Limitless Love (Lotus House #4)(91)

And I would. Remember every minute of this day.

I sighed, watched the kids play tag, and sipped my beer. “Life couldn’t get any better than this,” I announced to the table.

“You think?” Atlas grinned, a lock of brown hair flopping over onto his forehead. The dude needed to cut that damn hair already.

“I know,” I said with complete and utter confidence.

Mila laughed, maneuvered herself and her belly to stand, and went over to the DJ table and grabbed something. As she walked back, her caramel-colored eyes twinkled. “I’ll bet there’s one thing that could make this night abso-freaking-lutely epic.”

Trent pounded the table jovially. “Bring it on, girl.”

Viv smiled and hooked her arm around her husband, waiting to hear what Mila said.

“What have you got there, Mila?” Monet asked, leaning hard against my side.

She tapped her mouth with the envelope. “Let’s just call this an early wedding present, shall we?”

She set the large white envelope in front of Monet and me.

“Go ahead, open it.” She stood next to Atlas. Still seated, he looped an arm around her waist and rested his cheek against where their baby grew.

Monet picked up the envelope, ripped the seal, and then pulled out a stack of papers. She picked up the top single sheet and laid the rest on the table. I tried to read over her shoulder but couldn’t really see in the low lighting. Instead, I sipped my beer and waited. Except, the woman in my arms went dead still and gasped as though she’d been stung. Her hand went to her mouth, and tears fell down her cheeks.

What the hell? Anger threatened my calm mood as I watched my girl become emotional.

“Oh my God!” she said through her fingers, muffling the sound.

“What the ever-loving fuck…” I snatched the paper away.

The top of the form read LabCorp Genetics. I knew a buddy of Atlas’s who worked there. A guy by the name of Bradley Grover. Worked him over at the gym a couple of times, but he hadn’t been back in a while. Probably scared him off with the hardcore workout.

“This your friend’s company?” I asked Atlas, shaking the piece of paper.

He nodded. “Slow your anger roll, Clay. How’s about you read it before you rip our heads off for making your girl cry.” He knew me too well.

I clenched my teeth hard. Next to me, Monet was crying her eyes out. I held her close and scanned the letter quickly. There were a bunch of boxes lined up next to one another showing perfect matches. Getting to the bottom, I scanned the text. Then I read it again more slowly to make sure I wasn’t misreading.



* * *



We compared twenty-one genetic markers by multiplying twenty-three paternity indexes derived from twenty of the genetic loci we test to determine paternity of one Lily Holland against the DNA of Clayton Hart.

Based on the testing results included within, the probability of paternity is ninety-nine-point-nine percent (99.9%).

It is confirmed that five-year-old Lily Holland is the biological child of Clayton Hart.



* * *



“She’s mine.” I gasped and rubbed at my chin. “Lily’s mine. Really mine. How in the world?” Monet wrapped her arms around me and cried into my neck. I held her close and looked up at my friends. “How did this happen?”

Mila rubbed her belly. “Well, Monet told me about the conversation you had about you being a donor at the clinic Moe went to and that your blood type was rare and the same as Lily’s, and obviously, you love her so much. I just couldn’t let it go. Are you mad that we went behind your back?” Mila frowned and sucked in a breath she didn’t let out for a long time.

“Not mad,” I said the two words in a monotone.

“Happy?” Atlas goaded.

“Not happy.”

Silence went around the table, and I lifted a crying Monet to stand. I curled both hands around her jaw and swiped away her tears. “She’s mine.”

Her chin trembled, and she bit into her bottom lip. Tears ran in a river down her face. “That’s what it says.” Her eyes flickered to mine and around as if she was afraid.

“She’s mine,” I repeated, letting the truth fill my pores and permeate my being. “My daughter. Of my flesh.” I pounded my chest with my fist.

Monet just nodded, more tears falling.

“I’m fucking ecstatic. This is the best news of my entire life!” I pulled Monet close and roared. “Lily is my daughter!”

The table cheered along with us.

I hugged my woman, tears falling from my own eyes. I skated my lips across her ear. “Never going to let you two go. You own my heart. You and our daughter own my heart.”

Together we wept, we kissed, and we celebrated with our friends.

Lily ran up with Will hot on her heels.

“Baby, come here.” I kneeled down to her. “Hey, you remember what you asked me a long time ago? And we told you that I had to marry your mommy?”

Her big blue eyes, darker than my own but still very much like mine, widened. “Are you my daddy now?”

“Yes, baby. I’m your daddy. And you know what we just found out?”

I scooped her up and held her between Monet and me. “You’ve always been mine. A test was done and we found out that I’m your real daddy.”