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“I have to know.” She dropped a kiss on the top of Chase’s downy head. “Don’t you want to know?”
“I want to go back to bed, wake up and pretend this day never happened.”
She smiled slightly. “If only that were an option.”
“It is,” Greg offered with more of that fake cheer. “Or you can take the tests, and if the results come back the way we think they might, it’s an easy swap. No harm, no foul.”
Even Mary Dill gasped at that suggestion.
Esme felt like she’d taken another blow, this one directly to her heart. Chase was her child, the baby she’d brought home from the hospital. Her son. How could she conceive of any other possibility?
“You’re going to want to stop talking,” Ryder told the attorney. “Because everything coming out of your mouth makes me want to slam my fist into it.”
“Th-there’s no need to get violent,” Greg stammered, taking a step away from the table.
“You have no idea what I need,” Ryder muttered.
“I need to get out of here,” Esme blurted, then looked at Mary. “Can we do the tests right now? I want to go home.”
“Of course,” she answered without hesitation.
Esme kept Chase cradled close in one arm and picked up the infant carrier with her free hand.
“We’ll put a rush on the tests,” Mary said as Esme moved around the conference table. Sunlight streamed through the windows she’d been staring out earlier, and the brightness of the day felt like it was mocking her. “But it will be later today until we have the results.”
The attorney reached for his briefcase. “I have some papers for you both to sign granting the hospital indemnity in this matter.”
“Neither of us is signing a damn thing,” Ryder answered for them both, which was fine. Esme didn’t have any fight left in her at the moment. This new version of her reality was too much to manage.
She was surprised when Ryder followed her and Mary out of the room, gripping his son’s infant carrier with the same tight hold she had on Chase’s.
“Are you willing to have the tests?” she asked, then glanced at the sweet baby sleeping in the carrier. “What’s his name?”
“Noah,” Ryder whispered, then touched her arm. “I understand we’re strangers, Esme Fortune, but as far as I’m concerned, we’re in this together.”
She nodded, his unexpected words comforting her, much like his gaze had the night their babies were born. Once again, she needed all the reassurance she could get.
Chapter Three
A half hour later, Esme stood outside the hospital’s entrance and dialed her sister’s number with shaking fingers. Bea answered on the first ring, and she quickly explained the situation, even the awful part where the attorney suggested they swap babies.
Bea was outraged but also shocked at how calm Esme sounded. It wasn’t calm—she couldn’t feel anything. Her body—her entire being—had gone numb because the alternative of feeling fear, panic and dread about the potential outcome of this situation was too much to cope with at the moment.
“Who are the parents of the other baby?” Her sister’s voice was low like she hated even asking about them.
“I only met the father.” Esme realized she hadn’t thought to ask about the absence of Noah’s mother from the meeting. Chalk it up to one more unanswered question. “His name is Ryder Hayes, and he—”
“Oh, no,” her sister murmured. “Stay away from anyone in Chatelaine with the last name Hayes. I’m serious, Esme.”
“How can I do that, Bea? What’s wrong with Ryder Hayes?” Esme glanced down at the infant carrier that held her son, which she’d placed on a bench in the shade while she called her sister and regrouped. Chase was sleeping peacefully, his rosebud mouth working like he was having a delightful dream. If only Ryder’s wish for a do-over on this nightmare of a morning could come true.
“There are two brothers, but I don’t know which is Ryder. One seems more reserved, but the other is a total player. They work for their dad, who bought the LC Club with plans to make it even fancier than it is already. The father acts like he owns the whole world, and the rest of us are lucky to breathe the same air as him.”
Esme’s least favorite type of person. She was familiar with the exclusive gated community and private club situated on the banks of Lake Chatelaine, although she’d never stepped foot in the place. Swanky social clubs weren’t exactly her style, but she could see the handsome man with the expensive suit and vibrant eyes fitting in there.
“I don’t have the choice to ignore him,” she told her sister. “We’re in this together.” Repeating the words Ryder had spoken made her heart catch. Had he meant that, or had he been feeding her a line to soften her defenses so he could manipulate her?
Before she’d been caught in the spell of her late husband’s magnetic personality and the lies he’d told, Esme had believed she possessed a strong sense for reading people. But she’d been so wrong about Seth. His subtle digs at her confidence and discovering after his death that he’d been cheating on her almost from the time of their first date caused her to doubt everything—especially herself.
