Mia
Blake's face drains of color as he stares at his phone, the device trembling in his hand. Jack and Noah exchange confused glances across my bed.
"Blake?" I reach for him, my fingers finding his forearm. His muscles are rigid beneath my touch. "What's wrong?"
He doesn't answer immediately, just keeps staring at the screen. When he finally speaks, his voice sounds hollow.
"They're saying I have a daughter."
The words hang in the air. Jack leans forward. "What? Who?"
"County General Hospital. My ex-girlfriend from college died in a car accident tonight. Before she passed, she told them about her six-year-old daughter. Said I'm the father."
Noah adjusts his glasses.
"College. We dated for maybe three months my junior year. It wasn't serious. She broke it off and I never heard from her again."
I squeeze his arm gently. "You need to go to the hospital."
"I don't even know if it's true." But I can see the wheels turning in his head, calculating dates and possibilities.
Somewhere in that hospital, a little girl just lost her mother and learned her father exists in the same devastating moment.
"I'll go with you." The words leave my mouth before I fully think them through, but I mean them.
"Mia, you don't have to do that." Blake's brown eyes meet mine, and I see fear there mixed with gratitude.
"You're not dealing with anything alone. That's not how this works."
Jack stands. "We should all go."
Blake shakes his head. "I think that would be too much."
Noah nods. "I need to relieve the babysitter anyway."
I dress quickly, pulling my hair into a messy ponytail. Blake moves mechanically, his athletic grace replaced by stiff, uncertain movements.
The drive to County General passes in tense silence until he finally talks.
"What if she looks at me and hates me?" Blake's voice breaks the quiet. "What if she blames me for not being there?"
"She's six years old. She's probably terrified and confused. She needs you to be strong right now."
His brown eyes search my face. "How do you know what to say?"
"Because I've been the terrified parent. And I've been the one keeping secrets about a child's father."
At the reception desk, a tired-looking nurse glances up as Blake approaches. "I'm Blake Morgan. I got a call about a child?"
The nurse's expression softens. "Yes, Mr. Morgan. Let me page the social worker."
We sit in uncomfortable plastic chairs while we wait. Blake's leg bounces with nervous energy.
"Mr. Morgan?" A woman in her forties approaches. "I'm Karen Mitchell, the social worker assigned to Lily's case. If you'll follow me?"
Blake glances back at me with uncertainty.
"She can come," Karen says. "Lily could use all the support she can get right now."
We follow her through a maze of hallways to a small private room.
"I'm sorry for your loss," she begins. "Anne Winters was brought in around seven this evening following a single-car accident. She sustained severe internal injuries and knew she wasn't going to make it. Before she passed, she asked to speak with me privately."
Blake's jaw tightens but he doesn't interrupt.
"She told me about her daughter Lily, age six, and that you're the biological father.
She said she never told you about the pregnancy because she was scared and thought she could handle it alone.
" Karen pulls out a folder and slides it across the desk.
"This is Lily's birth certificate. You're listed as the father. "
Blake's hands shake as he picks up the document. I lean closer, and there it is in black and white—Father: Blake Morgan.
"Anne had no other family. Without you, Lily will go into the foster system."
Blake presses his palms against his eyes. "I need a minute."
"Of course. But I should mention that Lily knows about you. Anne told her tonight before the ambulance arrived. The little girl has been asking for her daddy."
Blake's shoulders shake and I realize he's crying. I move my chair closer and wrap my arm around him.
"What do I do?" he whispers. "I don't know how to be a father."
"You learn. You show up and you love her and you figure out the rest as you go."
He wipes his eyes. "Okay. I want to meet her."
We walk down another hallway to the pediatric wing. Karen stops outside a room.
"Lily's been through a tremendous trauma tonight. Just be gentle with her."
Karen opens the door and we step inside.
Sitting on the bed, clutching a worn stuffed elephant to her chest, is the smallest, most heartbreaking little girl I've ever seen.
She has Blake's sandy blonde hair, though hers falls in tangled waves past her shoulders. Her eyes are the same warm brown, currently red-rimmed from crying. She's wearing pink pajamas with unicorns on them.
When she sees Blake, her entire face transforms. Hope and fear war in her expression.
"Are you my daddy?" Her voice is so small, so fragile.
Blake crosses the room in three long strides and drops to his knees beside the bed. "Yeah, sweetheart. I'm your daddy."
Lily launches herself at him, wrapping her thin arms around his neck with desperate strength. Blake catches her and holds on, one large hand cradling the back of her head while she sobs into his shoulder.
"Mommy said you didn't know about me," she hiccups between cries. "She said she was sorry she didn't tell you but now she's gone and I don't have anybody and I'm scared."
"You have me now." Blake's voice is thick with emotion. "I've got you, baby girl. I've got you."
I stand near the door, giving them space while my own eyes burn with unshed tears.
Karen touches my elbow gently. "There's paperwork to complete. Why don't we give them a few minutes?"
In Karen's office, I sit while she pulls out forms and documents. Blake is a father. He has a daughter who needs him. Our already complicated situation just became exponentially more complex.
"Are you his wife?" Karen asks.
"No. I'm his girlfriend." I blink after I say the words, surprised how easily they fell from my lips.
"Lily will need stability and support during this transition. It's good that Blake has you."
I think about Jack and Noah waiting back at Blake's house, about my own twins who don't know their real father, about the secrets I've been keeping for ten years.
"What happens now?" I ask.
"Blake will need to complete a paternity test, though given the birth certificate and physical resemblance, that's mostly a formality. Then we'll work on custody arrangements." Karen looks up from her paperwork. "Does Blake have a stable home? Income?"
"He's a high school football coach. He owns his house. He's one of the most responsible people I know."
Karen nods, making notes. "Good. Lily can be released into his care tonight if he's willing."
Tonight. Blake is going to leave this hospital as a father.
We return to Lily's room to find Blake sitting on the bed with his daughter tucked against his side. She's stopped crying but her face is blotchy and her eyes are swollen. The stuffed elephant sits in her lap.
"This is Mr. Elephant," Lily says quietly. "Mommy gave him to me when I was a baby."
"He looks very important."
"He is." Lily clutches the elephant tighter. "Are you going to leave me here?"
"No, baby. I'm taking you home with me tonight." Blake glances at Karen for confirmation and she nods. "You're going to stay with me from now on."
Lily's lower lip trembles. "Forever?"
"Forever," Blake promises.
An hour later, we're walking through the parking lot with Lily between us. Blake carries her because she's too exhausted to walk, and she's already half asleep against his shoulder.
"I don't have a car seat," Blake realizes suddenly. "I don't have anything for her. No bed, no clothes, nothing."
"We'll figure it out. There's a twenty-four-hour Walmart ten minutes from here. We'll get the basics tonight and handle the rest tomorrow."
Blake looks at me with such gratitude that it makes my chest ache. "Thank you. For being here."
And suddenly, with crystal clarity, I realize I can't keep my own secret anymore. Watching Blake meet his daughter, seeing the instant love and acceptance despite the shock and fear, makes me understand what I've been denying Jack.
He deserves to know Rory and Corey are his sons. He deserves the chance to be their father, to love them openly instead of from a distance. I've been so focused on protecting everyone else that I never considered what I was stealing from Jack and the twins by keeping them apart.
Tomorrow, I decide as sleep finally pulls me under. Tomorrow I'll tell Jack the truth about his sons.