I didn’t know the first thing about raising a kid, and YouTube videos could only teach me so much.
But looking at Aurora, seeing her little fist curled against Ava’s shirt, watching the way her chest rose and fell with each breath as she dozed off to sleep—none of that mattered. The fear, the uncertainty, the complete upheaval of my life plan. None of it changed the fact that she was mine, and I was going to take care of her.
I’d always thought I had time to figure my life out. Time to fuck around and date whoever I wanted and focus on hockey without worrying about the future. Time to grow up gradually, when it was convenient. But Aurora didn’t care about my timeline. She needed me now, exactly as I was, ready or not.
And I was going to be ready. I would do everything in my power to be the best dad I could be for her.
“I’m sure,” I said. “Even if a paternity test came back negative, I’m keeping her.”
Ava studied my face for a long moment, then nodded slowly. “Okay. Then we figure it out together.”
The simple acceptance in her voice, the automatic “we,” eased a little bit of my stress. It was another reminder of how lucky I was to be surrounded by so many people willing to help me.
“Mom and Dad are going to flip,” she said, but she was smiling a little.
“In a good way or a bad way?”
“Good way, probably. You know Mom loves babies. She’ll probably cry happy tears and buy out every baby store in a fifty-mile radius.” Ava nibbled her lip. “Coach Maxwell’s going to need to know.”
Another thing I hadn’t thought through. Coach was pretty understanding about personal stuff, but this was going to affect my availability for practice and travel. Our season was coming to an end, so I really just had to juggle the next month. I couldn’t even think about next year.
“One thing at a time,” I said, more to myself than to Ava. But even as I tried to focus on the immediate challenges, I knew why none of the logistics really mattered. Family was everything to me. Always had been. And this little girl? She was my family now.
Maybe I didn’t have a fucking clue what I was doing. Maybe I was going to screw up more times than I could count. But I was going to figure it out, because that’s what you did for family. You showed up, you did the work, and you didn’t give up.
Aurora was counting on me now. And I wasn’t going to let her down.
I’d been checked into the boards by guys twice my size and survived Coach Maxwell’s character-building wind sprints, but nothing prepared me for watching my parents meet their granddaughter.
My mom burst through the front door like a tornado,zeroing in on Rory in my arms with laser precision. “Oh my goodness,” she whispered, reaching for her granddaughter. “Drew, she’s absolutely perfect.”
Dad followed behind with his usual unhurried pace. While Mom was a hurricane of emotion, Dad was stoic, never revealing too much of what he was feeling. “She looks just like you did,” he said, his hand settling on Mom’s shoulder. “Got the Dumontier nose, that’s for sure.”
I’d been worried about how this meeting would go. My parents were always supportive, but I also knew that CFU students weren’t the only ones who thought I was just a hockey-playing ladies’ man. I couldn’t stomach the idea of seeing my parents doubt in my ability to be a dad. I’d even asked them to hold off coming by so soon, but my mom wouldn’t even hear it. I knew the second I hung up the phone that they’d be on their way.
And I was relieved to see the pride and love shining in my mom’s eyes instead of the judgment I’d feared.
Dad clapped me on the shoulder. “How are you holding up, son?”
“I’m figuring it out,” I said, running a hand through my hair. “Just hoping I don’t completely scar her for life.”
