18. Blake #2
Luca turns toward him. Luther loosens his hold enough for Luca to reach across and place his free hand against Maceo’s cheek. “You don’t have to decide what the right reaction is before we have an answer,” Luca says. “Besides if the baby’s not yours, then we just try again.”
Maceo lets out a small chuckle as he closes his eyes beneath Luca’s palm for a moment before covering Luca’s hand with his own. Grayson leans closer and kisses the side of Luca’s head, while Luther bends to press his mouth against Luca’s temple.
The room remains quiet until Grayson looks toward the hand covering Luca’s stomach.
“I noticed the nesting,” he says. “Your scent changed too, but there was so much happening that I couldn’t separate it from the stress.”
Luca rests his head against Grayson’s. “I thought I was tired.”
“You are tired,” Luther says against his hair. His palm moves once beneath Luca’s hand. “That doesn’t mean you were supposed to know why.”
Luca’s fingers tighten around mine when the analyzer begins running in the adjoining room.
No one tries to guess which sample will match.
We remain close in the cramped space, talking quietly about when the nausea began, the meals Luca has abandoned halfway through, and the changes Grayson noticed in the office nest.
Quentin returns twenty-four minutes later carrying his tablet and a printed report. He closes the door behind him and sits across from Luca before placing either result on the counter.
“This is still preliminary,” he reminds us. “The full panel will take about a week.”
Maceo’s knee presses more firmly against mine while Quentin turns the report toward us.
“The fetal blood-group markers are compatible with Maceo’s sample, and the inherited-marker comparison excludes the rest of you. Based on the rapid panel, Maceo is the biological father.”
Maceo goes completely still. His hands remain between his knees while he looks from the report to Luca’s stomach. His mouth opens once, but nothing comes out.
Luca releases me only long enough to reach for him as Maceo crosses the short space between them when Luca opens one hand. Luca guides his palm low against his stomach and covers it with his own, though there is nothing there for Maceo to feel yet beyond warmth.
“You helped make our baby,” Luca says.
Maceo’s fingers spread beneath his. He looks down at their joined hands, then back at Luca, and a sharp breath leaves him before his forehead lowers against Luca’s temple.
Luther keeps one arm around Luca’s middle and uses the other to cup the back of Maceo’s neck, drawing him closer without forcing him to speak. Grayson leans across Luca’s other side and presses a kiss into his hair, closing them together around the examination table.
I move close enough for Luca to find my hand again. His fingers lock around mine and squeezes once, and I return the pressure while Quentin gives us the room.
When Maceo finally lifts his head, his eyes are wet. He doesn’t make a speech or ask what the result changes. His thumb moves once beneath Luca’s shirt, and Luca covers the motion with his own hand.
Quentin returns after several minutes with a written plan. Luca needs prenatal bloodwork, regular meals, hydration, and a follow-up scan. I need to report any changes in my cardiac symptoms separately from the nausea and hormone shifts so no one mistakes one for the other.
Luther writes everything down. Grayson asks about food aversions, and Maceo keeps one hand against Luca’s back while Quentin answers. Luca interrupts twice to correct the proposed appointment times around Ember House rather than letting everyone reorganize his life without him.
By the time dinner is spread across the kitchen table, the children are back from Nicholas’s and talking over one another about everything they did while we were gone.
Samuel is explaining the repairs he made to his paper roof while James corrects the order of every step.
Rosalie has carried three crayons to dinner and is using them to redesign the wedding cake on the back of one of Nicholas’s envelopes.
Maceo sits beside Luca with one hand resting against his thigh beneath the table. He hasn’t moved far from him since Quentin gave us the preliminary result, though he never crowds him or interrupts when Luca joins the children’s conversation.
Grayson sets a bowl of crackers between Luca and me after noticing that neither of us has touched much of the meal. I take one at the same time Luca does, and our fingers brush over the rim before he passes the bowl into my hands.
We wait until the plates are cleared and the children have carried their cups into the living room.
Luca sits on the rug in front of the sofa with Maceo behind him, one hand resting against his waist. Luther takes the chair beside them while Grayson settles on the floor near Samuel, and I sit close enough for Luca to reach back for me.
Rosalie, Samuel, and James crowd forward until their knees press against Luca’s legs.