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“How soon?!”
“They were married… six months? Seven months?” Pike guesses.
I feel a small spark of disappointment, but I’m not convinced it’s over yet.
“And she never went back to any of you after she committed to Ryker? Not once?”
No one answers me, and I exhale as if I’ve won the jackpot. Guilt shadows all three of their faces, but they don’t look at one another, and I realize that none of them knew about the other.
“It was one time,” Flint confesses first. “Once. She missed me and wanted?—”
“Closure,” Caden concludes, his eyes bulging as he gapes at Flint. “You too?”
“She told me the same thing!” Pike almost yells, and I press my hands together.
“When was it, guys?” I demand. “Think really hard because this could be relevant.”
“It was close to the time that Lily was conceived,” Flint admitted. “I considered she was mine, but it only happened once. The chances seemed so slim.”
“Yeah, it was before the holidays,” Caden recalls, rubbing his chin in thought. “In the fall sometime.”
“Same here.”
I could cry. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
“No, Aspen, don’t get your hopes up,” Flint warns me. “It was one time?—”
“For each of you,” I interject. “The chances that Lily is one of yours just went up three times.”
They all stop and consider my position.
“It’s still a long shot—no pun intended,” Caden mutters. “But if she’s right…”
“If I’m right, Raya’s hearing is void because one of you is Lily’s biological father. She won’t have a leg to stand on in any court in the country, no matter how much noise she makes.”
“We need to get a DNA test—pronto!” Flint chokes.
* * *
As much as I dislike Flint’s attorney, Julian takes charge of handling the DNA matter. He’s a prick, but he’s an efficient prick.
At first, none of the men wanted to know the truth about Lily’s paternity if the test proved Ryker was not her father, but Julian put an end to that fantasy in his usual, snotty way.
“How do you expect to deal with that in court?” he demands. “Of course you need to know who the father is.”
In the end, we decided we would learn the truth but keep it from Lily until she was old enough to handle it.
“It changes nothing,” I reiterate to all of them. “You’re still her parents. All of you, no matter what that test tube says.”
I witness all the terms, but I know these men won’t betray one another. Lily’s paternity doesn’t make any difference to them. It doesn’t change the way they feel about her. This pact makes me love them more, but the few days of waiting are unbearable. Like Caden, Flint, and Pike, I don’t care who her father is, except that I truly hope it is one of them.
The hearing date approaches, and the DNA test still hasn’t arrived.
“Dammit, how long do these things take?” Pike explodes at Caden.
“You’re asking me?” Caden demands, blinking in surprise. “I’m not running the test.”
“You’re supposed to be a doctor, aren’t you?” Pike growls back.
