“Let’s change you, okay?” Quinn diapered the baby, the actions coming automatically and by rote.
She lifted Jenny and patted her little behind as they walked to the master bedroom, and she lay back on the mattress, propped against the pillows, keeping the baby in her arms.
Jenny smelled like baby powder and her shampoo. Closing her eyes, Quinn took in the sweet scent, torn by how much she already loved this child and how different a future she envisioned for herself. Even her feelings for Austin ran counter to what she’d been telling herself she needed from life for years. She wanted to be self-sufficient and have a career, not a family that demanded all her time and attention like her siblings and cousins had.
Thinking back over her teenage years, she remembered missing a date she’d been looking forward to because her niece had been sick, her uncle had been working, and her aunt turned to Quinn to watch her other kids. No one ever considered asking Quinn’s siblings, and they had been younger. Quinn had always been, as Austin had called her, the baby whisperer. As for her canceled date, the guy had gone on to be with another girl he’d remained with throughout high school, and she heard they’d actually gotten married after college. Quinn had missed her chance.
Jenny gurgled and Quinn smiled. Even waiting for her morning bottle, Jenny was good. Once she was picked up, she tended to stop crying and wait for whatever came next, a diaper change or a bottle or her swing. She’d even adjusted to Austin, not shrieking whenever he came near. She was one of the most sweet-natured infants Quinn had ever encountered.
Austin walked back into the room, gray sweats riding low, showing off the vee on either side of his hips, his muscular chest bare and sexy. The bottle in his hand somehow merely added to his appeal.
He slid into the bed, and before she could hand the baby over, he scooped Jenny up, settling her into the crook of his arm and popping the bottle into her moving lips like a pro.
He grinned, obviously proud of himself. “I think she likes me.”
Quinn laughed. “I’m pretty sure she’s come around.”
He looked down at the infant, a warm, adoring expression in his eyes. “I’m not giving her up,” he said in a low, determined voice.
“What?” Quinn wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.
He met her gaze. “If she’s mine, obviously I’m going to fight for full custody. Hell, I want the bitch who abandoned her to sign away any legal rights. But I’m talking about if she’s not mine. I’m not giving her up so some foster family can take her.” He squared his shoulders, as if readying for a fight. “If she isn’t mine by blood, she’s mine now, and I’m going to make damn sure my lawyer does whatever he needs to do so I can keep her.”
Quinn’s heart thudded so loudly in her chest she could swear she heard the sound. “Oh, wow. I… Wow.”
She hadn’t seen this coming, although she should have. Despite faltering in the beginning, Austin had stepped up and taken care of Jenny, learning everything he could from Quinn. She’d even caught him reading up on babies on his laptop, not that she ever called him on it. She’d found it endearing.
“Austin, do you realize what you’re in for?” she asked tentatively, not wanting to sound discouraging. “We’re not just talking sleepless nights for a short time.”
He nodded, his gaze somber and serious. “It’s a lifetime commitment. A baby, a toddler, a kid, teenager… I know. And this may not be what I imagined for my future, but she’s been given to me for a reason. And I’m keeping her.” He pressed a kiss to the baby’s head, as if to say, and that’s that.
Quinn tried to swallow but her mouth had gone dry. A painful lump rose in her throat, because if she’d harbored any secret fantasies about being with Austin after the baby thing was settled, he’d just destroyed them with one brilliant, sweet, selfless decision.
Chapter Eight
“Quinnlyn Stone, why haven’t you returned any of my calls?” Quinn’s mother, Penelope, asked, her tone annoyed, over the phone.
Quinn sighed. “I’ve been tied up at work, and as you know, I’m helping out a friend with his baby. I’ve been busy,” she said to her mother later Sunday morning.
As she spoke, she measured and put powder into the row of bottles on the counter in the kitchen. Austin had gone out to pick up food for the family, who would be here soon, and Jenny was in her swing.
“Yes, and I find that interesting considering you made it a point to tell me how much you didn’t want to be a nanny or have your own children.” Her mother’s disappointment in Quinn’s choices rang clear.