Carter turns the page, and a little boy and girl who are about four or five stand in front of the bay wearing bathing suits and big smiles. Carter looks at me and back at the picture again. “Is this you and me?”
I bite my lips shut and smile. “Yes. Crazy, huh?”
He shakes his head. “It’s so much more than that.”
The next photo is a young Cat sitting in her mother’s lap. There’s another one with me and his mother, and this is the one that makes the tears fall from my eyes every time I stare at it.
“Holy shit,” he says, pointing at it.
I try for a shaky breath. Hope is smiling at the camera, and I am kissing her very swollen pregnant belly. I close my eyes and try not to cry.
“You have to show this to him,” he says, turning to me.
I shake my head.
“Grace, if that’s his baby…”
I suck in air. “I promise, I will talk to Cash. I’m not hiding anything from him. It’s why I’m here. But this,”—I point to the picture—“whatever crazy idea that everyone has that we were fated…that dream died the moment he gave up on us and destroyed my reputation.”
From the door, I hear a throat clearing and turn to find Cash looking down at me with war in his eyes. “Well, I’m glad we established that.”