Page 125 of Scores Of The Heart

“You’re telling me they’re sneaky. It was good of Caitlin to tell you.”

“I know. She could be fired for something like that. Liam was the one who brought it to her attention.”

“What do you want to do?” I ask her, “I mean about us, we need to talk to your parents, regardless. Mine already know about the Stacey situation.”

If she doesn’t want to continue with us, we still have to explain things to her family, and fuck knows what is going to happen with the team.

She perches on the end of my couch while Henry has already made himself comfortable on my shag pile rug on the floor. She seemed pretty upset when she arrived, but relieved to see me at the same time, and that gives me hope we can get through this.

“What happened with Stacey first?” She asks.

I realize I haven’t even gotten her up to speed with that and want to punch myself.

”It went okay as far as these things go. She maintains the baby is mine, so I insisted on a paternity test. We’re going to meet up next week to get that finalized.”

“Wow. I guess it’s the next step, though.”

“I’m so fucking stressed,” I say, running my hands over my face.

“Do you believe her?”

“I don’t know what to believe. I don’t think she would be capable of doing something like this and lying about it, but I guess you never know.”

“And what if she doesn’t want to raise the baby herself?”

I sigh long and hard. “I couldn’t let her do that and give her away, Cind. At the end of the day, I will always do the right thing, and I’ll find a way to keep her and to raise her, I guess. It’s not the baby’s fault in all of this. I couldn’t live with myself if I let anything happen to her.”

She nods, looking ahead for a moment, gathering her thoughts. “I can understand how you wouldn’t want that to happen.”

“I know that changes the dynamics for us. I don’t even know how I would care for a baby, or know the first thing about it. It will be hard if that’s the way things go and I understand if it’s too much, I’m sure it would be a lot for anyone.”

“I guess we just have to take it as it comes,” she says quietly. “I know the dynamics are going to shift, and we won’t know exactly what that’s going to look like until it’s happening. But I meant what I said in Miami, that I’ve fallen for you, Tyler. Running away from this isn’t the solution.”

I stare at this beauty, unable to even comprehend she would still be willing to stand by me while I try to raise a baby that isn’t hers. It overwhelms me that she would even consider it.

“Are you sure about this, Cind?”

She presses her lips together for a moment, then turns her beautiful ochre eyes to mine, her gorgeous lashes framing them. I’m getting lost in her every time she looks at me like this. She wears her heart on her sleeve. Another thing I love about her.

“I want to try, Tyler. That much I know.”

I bend my head to kiss her lightly on the lips. I’m so fucking relieved because I seriously thought we were through.

I can’t even think about what Coach Carter is going to do or say to me right now. I guess I’ll be crossing that bridge very soon. “Thank you, Cindy.”

“What for?” She breathes, pulling back slightly.

My hand reaches up to touch her face with my fingertips. “For being you. You are the most amazing woman I’ve ever met.”

She blinks in rapid succession, taking in my words. “You’re a decent man, Tyler. Anyone could just run away from their problems, but you’ve tackled them head on and you’re not making excuses.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in Miami.”

She smiles softly. “Like you said, we have to get past that part and focus on the matter at hand. How do you even feel about the fact you’re going to be a father?”

I swallow hard, because the thought freaks me the fuck out. This is never how I expected it to happen. “I’m scared shitless,” I tell her. “It’s not the way I wanted things, obviously. But if it turns out that it’s true, I guess I have to get used to the idea pretty fast.” I pause, pursing my lips for a second. “Have you thought about having kids in the future?” I ask her.

“Yes, I would love to be a mom.”

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