Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
“What if you stay close, so they always feel like you’re around? You can keep an eye on Vera and step in as needed. That way they don’t feel abandoned, yet you also get a little room to live your own life with the baby.”
“That would be ideal. Except I live in California.”
My heart sank. Of course, I’d always known her permanent home wasn’t here. I guess I’d ignored it lately, hoping she’d magically start thinking New York was where she belonged. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know the answer, but I couldn’t not ask now…
“Would you ever consider moving here?”
“It would be really difficult with my job. Most of my clients live out in California, plus all of the connections I need to maintain.”
“There’s always Zoom…”
“I know.” She sighed. “It’s just hard to think about moving or making any major changes in my life when…you know, there’s so much unknown.”
And there it was. The ever-present elephant in the room: paternity. Would living here be a choice if Robert turned out to be the baby’s father? I’d imagine she’d have to share custody with him, and flying a baby back and forth for weekend visitation wasn’t practical. That got me thinking… Would I uproot my life to be with her? Assuming she wanted to be with me, even if the baby turned out to be his, would I consider leaving New York and following her back to California? It would be like starting my career over, since all of my contacts and connections were here in the City. Hell, I wasn’t even sure if my broker’s license was transferable out there. And would I be breaking up a family if I did all that? Maybe she and Robert would reunite if I wasn’t in the picture—raise their child together. That thought made me feel sick.
“There’s…something I should probably tell you,” Devyn said.
I froze. That didn’t sound good. “What?”
“I think I’m going to be able to find out the paternity of the baby soon—sooner than I thought.”
“Oh?”
She swallowed and nodded. “I had assumed the only way was to get an amniocentesis, which isn’t usually done until fifteen to twenty weeks. And I wasn’t even certain that was the right thing to do, since having the test carries some risks to the baby.”
“Okay…”
“But it turns out there’s a noninvasive test now. It’s as simple as a blood test and a swab to the inside of your mouth, and a few days later we’ll know if the baby is yours or not.”
“And when can you get that done?”
“I did some research online, and it seems like it can be done anytime now.”
“Wow.”
Devyn’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah.”
Finding out we wouldn’t have to wait should’ve felt like good news, yet it didn’t. One look at Devyn’s face told me she wasn’t excited either. I knew why I felt glum—because what if the test confirmed I wasn’t the baby’s father? Not knowing had made it easy to hold on to hope…
My eyes locked with Devyn’s. After a few long moments, I squeezed her hand. “Do you want me to go with you to get the test?”
She tried to smile, but couldn’t quite pull it off. Her eyes filled with tears. “What if the baby is Robert’s?”
I wished I had an answer that could make her feel better. I hated to see her upset. But I also couldn’t lie to her. “I don’t know.”
***
The following morning, Devyn left my apartment early to get the kids from Billie and Colby’s. They were both off school this morning but had to go in for Regents Exams in the afternoon. She planned to take them out to breakfast and break the news that Vera was back. When I’d cleared my calendar yesterday afternoon to drive to Boston, I’d also rescheduled everything I had for this morning—just in case. So for a change, I wasn’t rushing to get to the office. I felt like I needed to talk to someone, but not many people knew about Devyn’s pregnancy. Though as I passed the tattoo parlor, I realized there was one person who knew just about everything going on with me. Billie was the perfect person to speak with, too, because of her own situation.
Justine, the receptionist, wasn’t at the front desk when I walked in, but the bells jangled above the door, prompting Billie to pop her head out from the back. Seeing me, she stepped the rest of the way out from behind the door.
“Hey, stranger.” She smiled. “How’s it going?”
I shrugged, attempting to turn the corners of my lips upward, but I suspected it might’ve looked more like a grimace. “It’s been an interesting few days.”
“I bet. Devyn filled me in a bit about Vera’s arrest when she came down to pick up the kids. That woman has a lot of balls calling for a bailout after the crap she’s pulled.”