Page 38 of Vegas Baby

Maria gives me a sympathetic look. “I know this is a lot, and I’m sorry to drop this on you. But she has his eyebrows, Kira, how have neither of you ever noticed?”

I shake my head. “I guess you don’t notice what you don’t think is possible,” I murmur, looking down at the paper once more. Then I look back up at her, tears filling my eyes. “You’re her aunt. That’s why you gave me a ‘free trial,’ isn’t it?”

Maria shakes her head. “I only suspected late last week,” she says firmly. “You’re going to tell him, right?”

I take a deep, steady breath through my nose. My god. Telling Sebastian this …

“Of course,” I reply softly. “Though we just got back together. This is going to be … a lot. And if he stays with me, I’ll always wonder if it was just for the baby.”

Maria snorts again. “Not like he’s not already taking care of her even though he thinks she’s not his.”

My eyes snap up to meet hers. “What do you mean?”

Maria shrinks back, a clearly guilty look on her face. “Crap.”

“Maria?”

She scrunches her nose. “You aren’t getting a free trial. Sebastian paid for three months of care for Nadia.” My mouth drops open in shock. “But see,” she scrambles to explain, “he’s already all in, even though he thinks she’s not his. So, if he’s with you, it’s clearly because he wants to be.”

My head starts spinning. “I can’t … I’m not …” I lean forward, resting my head in my hands. I hear Maria rise and put Nadia in the bassinet next to the couch, then her footsteps head into the kitchen.

A moment later, a glass of water appears in front of me. I look up to see Maria offering it to me.

“Drink. And breathe.”

I take the water and drain the glass. And then I breathe while Maria rubs small circles over my back.

“Are you okay?” she asks after a few minutes.

I nod numbly. “I will be.”

“You’re not taking the bus home after this. I can drive you after Jaime gets picked up in about twenty minutes if you want.”

Tears well in my eyes as I look over at her. “Is your whole family this nice then?” I tease, my voice thick with tears.

Maria laughs, wraps an arm around me, and gives me a gentle squeeze. “I guess we do tend to want to take care of people. Especially our own.” She gives me a meaningful look that has tears spilling over my cheeks.

The idea of family, especially one that loves you enough to put your needs before their own, isn’t something I’m used to. Though this news is overwhelming, maybe it will turn out to be a good thing. I hope.

But this is also huge, life-changing news. And I had months to come to terms with the fact that I was going to have a child. I feel like I am, once again, about to pull the rug out from under Sebastian, albeit in a very different way this time. I can only hope he doesn’t run from the news the way I did.

26

SEBASTIAN

As soon as Kira opens the door, I know something is wrong. She doesn’t say “hey” and give me her usual smile. Instead, she’s radiating nervous energy and chewing on her lip like it’s going out of style.

“Everything okay?” I ask as she steps back to let me in. I set the Chinese takeout I brought down on the coffee table and turn to find her twisting her fingers together. The apartment is completely silent and there’s no sign of the baby. “Where’s Nadia?”

“Maria took her for the night.” She sits and perches on the edge of the couch. “We need to talk.” She pats the cushion next to her, but I don’t take the invitation.

“You’re kind of freaking me out here, Kira,” I reply.

“Please sit?” she implores me. And the anguish in her tone is the only thing that could make me sit now that I’ve caught her nervous energy. But I also perch at the edge, facing her.

“Talk to me,” I say. She twists her hands more fervently in her lap, so I take them in mine. “Whatever it is, I’m not going anywhere.”

She huffs a sarcastic laugh. “We’ll see about that.”

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