Because this baby has my green eyes.
The excitement of the afternoon pops like an overinflated balloon when Rhett and I walk inside with a baby.
I’m sitting in the same spot I was a little while ago, but my entire world is upside down.
I vaguely remember Maverick doing that DNA test for some ancestry project in college. He’s obviously not the father.
Deanna said the baby was born in March last year, which means we theoretically hooked up the summer before in… June?
It can’t be Isaiah ’cause he was out of the country. Rhett was happily married to Paige, and Beau’s not really a one-night-stand kind of guy.
Fuck. The kid has to be mine.
I think I’m going through the five stages of grief. There’s anger, denial… and I can’t remember the rest.
Thank God Rhett was there to get Deanna’s contact info. I feel like I can barely string together a sentence.
The living room suddenly erupts.
“No fucking way. This is crazy.” Maverick.
“She just dropped off her baby and left?” Paige.
“Who leaves her kid with a stranger?” Baylee.
“Why didn’t she contact you sooner?” Isaiah.
Layla’s eyes get big and glassy before her bottom lip starts to quiver. Shit.
A fierce protective urge I didn’t know existed roars to life somewhere in my chest. I unbuckle her belt and scoop her into my arms. “Hey, baby. I’m Jace.” I swallow. “Guess that’s Dad to you.”Holy shit. I think I’m her father.She looks around theroom at all the faces. “This group of miscreants is your family. We’re a ragtag bunch, but we’re scrappy. We have your back, kiddo.”
Paige grabs her little hand. “She’s beautiful, Jace.”
“Thanks.” I resort to humor ’cause that’s what I do. “My sperm knew what it was doing.”
Isaiah leans forward. “Now’s not the time to joke.”
I give him a hard stare. “No shit. But since you deserted us for years, I don’t think you get an opinion right now.”
His jaw tightens, and everyone grows quiet. This is where I’d usually apologize for being an asshole, but my brothers have been tiptoeing around him long enough.
Layla starts to fuss, and I stick my hand in her diaper bag and pull out a can of formula. Seriously? All Deanna left me was one can? Overwhelming doesn’t begin to describe the chaos in my head right now.
Paige holds out her hand. “Want me to make her a bottle for you?”
“That would be great. Thanks.”
“We’ll get her situated, and then Bay, Honey, and I can run to the store to get her a few supplies.”
I’m so grateful for my sister-in-law, I could cry. I won’t because I’m a grown-ass man, but fuck.
Beau comes over and sits in Paige’s spot. Puts his hand on my shoulder. Talks softly so he doesn’t spook the baby, or maybe he’s trying not to spook me. “Let’s get that paternity test, just in case. There’s one in Austin that will get you results in forty-eight hours. My buddy had a scare a few years ago.”
“Okay.”
“We might want to get some custody papers drawn up.”
“Yeah.”
