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I froze, stopped dead, staring at my porch, blinking, and refocusing at the spot where I would normally see a welcome mat.
“Jax?” Arlo almost walked into me, resting a hand on my shoulder to peer at whatever I was staring at. “What’s wrong is there… wait… is that a… what?”
“A baby,” I said, and pointed at the out-of-place object, thing, baby, whatever.
“Why is there a baby on your porch?”
Good fucking question. I glanced around, wondering if one of my idiot siblings was hiding out there, snickering at what they’d done. “You can come out now, Leo?” Nothing. “Reid?” No sign of either of my brothers, and Lorna was in another state, so I could rule her out. “Is this a joke?”
The baby was mewling plaintively, waving chubby fists, fluffy red-blond hair sticking upright.
Hair the same soft red-blond that mine used to be before it darkened to the copper it was now.
Not possible.
Fuck, no.
ChapterFour
Arlo
I moved past Jax,who’d gone as still as a statue, and tried to take everything in, my stomach in sudden knots. A red-haired baby on his doorstep could only mean one thing; he’d clearly been seeing people without me even knowing. Not that he owed me an explanation, but I hadn’t known. So much for years of pining on my part when it was obvious he’d been out there doing his thing.
Jax’s breathing was shallow. I wanted to be angry, but instead, compassion flooded me. I knew he was bi. He’d been married and had two daughters, so I knew he was attracted to women, but something had gone wrong given there was the evidence of a sexual encounter on the doorstep. A tiny squirming bundle of freaking joy with the same red hair and pout as Jax.
“Arlo?” He exhaled noisily.
I rested a hand on his shoulder. “Breathe.”
“I am… breathing…” he choked out, but he wasn’t breathing at all, so I smacked him on the back to startle him out of whatever hewasdoing, which was all about panic and shutting down.
I took a deep breath myself, my mind racing to make sense of the situation. “There has to be an explanation.” Always stay positive, whatever the shock or the pain.
“‘An explanation’?” Jax rounded on me. “Arlo, there’s a red-headed baby with my eyes on my doorstep! On. My. Doorstep. What could possibly explain this?”
Sex could explain this, and I sent him a pointed glance.
“No,” he blurted. “It’s not mine.”
I opted for my most soothing, steady voice. “Then, there are a million reasons why a baby would be on your doorstep,” I lied. “Maybe it’s been left at the wrong address?”
“Who would abandon a baby on any doorstep in the first place!”
I had no answer at all, and I stepped closer, noting two diaper bags set down close to the car seat, and also, the corner of a blue envelope tucked in next to the baby. I reached for the note, trying not to touch anything else—this could be a crime scene, and I was contaminating it, but leaving it there wasn’t going to be a thing, not when it could hold all the answers to what the fuck was occurring here. Not to mention, we should get the baby inside.
“Arlo!” Jax snapped. “Don’t touch anything!”
I rolled my eyes. “It’s not an unexploded bomb.” Jax’s eyes widened, and he pressed a hand to his chest. “Let’s start by reading the note,” I said in my best soothing tone.
“Wait, there’s a note?” Jax asked with another sharp breath.
“There’s an envelope at least.” I turned it over in my hand, thinking maybe I’d see another name on the front—Fred, Bob, Ted, whatever—but no, it saidJaxon Byrne, and my stomach sank. Shit.
I thrust the note at him. For a moment, it looked as if he wasn’t going to take it. So, I shoved it harder until he took it, then dangled it between two fingers.
“No,” he said. “The baby’s not mine. I haven’t… not with a woman, since…three years… no…” He went scarlet as he met my gaze. I didn’t want to think of him with a woman, or a man, or indeed anyone, but clearly, he’d forgotten something in his sex life I didn’t want to hear about—if the proof here was to be believed. There was no doubt in my mind that the cute cooing baby was Jax’s.
“We should all go in,” I said.
