Leaning in, I kiss the corner of her mouth. “I’m in love with you, Gabrielle. I want to build a life with you. That includes you being a part of his life too. That means I trust you to make decisions that are best for him, for all three of us.”
“It wasn’t my place,” she whispers.
“It is your place. We’re making that determination. Right here. Right now. I trust you. If that little boy in there is mine, I trust you with him, and to make decisions for him. We’re a team.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” I repeat. I feel lighter knowing that she knows where I stand with Milo and her. She’s in his life, in our lives, and her opinions matter to me. “Now, if you think Gwen is a good fit, then let’s call her and tell her thank you.”
“I do. She’s a wonderful mom.”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“We don’t need her tomorrow. I scheduled you out the entire day for the test. It’s only a few hours, but I know we have some more things we need to get for him, and I thought we could sit down and make some notes for the attorney. You know, like what you remember from the night, the letter she left with Milo, things like that.”
“No need for explanation. An entire day with you was all the information I needed.” I kiss her this time, pressing my lips to hers, tasting her, trying to convey with our kiss what she means to me. Her phone rings, which has me pulling away. She grabs it from her back pocket and grins showing me Gwen’s name on the screen.
“Hello,” she answers. “Yeah, we just talked about it. He’d—” I pinch her leg slightly. Not enough to hurt her, but enough she gets why. “I mean, we’d love for you to watch Milo for us.” The “us” is hesitant, but she’ll get there. “Not tomorrow, we have the paternity test, but the day after?” She listens to Gwen on the other end. “They said two-to-three days for the results. We’re hoping Friday so we don’t have to wait until Monday to hear. Although, this isn’t physician ordered, so if the lab is open on Saturday, we could probably still get the results. I’ll have to ask them when we’re there,” she says, more to herself than to Gwen. “Yeah, I’ll keep you posted. Thanks, Gwenny.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For taking care of all of this. For finding childcare for us, for scheduling the test. The list goes on and on. Thank you for not running, for staying by my side through all of this.”
“You’re kind of stuck with me, Callahan.”
“Promise?” I ask, my voice is teasing, but my meaning is anything but.
She rolls her eyes, my sassy girl. “Sheesh, you’re high maintenance. Yes, Chase, I promise I’m not leaving. Now, can I finish my dinner?”
“I thought I was your dinner.” I wag my eyebrows and she bursts out laughing. Immediately, she clamps her hand over her mouth as we both still and listen for Milo. “Sorry,” she whispers.
“Finish eating,” I say, reaching for her box of orange chicken and handing it to her. “I need to cuddle you on the couch. It’s been a long-ass day.”
She takes a huge bite and makes a production of chewing while rolling her eyes. I just laugh, grab my food, and continue to eat as well. By the time we’re done, Milo is waking up. I handle the diaper change while Gabby makes him a bottle, then the three of us cuddle on the couch while he eats. It’s the perfect night at home with my family.Milo only woke up twice last night. I think he knew Gabby and I needed some sleep. She caught a brief nap before I got home yesterday, but she was still exhausted. It has everything to do with the fact that we’re both getting tested today. That in a matter of forty-eight hours or so, we’ll know for sure if I’m his father. When I opened the door Sunday night and found him, I was scared as hell, for multiple reasons and sure there was some kind of mistake. Now here I am sitting in the waiting room of the hospital lab and sending up silent prayers that he is mine.
Sure, I wish Gabby was his mom, but I meant what I said to her last night. In my eyes, she will be. As far as I’m concerned, Laura lost her rights to him when she left him on my doorstep and sped off. I can at least be thankful it was my doorstep she left him on and not some stranger, or worse. I don’t even know if my name is on his birth certificate. I make a mental note to add that to the list of items for the attorney.