Fair Lakes Series Box Set - Kaylee Ryan Page 0,194

I were pregnant, I’d be like five minutes along, due to start my period today. Plus, we had protection. While not completely fool-proof, I’m certain my brother-in-law is the only one with supersperm.

A tear I didn’t even realize had fallen is swiped away from my cheek. His warm, calloused fingers make my skin tingle with familiarity and excitement. “Why are you crying?” he asks, taking my cheek in his hand.

“I’m just being emotional,” I reply, offering him my best reassuring smile.

He glances down at his nephew and smiles. “I get it.” Then, he reaches for my hand and pulls me toward the stairs. “Come on, Gabs. Let’s go lie down for a bit. I don’t think the little man is ready for a nap, but I just want to lie beside you both and hold you.”

My heart drops to my feet.

I can’t tell him yet. I don’t want to watch the excitement in his eyes, only to see it extinguished if the test comes back negative. No, not with all that’s going on with Colton and Laura and Milo. There’s too much uncertainty right now, and the last thing I need to do is add to the stress with a possible pregnancy. I’ll wait a bit, until we can talk to his parents and try to locate Colton.

Besides, Gwen might be wrong, and the last thing either one of us needs is another heartbreak right now.

We climb onto the bed, both Chase and I lying on our sides and facing each other, Milo lying between us. He’s moving his hands and feet a lot, looking around at his surroundings. I pull my phone from my back pocket and click on the images. Handing him the phone, I watch as he takes in the sight of his nephew on the All Fit T-shirt. His eyes hold a wonderment, his smile genuine and happy. “I love it.”

“I thought maybe when we get the proofs, we could order one for the office. It would be great advertisement, right?”

His eyes shine with love as he looks down at the baby. “It’s perfect.”

“Gwen had one done of Sophia too. We thought maybe we could put both pictures in the office.”

“And soon we’ll be able to add another picture,” he says, smiling warmly as he sticks his meaty finger inside Milo’s tiny hand.

My heart gallops in my chest. Does he know? Could he possibly believe there’s a chance I’m pregnant? But then it hits me like a brick to the heart. He’s not talking about us. I swallow past the pain. “He told you?”

“He wouldn’t stop smiling, even when I was handing him his ass on the mat,” Chase says. “I knew something was up.”

“I’m so happy for them.”

“Me too, Gabs,” he replies, reaching over and swiping my hair off my forehead.

Chase’s phone pings with a text message. He pulls the phone from his shorts pocket and exhales. “It’s from Jake Rodgers, my friend on the police force.”

I stop, my gaze locked on his. “What did he say?”

Chase swallows hard. “He found Laura.”

Chapter 16

Chase

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