My Kind of Perfect (Finding Love 3)

“Mamamamma,” she stammers through her cries.

I wipe the tears from under her eyes. “I don’t know where she is,” I tell her. “But we’ll figure it out.”

“Georgia,” Alec says, walking around the corner. “What are you— Is that a baby? What are you doing with a baby?”

“I found her here,” I tell him, holding her close to my chest. Most likely exhausted from all the crying, she lays her head on my shoulder and snuggles into me.

“Let’s bring her inside and see if there’s a note or something in her stroller,” Alec suggests.

He grabs the stroller and I follow him in, rubbing the baby’s back. Her cries have finally stopped and she’s quiet, twirling a piece of my hair with her finger.

We walk inside and the guys all swing their heads my way, each sporting a different look of confusion.

“That’s not Abigail, is it?” Luke asks.

“No,” I tell him. This baby is bigger, probably several months older than my niece. “I found her at the front door.”

“What the fuck?” Thomas says. “Nobody rang the doorbell.”

Chase walks in, taking in the sight in front of him, and says, “What’s going on?”

“I heard a baby crying, so I went to check it out and found her in a stroller by the front door.”

“What the hell?” Chase says.

“Maybe she thought she could leave the baby because of the SafePlace sign,” I point out.

“It’s for the youth, not for parents abandoning their children,” Chase says in disgust.

“Well, she obviously cared enough to leave her somewhere safe,” I tell him, sitting in a chair. “It’s better than harming her or leaving her somewhere she could be hurt.”

“I found a note,” Alec says. His eyes meet Chase’s and something about the expression on his face has my belly doing a flip-flop. “It’s addressed to you.”

“Me?” Chase walks over and takes the envelope from Alec. He takes one look at it and curses under his breath.

He rips it open and unfolds the note inside. While he reads it, everyone is quiet, but when the little girl in my arms lifts her head to look at me, and her hazel eyes meet mine, I already know what the note says.

“She’s mine,” Chase murmurs. “According to my fucking bitch of an ex-wife she’s mine.” His eyes meet mine before they land on the baby. “Her name is Hazel.”

I find myself holding her tighter now that I know she’s Chase’s daughter. I don’t want to judge Victoria, but that doesn’t stop me from wondering how she could do this to him.

“Her birth certificate lists a Raymond Forrester as the dad,” Alec says, “and based on this, she was born January first, making her ten months old.”

“That’s the guy she was cheating on me with,” Chase says. “She was pregnant while we were still married and didn’t say a damn word.”

“What does the letter say?” I ask.

“She wanted her to be Raymond’s but when she was born and had my hazel eyes she knew she wasn’t. She didn’t want to lose him, so she lied. Hazel had a herniated belly button and when they brought her in to have the surgery they asked for the parent with her matching blood type to donate blood in case there’s an emergency since she has a rare blood type. Neither parent matched and he threatened to leave her, saying he won’t raise another man’s baby.” Chase tosses the letter to me. “She chose him over her daughter.”

I shake my head and place the letter on the table. I don’t need to read it. All I want to do right now is hold this precious little girl.

“So, what do we do?” I ask.

Chase’s hard expression softens. “Fuck, I love you.”

“What?” I ask, confused.

“You said ‘we’.”

“Of course I did…” Because we’re a we and I’ll be by his side every step of the way.

“Mamamama,” Hazel murmurs, taking my face in her hands. “Mama.”

My eyes meet Chase’s and he shakes his head. “I can’t believe she did this.”

“Do you want to hold her?” I ask, standing.

His eyes go wide. “I…”

“You hold Abigail all the time,” Alec jumps in. “You got this.”

I notice everyone else has left the room, obviously wanting to give Chase some privacy and space. “Hazel,” I say, stepping over to Chase. “This is your daddy.”

Slowly, I hand her off to Chase, but as we’re making the exchange, she grasps ahold of my shirt. “Mamamamama,” she screams, her eyes filling with tears.

“You found her, so she feels safe with you,” Alec says.

I glance at Chase, who looks completely heartbroken. “Hey, she’ll get to know you,” I tell him. “She’s just scared.”

“And she knows how good you are,” he says, cupping the side of my face. “I don’t blame her for wanting to remain close to you. I feel the same way.” He kisses the corner of my mouth.