Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 540(@200wpm)___ 432(@250wpm)___ 360(@300wpm)
He sighed.
If Trevor couldn’t come up with a rebuttal to make me feel better, that likely meant he knew I was screwed when it came to February now.
“When do you get the results?” he asked.
“Twenty-four hours. But you know how you just know sometimes? I already know I’m this baby’s father. It’s just a matter of figuring out what to do with that information.”
“Maybe there’s a reason this happened.”
“Not sure I’m following you…”
“Maybe it was meant to be.”
I ran a hand through my hair. “Okay. Still not following you.”
“I’m not sure you would’ve ever decided to have kids were it not for an accident like this, Brock. Maybe this is your chance to experience something you never knew you wanted?”
“I haven’t made a decision about raising this baby.”
“Brock, seriously? I know you. You would never let anyone else raise your kid. You treat us all like your kids, and you’re the best damn pseudo-father around. So, while you might not have officially made your decision, I already know how this is going to go.”
I knew he was right, but I still couldn’t accept that this was happening, let alone admit that I’d be keeping the baby.
I rubbed my eyes. “Maybe by some miracle he’ll turn out not to be mine.”
“Wait…he?”
“Yeah.” I swallowed. “It’s a boy.”
Trevor went silent on the other end. “A boy?” he finally said.
“Yeah…”
“I’m gonna have a nephew?” I could hear the excitement in his tone.
I attempted to quell it. “Trev…”
“Sorry. I—”
“Don’t get all emotional on me. We don’t know shit yet.”
“Right.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Of course. But just know, if he is one of us, we’ll all help you. This little guy will be raised by a band of brothers.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “I think that sounds good in theory, but if you’re not gonna be there to wipe his ass in the middle of the night, I’m not sure it counts.”
“Okay, maybe you’re right. But we’ll help out however we can. I’ll take some babysitting classes if I have to. Learn CPR.”
“Now that’s funny.”
“I’m trying to be serious here.”
“You’ll have a better chance at seducing some woman to help me,” I taunted.
“Hey, whatever works.” He laughed.
“Anyway, I appreciate you wanting to help. But this is my mess to handle.”
“Will you promise to let me know as soon as you find out the results?”
“Yeah, of course.” I sighed. “I’ll let you go. Oak’s probably freaked out by my weird behavior. I need to get home to make sure he’s okay.”
When I got back, I stopped short at the sight of February still sitting on my couch. She’d had her head in her hands and jumped when the door opened.
My eyes widened. “I thought you were leaving…”
She stood and came over to me. “I was wrong. I realized the reason I wanted to leave was because I was scared. But once I thought it through, I figured out that leaving you wasn’t what I wanted at all.”
Hope filled me. “Are you sure? Because I don’t need your sympathy, Red.”
“This isn’t about sympathy.” She wrapped her hands around my cheeks. “My heart wants to stay. I couldn’t leave you to wait for these results all alone.”
There was that damn hope trying to seep through again, a glimmer of faith that maybe she wouldn’t bail if the worst-case scenario came true.
“I paid for the expedited test. So we should know by tomorrow.”
“I’ll stay whether it’s twenty-four hours or a week. I don’t want you to go through this alone.”
Pulling her into a hug, I breathed her in and reveled in her warm presence. “Thank you, baby.”
The next twenty-four hours would be excruciating. But having her here would help me get through the wait. That said, what would happen after the twenty-four hours concerned me most. Suddenly, my guard went up.
“The thing is, Red, while I appreciate your support right now, any additional time I spend with you is only going to make it harder to let you go if you decide not to stick around when we get confirmation that this baby is mine.”
“Neither of us can possibly know how we’re gonna handle something that hasn’t happened yet, Brock. I feel like we both need to take this situation moment by moment.” She began to pace. “Am I freaked out a little? Okay…a lot? Yeah. But right now? We don’t have the answer. What we do have is each other and the entire day ahead of us.”
I placed my hand on her shoulder to stop her pacing and kissed her forehead. “Thank you for staying,” I said.
“Of course.”
Oak seemed to be patiently listening to us from across the room. Jesus. Had I even taken him out this morning? I couldn’t remember. That’s how I knew my head wasn’t screwed on straight.
“I’d better take Oak out,” I said.
“I just did. Before you got here.”