Chapter Forty-Five

Grayson

 

The door opened. All the nervous energy that I'd focused into trying not to lose my shit suddenly flooded out of me, and I jumped to my feet, not even worrying about how this looked. ""How to go? How is it?" I said.

Harper looked up and around, then ducked and nodded in the direction of the hallway. I looked at Cal and we both followed her over to a more private corner, shutting the door to the office behind us. She leaned against the wall, blinking for a second. Then she took a deep breath. "Well? The first thing is, the baby is healthy."

I felt a flush of something warm run through my veins and heard Cal's sharp exhale. Harper's fingers were already playing across her stomach. "They also said I missed the window for the CVS."

"The pharmacy store?" Cal asked, at the same time I said, "The what?"

She looked at both of us. "It's a test for paternity," she sighed, leaning forward and burying her head in her hands. "But it has to be administered before you get too pregnant and..." She smoothed her hand over her tiny little belly. It was just the prettiest thing I'd ever seen, the way it was so perfectly round and taut. I wanted so badly to go to my knees right there in the hallway and kiss that tiny little bump. "So if I want a paternity test, I have to have an amnio," she was saying.

I wrenched my thoughts away from kissing her belly and looked up at her. "An amnio is what exactly?"

"Where they take some of the fluid out of the amniotic sac. They can use that to do the paternity test."

Cal was nodding. "Okay, then we have to do that than right?"

She nodded but very slowly. I looked at her sharply. "You seem weird about this," I said cautiously.

She looked down and closed her eyes. For a second, it was like we weren't even there, her hands rubbing over her belly, and a small private smile playing around her lips. It was just her and that kid in there right now, and she took a deep breath. "There's a chance it could cause a miscarriage..." she exhaled.

That silence hung in the air for a moment. I looked at Cal. He looked like he wanted to throw up, just like me. I'd been suspecting his feelings on the matter all along and this just confirmed it. If figuring out whose kid this was put the baby — our baby — at risk in any way, then...

Well really, did it matter?

I nodded and then went to my knees and took her hands. I kissed her fingers, not caring who saw. "Okay," I said. I had to keep talking, because I was afraid I was going to vomit on her shoes. "We have time to think about that. If you want to." I looked at Cal. He sort of swallowed, and I saw the shadow of his Adam's apple bob up and down and I knew he was ready to spew. "Come on," I said sharply. "Honey, we're taking you home so we can take care of you."

At that, Cal’s color came back, and he nodded and stretched out his hand.

Harper walked in a daze, letting us lead her around the hallway corner and straight into...

"Ma?" Cal said.

I stared down the long hallway, blinking like I could somehow reset the image, but Mrs. McCabe just kept on barreling towards us. Somewhere far behind her, I saw Rett loping slowly, his head down and in the far distance was Vern leaning against the wall and looking towards the ceiling, and if the ground could have opened up and swallowed me right then and there, I would have been eternally grateful.

I took a deep breath and waited for Mrs. McCabe to strike. But she blew right past me and right into the arms of her daughter.

"How are you?" she cried, clutching her daughter in a chokehold. Harper made a helpless little sound and her eyes went wide as Mrs. McCabe squeezed all the breath from her lungs. "Is my grandchild okay?"

"Ma?" Cal repeated, sounding for all the world like a frightened parrot. "Ma?"

Mrs. McCabe whirled on him. "Were you in there?" she demanded. "Is she eating right? You have to make sure she remembers to eat. I never knew how in the world someone could just forget to eat, that's a problem I've obviously never had." She patted her rounded hips and then clutched Harper tighter. "Are you feeling okay? Do you need some Saltines?"

"Mom?" Harper croaked, finally able to pull back. "How did you?" Then she spotted Rett lurking in the background. "Oh. Never mind." She craned her neck. "And Dad's here too? Oh Lord."

"He said he's going to hold his tongue about this whole...thing," Mrs. McCabe whispered conspiratorially. As if Vern would ever say something unless absolutely necessary. "But that doesn't mean I need to."

"Mom," Harper started, and the green fire in her eyes blazed up. But Mrs. McCabe wasn't even looking at her.

She was looking at me.

"You all got her in this mess. I know you and what kind of man you've become. I always told everyone exactly what I thought you were worth, Grayson Abbott. Don't prove me wrong."

I was about to profess my undying love for her daughter and her grandchild, when she whirled on a startled looking Cal. "And you, Callum Reese. I always said your father did the best job he could in making a good man out of you. You do him proud and do right by my girl."

"I would never think of..." Cal started to say, but Mrs. McCabe was already talking to Harper.

"And my little girl." She brushed a piece of Harper's hair from her face and it was only then that I saw my girl was crying. "My little adventurer with her legs sticking out of the chimney. I know you're going to find your own way no matter what, so I'm not worried. I know these two guys here will worry enough for all of us."

"This is true," Cal said, running his hand over Harper's back.

It was the first time either one of us had dared touch her in front of her family. I reached out and tentatively tucked her hair behind her ears. She looked up and smiled at me. "So true," I echoed Cal.

Harper's mother caught her up in a flutter of questions and double-checking doctor's orders, and I reluctantly let go of her hand as Mrs. McCabe led her down the hall, leaving me, Cal and Rett all standing there in a three-way staring contest.

Rett finally took a deep breath. "And as far as I'm concerned," he announced. "You're all sitting around with your hands folded. Maybe occasionally playing Monopoly."

"That's exactly it," I deadpanned. Then I grinned at my friend. "You wanna take a raincheck on that Patron?"

Rett glared at me. "I don't want to hear that word ever again," he declared, looking a little green around the gills. "But I'd be fine drinking something else with you." He narrowed his eyes. "Your treat."

I nodded. "My treat." I looked at Cal. "Our treat?"

Cal rolled his eyes at me. "Fuck you dude, you're treating us both."

"Fine," I sighed dramatically. "But you're driving to the liquor store."