Page 13

CHAPTER TWELVE

ROWAN

L ifting Lucy from the car seat, I situate her in my arms, resting her bottom against my lap as I look across my lawyer’s desk, my eyes scanning his face.

“How was your trip? I saw you guys did pretty well in your last game,” he says as he shuffles a few papers on his desk.

Clearing my throat, I bob my head at him. “Yeah, it wasn’t too bad. We just got back this morning, and I appreciate you being able to meet me on short notice like this.”

“Well, you got lucky,” he admits with a chuckle before lifting his mug to take a sip of his drink. “My appointment after lunch was canceled, so I had some free time. You said this is about a custody issue?” He tilts his head to the side. “I didn’t know you had a kid.”

“Neither did I,” I explain, before giving him a half lie, half truth about Lucy. I tell him that her mother dropped her off with me, leaving out the part about Hadley being the one who practically baby-napped her.

“What did she leave with the baby?”

“Just a diaper bag with some things, her birth certificate, and a note saying that I’m the father.” I pause, my lips corkscrewing. “I did get a paternity test done, but I don’t have the results for it.”

His eyebrows scrunch together, but he doesn’t dive into it further. “Let’s get an actual test done, so we have it on record. You can get one after you leave here and mail it in. Just put my address for the official results to come in.” He pauses, letting out a breath. “We need to speak to her mother. If we can get her to sign over her rights, that will make this a lot easier.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem.”

“If you don’t want to take the papers to her, we have an appointed assistant who will do it for a fee,” he explains to me, as he writes some things down on a notepad.

“I’ll pay whatever is needed.”

He looks up at me, a knowing smile on his face before he nods. “Okay. I’ll have to conduct some interviews with friends and family about your character and ability to provide a stable life for her.” His eyes are on the notepad, his pen moving across the paper. “I know you’re not married, but do you have a girlfriend or anything? You being in a committed relationship will help support your case. A fiancée would be even better.”

“Of course,” I say with ease, my head dipping with understanding, but internally, I’m panicking. “I, uh—I have a fiancée.”

What the fuck?

Why the hell did I just say that?

“Oh yeah?” He lifts his gaze from his notepad.

I jerk my chin. “Yeah. Her name’s Hadley.”

He looks extremely pleased and I want to punch myself in the face. “This is perfect. If we can get her on the stand during court, this should be a seamless process.”

I stare back at him as he tells me how they will figure out where Selena is and get things underway, but in reality, I’m barely hearing a single word he’s saying.

And even after I leave the appointment and head to the store to get a paternity test, I’m still hung up on one thing.

The fact that I just told him Hadley and I are engaged.