Page 48 of Together Is Where We Belong

“He’s my son,” I said out loud, causing Gentry to let out a low whistle and Ainsleigh to gasp.

“How do you know he’s yours?” Ainsleigh asked, and I took my phone out of my pocket.

Pulling up a photo of Luke, I smiled down at it before I tossed the phone in her direction.

Gentry caught the phone and held it out to Ainsleigh.

She looked down at the photo; her hand went to her chest as she saw a younger version of me staring back at her.

“Oh my,” she said as she continued to stare down at the photo.

“I said the same thing,” Holden admitted, causing Ainsleigh’s head to snap up.

“You knew too?” she asked as she looked up at Holden with a scowl on her face.

“Guilty as charged,” Holden said as he held his hands up in defeat.

“Do Mom and Dad know too?” Aisleigh asked as she looked between my brothers and over to me, waiting for confirmation.

“Yeah, they do,” I told her with a flinch.

“Why am I the last one to find out?” she asked with a pout.

“I didn’t do that on purpose,” I told her as I explained just how I’d found out about Luke and that Carolina had moved in next door to Holden, Brooks, and I.

“So, let me get this straight. She comes back and just happens to move in next door and you go over there to greet the new neighbors and find her livin’ there and see this cute little boy,” she exclaims.

“I know it sounds strange and like this huge coincidence, but she thought I lived on the ranch. That we all did. She didn’t know the three of us lived next door.”

“You’re defendin’ her now? How cute.”

“It’s not like that. It’s just the truth.”

I wasn’t defending her. I wasn’t. Was I?

“So, what does she want from you?” Ainsleigh asked.

“Nothin’. She just wants me to be in Luke’s life. She didn’t even demand it. She gave me the choice. As if I’d ever choose otherwise, but she gave me the choice nonetheless,” I replied.

“Why now?” Gentry asked.

“I don’t know, but she did try to tell me about Luke long before now. It’s a long story, but she did try. I just never gave her the chance to, which I own my part in, but guys, I want to be a dad to this little boy. I love him so much already. He’s such a great kid,” I told them as I went on to tell them about the two visits I already had with him.

“You’re a dad,” Ainsleigh said with tears in her eyes. Her lips quivered, and Gentry pulled her back into him to comfort her.

“Yeah, I am,” I admitted, and it felt good to claim Luke as mine, even if it were just to my family, but one day here soon I’d claim him to the world. It wouldn’t be long before the whole town knew that Luke was mine. And the idea didn’t scare me like I thought it would.

I rubbed my hand over the back of my head, pondering how I’d broach the topic of family dinner tomorrow and the possibility of Carolina being present.

“How would you guys feel if Carolina and Luke joined us tomorrow for family dinner?” I asked and looked down at Olivia, so I didn’t have to gauge their shocked expressions. They wouldn’t be shocked at Luke being present; it was the fact that I’d even entertain the idea of Carolina being there.

“Why would Carolina be there?” Ainsleigh asked.

I explained to them what Carolina told me last night.

“That’s understandable. I don’t like to leave Olivia either,” Ainsleigh said with a nod.

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, my body relaxing back into the chair.