Chapter SixteenChase 16* * *I stare at my phone, a mountain of emotions rolling through me. For so long I wanted to find Laura. I wanted more details about our son, about that night. I have so many questions, like why can’t she keep him? And why did I not find out about him until she was at her breaking point, if that’s what it was? I still have those questions, only I have new ones as well. Like why does she think I’m the father, when clearly, she slept with my brother? I’m pretty sure Colton could answer that for me as well, but he’s thousands of miles away who knows where and doing God knows what. It could be days, weeks, hell, even months before I can reach him to tell him he’s a father.
He is and I’m not.
Pain fills my chest and threatens to choke me as I think about the fact that this little man isn’t mine. Gabby and I have been through a gauntlet of emotions since he arrived on our doorstep. I had come to terms with the fact that he was mine. That I’m his father. Now I’m not. That’s a lot to process.
“Where is she?” Gabby asks, breaking me out of my thoughts.
“Florida.”
“Florida,” she repeats as if she’s processing the information. “Now what?” she whispers. Her eyes never leave Milo as she asks the question.
“Well, we would have petitioned the court to have her served with papers signing her rights over to me. Now—” I pause, the hurt ricocheting in my chest. “Now,” I say again but have to swallow back my emotions. “Now, I don’t know. He’s not my son. I need to get a hold of Colton as soon as I can and have my attorney file the papers on his behalf. I’ll call him tomorrow and have him draw them up. That way, when I do finally reach Colton, he can reach out to him and we can continue the process.” Reaching out, I offer Milo my index finger and he latches on, his grip tight for such a tiny thing. “I’m sure when my parents find out, they’re going to volunteer to take him. Hell, they offered when we thought he was mine.”
“They just want to help. Why did you never take them up on the offer?” she asks.
“Because he was my son.” I choke on the words. I look up to find her eyes. “He was ours, Gabby. I wanted him. I wanted us and this family we had become.”
“Chase.” Her voice breaks on a sob.
“I called the lab today. I wanted to make sure that we were interpreting the results correctly. That the 25 percent really did mean that I was his uncle. I knew that was the case from what we read online, but I just… I don’t know, Gabs. I guess I just needed some reassurance that even though I’m not his father, that he’s still my family.” I lean over and kiss Milo on his tiny head. “You’re easy to love, buddy. Uncle Chase…” I swallow hard. “Uncle Chase loves you.”
“Au— Gabby loves you too,” she says, stopping herself from saying Aunt Gabby.
“Aunt Gabby and Uncle Chase will always be there for you.” My words are spoken for my nephew, but my eyes, they’re for the woman who owns my heart. I think about all that’s happened since the night this little guy showed up. I begged her to stay, not because I needed help, but because I needed her. Sure, the help was a relief, but it was more than that. Suddenly, I feel like we’re at a tipping point once again in our relationship. I know she loves him. Is that why she stayed?
“You okay?” she asks softly.
“Stay.”
“What?”
“Stay with me.”
“Chase, I already told you I’m not going anywhere. What’s this about?”
“I asked you to stay when he arrived, and it wasn’t because he was here. I was afraid I was going to lose you. Now, I need to ask you again. I needed to ask you when there wasn’t a son I just discovered on our doorstep. It’s just me, Gabby, and I’m asking you to stay. This is your home, our home. Please tell me you’re going to stay.”
“Chase.” She smiles as her eyes well with unshed tears. “You’re my home. I’ll be wherever you are.”
“I fucking love you,” I say, leaning over Milo to press my lips against hers.
“Language,” she scolds, but she’s giggling, so it has zero heat behind it. “Colton will kill us if his first word is fuck,” she says, not bothering to lower her voice.
“Colton, hell, he cusses like a sailor. It’s my mom we have to worry about. I can’t tell you how many times Colton and I were grounded and even had our mouths washed out with soap due to our potty mouths. You would think we would have learned our lesson by now.”