Page 72 of Christmas with the Baby Daddy

“Wait, you know who his dad is?” the other parent asked after a gasp.

“It’s not like it isn’t obvious when you see them together,” Reagan said, “but yeah, I know.”

“Who?” The other woman would beg with enthusiasm. I peeked through a crack in the bookshelves to spot them setting out cupcakes and napkins on a table.

“Duh. Zach. I can’t believe he’d be such an idiot to fall for her a second time.” She huffed. “Ever since he came back into town, she’s been rabid for him.”

My heart raced. I’d wondered. I suspected. But to hear her say this with such finality pissed me off. To hear her gossiping about the woman I loved infuriated me. I turned, striding down the aisle to face her.

To her credit, she flinched a bit, likely surprised, but her usual bitchy mask of disdain settled right back in place.

“Speak of the devil,” she drawled.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked. I wasn’t denying her. All those little things had added up to make me wonder if George was the product of when Blake and I had slept together the night of her brother’s funeral. “How the hell can you say that?”

“That you’re George’s baby daddy?” She huffed again and rolled her eyes. “Rory was curious about who Blake slept with to have George. I told him not to focus on her if she used to be a slut and whored around. Once a slut, always a—” She opened her eyes wide and retreated a step as I glared at her and approached.

“Watch what you say about her.”

“Jeez.” She held her hands up. “Rory was curious about who her baby daddy is. Because if he was going to marry her, he wanted to know whose kid he’d have to pretend was his.”

Over my dead fucking body will he marry her.Or be in her life at all.

“So he did a DNA test and it matched with you.”

I narrowed my eyes, on edge. “Blake would never agree to a paternity test to appease him.”

“I didn’t say he did a paternity test, just a DNA one.”

I shook my head. “She wouldn’t agree to that for him.”

“She didn’t.” She crossed her arms, smug. “I asked Brent to take George’s water bottle, and he got enough spit off the cap.”

“Youstolefrom him to do a DNA test without his knowledge?” I didn’t give a fuck if this was the library. I didn’t care who else was in here. No kids were yet. Just parents.

“Shut up. You’re making it sound like a bigger deal than it is.”

I ground my molars, so enraged that I vibrated with the force of the emotion. “You…”

“What, you didn’t know?” she taunted. “Then surprise, Baby Daddy. You’re welcome.”

“There couldn’t be anything to match to.” I’d never done one of those DNA tests. Everyone thought they were so popular, all the rave a few years ago, though.

She shrugged, glowering at me. “All I know is that George’s DNA matched whatever was in the database for the West family around here.” With one more scathing look, she added, “So, congrats,Daddy.”

I watched her turn and walk away, unseeing but stuck on zoning out. Others around us in the library moved, but I was too stuck in place to react.

George is my son.

I wasn’t shocked, not completely. I had wondered and suspected, and the thought was in my mind already. Hearing a confirmation of it was something else altogether. But surprise filtered through me, nonetheless, leaving me feeling raw and exposed. Vulnerable, even, as I grappled with how this news would change my life and my identity. It would twist and modify all that I could even imagine as a purpose to fulfill in my life.

I’m a father.

29

BLAKE

Igave in to the need to pee, forsaking the peaceful warmth of staying in bed. It was the only thing that could propel me to get up. Having a morning to justbe, to sleep in without needing to hurry and get George ready for school or to get to work for West Catering was a rarity.

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