Page 11 of A Billion Secrets

Just the thought of her having someone else’s baby made me downright murderous.

Why? I couldn’t quite be sure.

All I knew was that I wanted to pound in the face of the guy who’d impregnated Eve.

The rush of relief when she’d told me the baby wasn’t hers was enormous.

Again, I didn’t know why that mattered so much to me.

“Say hi,” Eve said, nudging me in the arm.

I looked over and saw the baby staring at me while she sucked on her hand. “Hi,” I said, smiling and lightly touching the side of her head. The baby drew in a loud breath and laughed.

It was such a funny sound, all of us laughed along with her.

“Ouch!” Beatrice shrieked, and our heads turned to see that she’d cut her finger.

“Why the heck are you using a steak knife to cut your pancakes?” Eve admonished her baby sister. “Here,” she said, handing the baby over to me so quickly I didn’t realize what was going on. Eve held her sister’s cut finger, applying pressure with another napkin. “To the bathroom,” she said, dragging her sister away.

“Oh, I have Band-Aids,” Giselle said, holding up her diaper bag and slinging it over her shoulder when she stood up. After she took a few steps away, she turned back to me and said, “Are you okay with her for a minute?”

I nodded and lied, “Of course.”

Then she hurried off.

The baby started to make gurgly noises as she continued sucking on her fists.

“If I offer you ten bucks, will you promise not to require a diaper change while I hold you?”

Rachel snorted despite herself. “Don’t have much experience with babies?” she asked, picking up her orange juice and taking a large sip.

“Nope.”

“You’re pretty old. Don’t you have any kids yet?”

I stared at her and gave her the same answer. “Nope.”

“Huh, weird. Most people have kids by the time they’re your age.” She had a slight grin on her face. “Why don’t you have any?”

“Not in the cards, I suppose,” I said, pushing away my coffee and plate so they didn’t suffer the same fate from the baby’s hands. I turned her around and let her sit on my lap while she slapped her hands on the table.

“Well, Evie wants a bunch. So, I guess you guys aren’t meant to be after all. She loves babies and has always said how she can’t wait to have a family. I guess she’ll have to find another guy who’ll give her one.”

I felt a stabbing sensation through my stomach.

I knew that Rachel was trying to piss me off—anger me, and scare me away. In her situation, I’d do the same thing.

Except this was Eve we were talking about.

And nobody was going to start a family with her.

“You’re probably too old to have kids anyway.” Rachel dug in one more jab.

Instead of getting angry, I decided to laugh at her ridiculous claim. “I’m not quite that old.”

She took another bite of her pancakes, swallowed, and asked, “Are you really my sister’s boyfriend?”

I answered her back, “Yes.”

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