Just Getting Started (Fair Lakes 2)

“Hey.” Gabby places her hand on my shaking knee. “You okay?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know, Gabs. I’m nervous as hell. I mean, what if he’s not mine. What happens to him then?” I look down at the sleeping baby in his seat where he sits on the floor between us.

“He looks just like you, Chase.”

“Babies change in their looks all the time. It’s possible he’s not mine.” I look over at her and she smiles softly.

“They do. We’re taking this one day at a time, Chase. As of right now, that’s all we can do. If he’s—” She stops and swallows hard. “If he’s not your son,” she manages, “we’ll hire the best lawyer and have him help us.”

“Help us what?”

“Adopt him,” she says, as if it’s the easiest, most simple answer in the world. “You want him to be yours, and I have to admit I’m attached to the little guy. Either way, his mother doesn’t want him.” Her voice cracks. “You can give him a home.”

“Chase Callahan,” a nurse calls, ending our conversation.

“You want me to come with you?”

“Yes. I might need help with him. I’m not really sure what to expect.” I stand, grabbing the handle of the car seat in one hand and Gabby’s hand in the other. Having her here with me, it not only makes it less overwhelming, but she makes it feel as though everything is going to turn out all right. Like as long as we’re together, we can do anything.

Adopt him.

I’ve never really thought about what if he’s not mine, not to the extent of what happens to him. Not until I woke up with him at 3:00 a.m. Feeding him as he cuddled against my chest, my mind had wandered. If I’m not his father, what happens? Where does he go? Will they take care of him like we do? Will they know that he likes to be swaddled tight and that he sometimes takes a while to burp? Will they know that he hates baths unless you sing to him? Can we really adopt him? Would they let us do that? Legally?

“Right this way,” the nurse says, pulling my attention back to the present. “Have a seat.” She goes through the motions of asking me my identity. “This is a simple procedure. We just have to swab your cheek.” I watch as she pulls on rubber gloves and grabs a swab and what looks like a long test tube. “Open wide.” I do as she asks and within seconds, she’s placing the long swab into the test tube. I watch as she writes her initials on the tube that has a label with my name, today’s date, and some other numbers.

“Now this little guy.” She turns her attention to Gabby. “Mom, can you please confirm the baby’s full name and date of birth?”

“Milo Callahan,” Gabby says, not missing a beat. She rattles off the birth date that was written at the bottom of the letter like he was her son.

“Great. Mom, if you’ll hold him, this will be fast,” she assures us.

Gabby cradles Milo in her arms as the nurse quickly and efficiently swabs his cheek. He fusses, but Gabby gets him to calm down quickly as soon as it’s all over.

“That’s all we need. These are usually back in two to three days.”

“With Saturday being day three, is there still a chance we’ll get the results before Monday?” Gabby asks.

“Actually, the front desk should have set you up with an online account.” She looks over at me.

“They did. Will the results be there?”

“Yes. We won’t give them out over the phone. You can log into your online account, and we will also mail you a copy of the results. You can also come into the lab during open hours with proper ID and obtain a copy of the results,” she explains. “If you opt for the online results, there is a delay as to when that information is logged into the system.”

“Thank you so much,” Gabby says.

“You’re welcome. Down the hall and to the right is the exit. Have a good day.” She leaves the room.

“Let’s get out of here, bud,” Gabby tells Milo, strapping him into his seat.

“Waiting is going to suck,” I say, picking up the seat once Gabby has him strapped in.

“Yeah, but at least we’ll be certain and can move forward from there.”

“You might need to distract me,” I say, leaning down and kissing her swiftly.

“I can handle that.” She grins and my cock twitches just at the thought of all the ways she can distract me.

“First, we shop. I want to buy Milo a swing. Sophia loved hers when she was tiny, and I think he will too.”

“Sounds like a plan. Just tell me where you want to go.”

“Target. They have the one I want. I called them yesterday and they have several in stock.”