Page 13 of Together Is Where We Belong

When I turned around, Leo’s wide eyes were all I needed to see to let me know that he did, in fact, see Luke.

I couldn’t finesse the situation now. I had to just come out with it.

“Carolina… Is..?” he stumbled over his words at the shock of seeing Luke.

With another deep breath in, I swallowed and whispered, “He’s yours.”

five

Leo

Her words echoed in my mind. My hands grew clammy, and my heart raced inside my chest making it hard to breathe.

He’s yours.

He’s yours.

I had a child.

A son.

I rubbed my clenched fist against my chest to try and ease the ache.

I looked from Carolina back to the now closed front door.

Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear what she said.

I could only hear her words on repeat.

Carolina’s hand touched my arm, almost breaking me out of the full-blown panic attack that brewed.

I stumbled backward as I tried and failed to speak.

“Leo, why don’t we sit in the rocking chairs and talk,” she suggested, but I didn’t know if I could make my legs move.

Shock still coursed through me at the realization that there was a miniature spitting image of me as a child that was just on the other side of that front door.

I shook my head and somehow managed to make my legs move to take a few short steps over to the rocking chairs Carolina suggested we sit in.

The chair creaked under my weight as I flopped down. I still couldn’t manage to speak. I leaned over, and put my head in my hands, running my fingers through my hair and pulling it at the ends. The pain kept me grounded to the here and now as I tried to gain my composure enough to have a conversation.

The porch steps creaked, but I couldn’t be bothered enough to lift my head.

Carolina had a son. My son.

A son I knew absolutely nothing about.

Carolina spoke to whoever arrived, but I couldn’t make out the words.

“It’s good to see you, Leo,” I heard, breaking me out of my spiral.

Looking up I noticed Carolina’s parents, Bonnie and Wade, standing on the porch. They both looked at me with such concern like they knew my world was about to be upended. Little did they know it already had been.

“It’s good to see you too, Mr. and Mrs. Sutton,” I managed to reply.

I’d known her parents all my life, and they'd never said anything about their grandson. I knew I should wait until Carolina and I had a chance to talk, but I couldn’t stop my mind from reeling with all the things that raced around.

Resting my elbows on my knees, I held my head in my hands and pulled at my hair as I tried to wrap my head around the little boy I’d just seen. I heard voices in the distance and footsteps across the porch, but I was too consumed in my thoughts to register what occurred around me.