“Fantastic,” Liam grumbled, though it wasn’t all that shocking. That was Edie James for ya. “You guys probably know more about her than I do at this point.”

“I don’t think so.” Logan leaned back in the booth, stretching his legs out in front of him. “They stayed pretty tight lipped. I have no doubt Mel knows exactly what is going on, and she didn’t reveal more than she had to about her friend.”

“What did Abby say?” Adele asked as she ran her finger around the rim of her glass. “She’s known Harper for years. We want some insight, we should talk to Abby.”

But for whatever reason, that prospect wasn’t all that appealing to Liam.

“No.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to learn about Harper from anyone besides Harper.” Because the thing was, he still wanted to learn everything about her. Wanted to know all he could about her. That hadn’t changed, and he didn’t think it ever would.

He put the tumbler down on the table, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. His fingers were cold from touching the glass, and they felt good on his overheated skin.

“I just keep wondering what would’ve happened if she hadn’t left. Happened with her, you know?” He dropped his hand, his eyes opening as he looked across the table at his siblings. “But then again it changes nothing with the baby. That would’ve happened regardless, and I’m not walking away from my kid.”

My kid.

Something warm settled in his chest at those words. Something that had nothing to do with the alcohol. He was going to be a father.

“Well, obviously,” Adele said immediately.

“I didn’t doubt that for a second.” Logan shifted in his seat, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. “But how are you going to proceed with Harper?”

Wasn’t that the question of the hour?

“I have no idea.”

“Well, you aren’t in this alone, Liam.” Logan lifted his glass, clinking it to Liam’s before he polished off the last of the liquid in it.

“And we’re going to be here no matter what to help you through it all.” Adele reached across the table and put her hand over Liam’s. “Because we’re family.”

Family…yeah, a family that was only going to get bigger.

*  *  *

The air conditioner on the opposite side of the hotel room kicked on, blasting cold air into the space. Harper snuggled down deeper into the mattress, pulling the comforter tightly around her shoulders.

She had absolutely no desire to get up. The moments of sleep throughout the night had been few and far between. All together she’d say she probably got about four hours, and she was going to pay for it dearly today.

After the balcony incident the night before, Harper hadn’t even attempted to rejoin the party. She’d made a beeline for the elevator and headed straight down to her hotel room. It had been the longest five minutes, fighting with the tears that had been simmering at the surface. Though a few escaped, trailing down her cheeks, she’d wiped them away the instant they’d fallen.

But the second her hotel room door snapped shut behind her there’d been no holding back. As was expected, she got sick first. Of course she would, heaven forbid she go ten hours without throwing up. The medicine she’d been taking had been working, but it wasn’t a match for her stress level in that moment.

And then she’d taken a shower, the heat in no way getting rid of the chill she just couldn’t seem to shake, even though it was June in Florida. Though she was pretty sure the shaking had more to do with her sobbing than anything involving temperature.

When she’d managed to gain an ounce of composure, she got out of the shower to find Mel sitting on the bed, already changed into her pajamas. Though Harper wasn’t sharing with anyone, Mel had a key card for the room to come and go as she pleased. Just one look from those concern-filled amber eyes, and Harper had lost it. Again.

That was how they’d spent most of the night, Mel not leaving to go be with her husband no matter how much Harper insisted. And to be honest, the prospect of spending the night by herself was not a pleasant one, especially as sleep had been an elusive bitch.

All she could think about was Liam. That pained look in his eyes. His frustration. His anger. His words.

What did you expect, Harper? For me to be overjoyed at the fact that I might’ve gotten you knocked up?

Overjoyed wasn’t the word she would’ve used, but neither was knocked up. It had just sounded so harsh coming from his mouth. Like this baby was unwanted.

Her hand automatically went to her belly, her palm pushing up her shirt and landing on her skin. The baby was obviously too small to be felt in any capacity—unless she counted her morning sickness, which she might be inclined to—but he or she was still in there. Growing.

Harper wanted this baby, and she would love this child no matter what. That was a love she didn’t doubt in the slightest.

Unlike another love.

Liam filled her vision, but it wasn’t the man in the blue suit with the hard eyes from the night before. No, it was the man from the bar all those weeks ago. The man with the quick smile and the gentle hands. But she couldn’t deny the fact that when he’d touched her last night, those hands of his had still been gentle. Still made fire burn inside her. Still made her ache in the sweetest, most painful way.

That oh-so-familiar tightening started up at the back of her throat, but she refused to give into it again. She wasn’t going to cry today.

Was. Not. Going. To.

She pulled the comforter from her body and slowly sat up, her head tender from the night before and her stomach uneasy. For whatever reason, the nausea was usually tolerable in the morning and got worse throughout the day. Apparently Harper liked to be an anomaly.

But the twinges this morning seemed to be even less than they normally were. It was just a slight rolling of the stomach and she was able to push it back with a few steady breaths. Maybe the medicine was working. Or maybe it was finally getting the massive weight off her chest that was the anxiety of talking to Liam.

Yeah, maybe it was that.

Harper got out of bed and walked over to her suitcase, searching for a change of clothes. The only light coming in the room was a tiny sliver from a crack in the heavy drapes. She was careful as she looked around among the chaos, trying not to make any noise to wake Mel. She finally found an outfit and headed to the bathroom.

She shut the door behind her before she flipped the light on, glancing at her reflection in the mirror as she set her clothes on the counter. It wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been. Sleeping on wet hair was never the best option, but she’d be able to pull it back no problem.

As for her eyes? Well, thank goodness she had sunglasses, ’cause those bad boys weren’t going down anytime soon. She turned away from the mirror, no use worrying about her appearance at the moment. She had absolutely no one to impress. She was long gone from that.

She made quick work, using the bathroom before changing into jean shorts and a sherbet orange shirt that was made of a thin cotton material. It hung loose past her waist and probably wasn’t the most flattering, but it was comfortable and as she was going to be spending a few hours in the car it would do just fine.

She pulled her hair up into a ponytail before she washed her face and brushed her teeth. Her pajamas were lying on the floor and she snatched them up before walking out of the bathroom.

Natural sunlight was streaming into the room now, the curtains pulled back from the window showing downtown Jacksonville in all of its morning glory.

Mel was sitting in the middle of the bed, her curls a wild halo around her head as she looked down at the phone typing out a text. She hit Send before she looked up, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. “How you feeling?”