Page 89 of Unexpected Delivery

“Put it on speaker,” I whisper, slamming my shoulder into Hayes’s.

He sighs, pulling the phone from his face and clicking the speaker button.

“I see you took the first option I gave you,” Easton says in his cold and calculating tone.

“I’m not asking Arbor to change her name. Let alone the baby’s,” Hayes growls back. “We have roots here. People already know her. It doesn’t make sense.”

I frown and cross my arms over my chest. This is the first I’m hearing about this, and I don’t like being left out.

“You don’t need to convince me. It was merely an observation,” Easton replies drolly. I still don’t like that I didn’t even know changing names was a possibility, but I agree Arbor is unlikely to go that route. “Fine. I’m going to have Calder email you a testing facility as soon as we disconnect. One of you will need to go to the appointment he’s going to schedule.”

“Easton,” Hayes growls, swiping his hand over his face. “What the hell are you cooking up now?”

East chuckles darkly. “An alibi. Or, more accurately, proof that you would have no reason to harm that man because he’s not the baby’s father.”

My forehead wrinkles so deeply, I start considering if I need Botox.

“I’ve already told you,” Hayes says, sounding exhausted. “There’s no possibility the baby is mine or Hael’s—or Morris’s, for that matter.”

“With that attitude, of course there’s not.” Easton laughs, though it’s a cold, dead sound and not at all friendly. “It’s almost like you don’t trust me. I will handle this for you, if you distract our mother. I love her dearly, but what I can’t manage is the hassle of having her in my space. You know this. Her flight lands Sunday evening. Don’t forget.” With that, he hangs up while I’m still slow blinking at the phone.

“What the hell does that mean?” I ask.

He sighs. “You don’t want to know. Trust me.”

“No, Ireallyfucking do,” I growl, taking a step forward.

“At least one of us should have plausible deniability if something goes south.”

I’m not proud of the fact I punch him in the kidney, but if we need to handle this like we did when we were teenagers, then we can go that route.

“Fucker,” Hayes growls, clutching his side. He shoves his phone into his pocket with his free hand and flips me off. “Mom found out Easton bonded. She had her flight scheduled and everything. He, of course, deflected by ratting us out. Baby apparently trumps bonding, so now she’s coming to visit us.”

I jab a finger at his face. “That’s not what I meant, and you fucking know it.”

“You really wanna know, Hael?” He slaps my hand away. “Easton wants one of us to go in and do a paternity test for Gracie. Then he’s going to do some very illegal shit and swap out the results to make it look like she’s biologically ours.” His head shakes. “Whatever. It’ll show that it’s a match, that she belongs to one of us. According to East, it won’t matter which of us takes the test because identical twins are basically impossible to tell apart on a paternity test.”

“Wait, what?” Arbor’s voice comes from the doorway.

Fuck.

I thought she was still upstairs.

She was napping in the pack bedroom while Gracie slept in her bassinet when I got home.

“Arbor…” Hayes spins around, and his Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows thickly. “It’s not as bad as it sounds.”

“Is your brother really powerful enough to have someone swap out DNA test results?” she asks, studying him just as intently as he studies her.

“Apparently,” I say, shrugging. “Have you got any feelings on that?”

Her teeth dig into her lower lip as her shoulders rise and fall. “I don’t want anyone to get in trouble, but if you knew it could be done without any of us being arrested… I mean, I wouldn’t say no. I really don’t want him to have any legal claim over Gracie.”

“We agree,” Hayes says, pulling her into his arms. “Now for the questionable news. Easton bought our mom a plane ticket. She’ll be here Sunday. I’m going to see if she would be open to staying with Nana, but I’m pretty sure there’s no way we can get out of the visit.”

“Having your mom visit isn’t something you should try to get out of,” Arbor says, laughing. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

That’s a relief.

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