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VAUGHN
Gaping after the irate brunette, I released a shaky breath as she stormed across the yard and climbed into a silver sedan. When its engine started, I dropped my gaze to the ruled, 3x5 cardstock in my hand with her name on it and her home address, plus a phone number underneath. It was as if she’d been writing study notes for a test at school and had paused to make herself a makeshift business card, just for me.
For some reason, that made my stomach knot with unease, as if I’d interrupted the natural order of her life.
But hadn’t I, though? If I hadn’t watched her feed that damn squirrel, my brother wouldn’t have thought I’d grown some raging crush and focused his attention on her, to begin with, and she wouldn’t be in this situation now.
“Jesus.”
I ran my thumb over the dried ink of her surname. Gamble. I hadn’t known her fucking last name until this very moment, and it was my fault her entire world had just flipped on its axis, that she was going to be a single mother, raising her child with no help at all.
God, she’d been absolutely right about me; I was an asshole. I’d treated her abhorrently. And I hadn’t been any less of a jerk during our first encounter, either.
I’d just been so completely caught off-guard, first by discovering she’d slept with my brother and then from hearing that she was carrying his child. Anger had been my go-to, knee-jerk reaction.
That was no excuse, I know, but—damn—maybe Duke hadn’t been too far off the mark with his assumptions. Maybe I had experienced a bit of a crush on Lucy at first sight because, if I was being completely honest with myself, seeing her come out of his room had hit me hard.
And then to learn about her pregnancy—
I laughed hoarsely. Worst time ever to get jealous, Vaughn. I was going to be her kid’s uncle. I couldn’t—
Holy shit. I lifted my face and sucked in a breath as I focused on Duke’s senior-year portrait.
“You’re going to be a dad,” I told him, the truth of it sinking in completely this time.
My brother was going to be a father, and a part of him was going to continue in this world. The Merrill line wasn’t going to end with me, after all.
I still had family left. Something to live for.
Promise me, Duke’s voice wavered through my head.
“Did you plan this?” I asked his picture, fully believing he’d somehow acted from the grave and caused some sort of divine intervention to give me a reason to keep going.
But that couldn’t be possible. He couldn’t have had a clue that a child would come from his actions. He would’ve said something to me during his deathbed confessions; I was sure of it. But it had happened, anyway.
And I suddenly had so much to do.
Spinning around, I started through the living room, already adding up a list in my head of everything I needed to get done in the next nine months. I knew absolutely nothing about babies. First, I’d have to educate myself, buy books, read up online, maybe join some group. Then I needed to—
The kitchen chair that still sat in the middle of the room nearly tripped me up, reminding me of the rope I’d left dangling above my head.
Shit. I glanced up, already having forgotten about that.
I hadn’t been looking for a sign telling me I had a reason to stick around, but if there ever was one, this would be it.
Meaning, first things first: get rid of the damn noose.
I couldn’t die today; I had work to do and my brother’s child counting on me to do it.
“I promise,” I said aloud, glancing one last time at Duke’s picture. I promised that I’d do right by his kid. I’d make sure it was taken care of in the best ways possible.
6
LUCY OLIVIA
I was pretty certain I’d never see or hear from Vaughn again.
So I nearly fell out of my hospital bed from shock when he appeared in the doorway of my patient room, holding a gift bag down at his side, the morning after Ava Grace was born.
