Page 104 of The One Who Never Left: Colter

“I have news,” she whispered. “Or more like a secret. And you can’t tell anyone.”

Sutton straightened. Secrets she could handle. Hell, she was a professional at compartmentalizing. She could lock something in a vault and swallow the key. Her entire romantic life currently depended on keeping her mouth shut.

Jo leaned in, suddenly alert. “Secret about what?”

Vivi swallowed hard. “I’m late.”

Sutton lifted a brow in confusion. “We’re just getting started. There’s plenty of time to help setup and plenty left to do.”

Vivi looked from one to the other—panicked, hopeful, terrified. “Late late.”

It took half a second for understanding to hit. Sutton’s breath caught and Jo’s eyes went huge.

“Oh,” Sutton said softly.

“Ohhh,” Jo echoed—followed quickly by, “Holy shit.”

Sutton found her voice first. “Does Boone know?”

Vivi shook her head, eyes glossy. “Not yet. We’re not even married. This wasn’t the plan.”

Sutton squeezed her arm. “Neither was Lynlee. But the universe decided it was her time—and mine. Plans get shredded all the time. Families don’t have to make sense to anyone but the people in them.”

Jo tipped her head toward the sky. “Pa-lease. Boone will be over the freaking moon. That man would happily tattoo Property of Vivianna across his chest if you asked. The second he hears the word baby, he’s gonna build a crib, a bassinet, and probably a damn treehouse.”

That earned a breathy laugh from Vivi. “You really think so?”

“He’s already halfway obsessed with you,” Jo said. “Give him a kid? He’ll ascend. Tell him a-sap. Preferably before your uterus graduates to the second trimester.”

Sutton smirked. “Jo means tell him before you make yourself sick worrying.”

Vivi nodded, though the nerves remained.

Then Jo’s curiosity flared—blunt as ever. “Speaking of babies. Sutton, what happened to Lynlee’s father? You’ve never really said.”

Sutton went still. Not defensive, just preparing the truth. She didn’t tell the story often because people loved to turn it into some kind of cautionary tale or juicy gossip.

“She doesn’t have a father,” Sutton said. “Not in the usual sense. I signed up to be a surrogate. The plan was to help a family in need and walk away with some money to pay for med-school.”

“And?” Jo asked.

“And the lab screwed up,” Sutton said bluntly. “They used the wrong sample. A sperm donor instead of the father’s sperm.”

Vivi’s hand went to her chest. “Oh my God.”

“When the intended parents found out the baby wasn’t biologically theirs, they backed out,” Sutton continued. “They cut ties and wanted nothing to do with her.”

Jo cursed under her breath. “People like that shouldn’t get goldfish, let alone kids.”

Sutton didn’t disagree. “So I had two choices. Carry her to term and give her up for adoption, or put on my big girl ponytail and be her mother. And I knew what it felt like to be left behind, and I wasn’t doing that to a child.”

Neither Jo nor Vivi spoke. They just listened, as if wanting to really hear what Sutton was saying.

“I decided she was mine. Not because of biology, but because she deserved someone who wouldn’t disappear on her. I brought her into this world, and I wasn’t going to hand her over to strangers. I became a mom at nineteen and, yes, it was terrifying and messy, and I was all alone,” Sutton said. “And I have never, not for a single second, regretted that choice. Not even when life gets so complicated it’s hard to see the light at the other end. Not even when she threw peas at my face. Lynlee is the best thing I ever did.”

Jo blinked hard, fighting tears she’d deny later. “God, Sutton. You make the rest of us look like emotional toddlers.”

Vivi sniffed and swiped at her eyes. “Boone is going to be fine. He’s going to be better than fine.”