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“I wear a badge, and I told them I was her uncle and her dad couldn’t be there to welcome her to the world. They let me in and handed her over to me, and I told her that her dad couldn’t wait to meet her.”
Chase sat back. “I’m surprised you waited all this time to throw it in my face that you got to hold her first.”
Hunt chuckled. “I kind of liked having a secret with Eliza that neither of you knew.”
Shelby shook her head. “If you’d told me why you wanted the DNA test, I would have gone along with it.”
“And you would have obsessed over it for weeks until the results came in. This way, you had no idea and simply thought I wanted to verify Chase’s paternity, which you already knew would come back in your favor. I didn’t want to take the DNA sample without your permission, but then I simply couldn’t let go of the idea that your life would completely change if Kyle wasn’t your father. I thought you deserved to know that. And I really wish it had turned out that way. I thought about keeping the results to myself. You’d never know there was another possibility and just go on hating Kyle. But Ifelt I needed to come clean. One, because I didn’t want you to think I’m a complete asshole, even if I’ve acted that way sometimes. Two, because I didn’t want there to be a lie between us. And last, because despite the fact that Kyle Hodges did turn out to be your biological father, I thought you might like to know that your mom had someone in her life before him who made her happy.”
Mr. Wilde touched her shoulder. “I pushed Hunt to pursue the DNA test because I wanted to protect Chase. I didn’t know anything about Hunt’s suspicions about your father. I just wanted to be sure Chase got shared custody, since you two didn’t really know each other.” Mr. Wilde raised his hands and let them drop to the table. “I see now that he didn’t need a lawyer or judge. He just needed you.”
Eliza held her hands out to Mr. Wilde. “Pop-pop up.”
Shelby smiled at her daughter. “Look who learned a new word.”
Mr. Wilde plucked Eliza from Max’s lap and held her to his chest, his eyes a bit misty. “I wish your grandma was here.”
Shelby saw the exact same sentiment on all the Wilde boys’ faces.
The waitress came with a huge tray and started serving everyone.
Shelby leaned over to Chase. “Would you mind grabbing a booster seat from the hostess station?”
Chase slid out of his chair and grabbed one, strapped it to the seat next to her, then picked up Eliza from Hunt’s lap, where she’d crawled to steal a bite of his pancakes. Chase settled her in the seat, buckled her in, kissed her on the head, then went around the table to sitin the chair beside Shelby. Remmy watched, then laid down on the floor beside him.
She cut up Eliza’s pancakes and handed her a fork to get started, then turned to her plate, but got lost in the fact that Chase was deep in a conversation with his brothers and dad about last night’s hockey game. They talked about goals and members of the team who played well. Or didn’t. But what struck her was that after all the tension and anger they’d had between them, they came together today for Pancake Tuesday with Eliza and fell right back into being family.
Chase slid his arm across the back of her chair, leaned in and kissed her on the head, then turned back to Hunt. “I’m telling you, they’re going all the way this year. They’ll win the cup.”
“Not if Granger is out for more than one game because of the knee sprain he suffered during that rush on the goal.”
“He’ll be back next game. You watch. Nothing will keep him from playing. He’s their best player.”
“Which means they can’t afford to lose him for more than one game or they’ll be out of the running,” Max pointed out.
Shelby met Mr. Wilde’s gaze across the table. “Are they always like this?”
“It’s like old times.” She didn’t think Mr. Wilde’s grin could get any bigger. And then it did when he glanced at Eliza. The love in his eyes when he looked at her couldn’t be denied. “Only this is better,” he added. He leaned over toward Eliza. “Wait until we take you to your first game. You’ll love it.”
Shelby ate her breakfast, transfixed by the men around her and how light and carefree Chase seemedin the middle of a crowded restaurant with his family. They joked and teased and even brought up a few other memories about their mom. She got a glimpse of what growing up a Wilde must have been like for Chase, and how much he’d missed them these last many years he’d been gone.
He had a lot of support here at the table. A lot of love.
She hoped this was the start of a tradition they’d have for years to come.
She hoped Eliza sat here one day, all grown up, surrounded by these men, and knew without a doubt they had her back. They loved her. This was her family.
It’s what she’d been missing in her life.
And if Kyle Hodges thought for one second he could ruin this for her and Eliza, he had another think coming, because Shelby would protect her daughter from that vile man at any cost.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chase woke up with Remmy snoring on the floor below him and Shelby’s warm body pressed all along the back of him, her arm draped over his waist. He put his hand over hers on his stomach. She snuggled in closer behind him, her breasts pressed to his back.
He loved every morning he woke with her beside him, which meant the last two weeks had been heaven. Shelby and Eliza came home to him every night. They ate dinner together. Eliza chatted about her day and whatever nonsense her two-year-old mind conjured. She had a vivid imagination, and she often made him laugh. Once Eliza went to bed at night, he and Shelby cozied up together on the couch. She got him hooked on an old TV show they’d both missed when it originally aired. He loved that they could binge the eight seasons on Netflix. Mostly, he just enjoyed having Shelby snuggled up next to him.
She made the end of a hard day feel like the best part of his day, even though waking up next to her felt just as good.
