Still appearing as if he was about to yell for help, Dillon’s eyes piqued with curiosity as he reached for and tore open the birth announcement. Gavin wasn’t sure how long Dillon took to scan over the teddy bear-riddled card highlighting Noah’s July 5th entrance into his life, but somehow, Gavin wasn’t filled with the joy at witnessing any of this the way he thought he’d be.
“Emily had the baby?” Dillon questioned, his face bleeding confusion. “This was over a fucking week ago. How come I’m just finding out?” After crumpling up the announcement, Dillon chucked it into the garbage pail. With a smirk, he rounded the corner of his desk and walked up to Gavin. Their bodies were less than a foot apart when Dillon spoke up again, his voice as cold as a snowy winter morning. “It’s all good. Just tell me where I have to go and what I have to do to prove I’m this kid’s father.”
Remaining silent, Gavin didn’t know how long he stared into Dillon’s lifeless, dark eyes. The eyes of a man he’d once considered a friend, a buddy. The eyes of a man who hit the woman Gavin loved, adored, and couldn’t live without. The other half of his soul. It was then Gavin realized not only was he wasting oxygen, he was also wasting precious time away from two people that no piece of shit in the world should ever come before. The battle was over, and Gavin knew he’d won in more ways than Dillon would ever be lucky enough to experience. Sword down, no longer needing to see Dillon’s reaction and feeling like an asshole for leaving Emily and Noah, Gavin handed him the envelope holding the paternity test results. Dillon’s confused expression was the last thing Gavin saw before he turned and walked out of the office. The sound of Dillon opening the envelope was the last thing Gavin heard as he walked out of Dillon’s life for good.
Time. Emily never looked at it the same way after her mother died. Her perception of what life should mean and how it could be taken at any second was forever changed the day she watched her mother’s cherry wood coffin slowly descend into the rain-soaked earth. With her mother gone, vanished like a swirling vapor, time held new meaning for Emily.
As she closed the penthouse door behind her, Emily found herself wondering where the last seven months had gone. Time slipped through itself, a black hole sucking in memories, leaving behind Noah’s beautiful fingerprints. Like shooting stars in her sky, Noah left his beautiful mark on Emily’s life in so many magical ways. Emily’s loving gaze fell on Noah, sitting up like the big boy he was turning into, as he reached out his tiny hand to Gavin’s. After smothering a block with his sweet saliva, Noah chucked the block at Gavin’s head. Laying on the floor next to Noah, a chuckle belting from his mouth, Gavin mocked sadness as he looked at his son.
Giggling, a few thoughts flew around Emily’s mind. One: Gavin was lucky he was wearing his Yankees hat. Two: Gavin was even luckier the alphabet-speckled block was made of cotton. Three: Surrounded by an array of toys from one end of the living room to the next, Gavin looked completely edible, wearing nothing but that Yankees hat and pajama pants on this fine, Sunday afternoon. Yeah. Though time was disappearing faster than Emily could blink, faster than she could catch her next breath, each second was nothing short of magnificent.
“Look who’s home, Noah,” Gavin announced, sliding from the floor to the couch. He grinned at Emily and adjusted his baseball cap. “And she came bearing gifts for us. Will we be fed, Mommy?”
Smiling at Gavin and Noah, Emily plopped two paper bags of groceries onto the counter. “That depends.” She pulled out a loaf of rye bread. “Is the laundry folded?”
Gavin quirked a brow. “My brother was right. You’ve domesticated me beyond belief.”
“I take that as a yes.” After shoving a head of lettuce into the refrigerator, Emily dug her hands into her hips. “And don’t lie. You love being domesticated.”
Gavin chuckled, reaching for the newspaper on the end table. “Yes, boss. To be honest, Noah folded the whole pile.” He flipped open the paper, his teasing blue eyes peeking out from the sports section. “But we took a man vote. We’re in agreement we’re both tired of folding laundry. We want the housekeeper back.” Beaming a dimpled smile, Gavin looked at Noah. “Right, buddy?”
With one hand wrapped around a musical clown rattle and the other shoved in his mouth, Noah gave a single nod.
“That’s my boy,” Gavin laughed, swinging his eyes to Emily. “See? You’re outnumbered, doll. We win. I’m calling Leslie and hiring her back on fulltime. It’s a done deal.”
Jaw dropped open, Emily giggled. “This is obviously a conspiracy. It’s bad enough you have my son decked out in a Yankees onesie. Now you have him turning on me? Evil. Pure evil.”
Gavin cackled like a ghoul and flipped to the business section. He grinned that very same mouthwatering grin that’d snared her the first time she’d met him. “Hey. You’ve known this for a while,” he reminded her with a shrug and a wink. “And you love every evil inch of me.”