The Baby Surprise Read Online Free PDF Page B

sparkled as she nodded her head enthusiastically. “I love French toast.”
    â€œThen you get the first piece,” Paige decided, dipping a slice of bread into the egg batter, then dropping it into the hot pan.
    Her cousins were the reason she’d come back to Pinehurst when the proverbial rug had been pulled out from beneath her feet. Of course, she’d had no idea then that things were going to get a lot worse before they got better—and she was keeping her fingers crossed that they would get better—but she knew she could count on Ashley and Megan to stand by her and support her whatever she decided to do.
    â€œMmm, I smell French toast,” Megan said, waddling into the kitchen a few minutes later.
    â€œI promised you breakfast,” Paige reminded her.
    â€œSo you did,” Megan agreed. “But you know we would have come even without the bribe.”
    Paige nodded, tears stinging her eyes as she slid the spatula under the bread and flipped it in the pan.
    And although she knew her cousins had to be curious about the reason for her frantic phone calls last night, they didn’t press her. Instead, they worked around one another in the kitchen—Paige making the toast, Ashley serving it up for the kids, Megan brewing the herbal tea her sister had always preferred while sipping half a cup of coffee generously doctored with milk for the benefit of the baby she was carrying.
    When Maddie had finished her breakfast and washed up, she took Emma into the living room to play with her, and the three adults sat down with their plates.
    â€œIs this about the hunky guy Melanie saw you with last night?” Ashley asked.
    â€œWhen did you see Melanie?” Paige countered.
    â€œWhat hunky guy?” Megan wanted to know.
    â€œMelanie was walking her dog when Maddie and I were on our way over here. She told me that there was a tall, dark-haired and very handsome man at your door last night and that you invited him inside. But not for very long, she assured me. Just about long enough for a cup of coffee, and then he was on his way again.”
    Paige shook her head. “Remind me again why I decided to stay here.”
    â€œBecause you wanted to take some time to figure out your future, because you wanted to be closer to Megan and I, and because it’s a great neighborhood where the residents look out for one another.”
    â€œIs that another way of saying ‘spy on one another’?”
    â€œWho cares about the neighborhood?” Megan said. “I want to hear about the hunky man.”
    Paige swirled a piece of French toast in syrup, then set her fork down again without eating it. Even the coffee that was as necessary to her system as oxygen in the morning wasn’t sitting comfortably in her stomach, and the breakfast she’d prepared held even less appeal.
    â€œThe hunky man is Lieutenant Colonel Zach Crawford of the United States Air Force. He claims—”
    She thought she could get through this without any more tears, but the moisture that filled her eyes proved otherwise.
    â€œHe claims to be Emma’s father.”
    â€œEmma’s father?” The shock in Ashley’s voice echoed Paige’s initial response to Zach’s announcement. She nodded.
    â€œDid he have any proof?” Megan demanded. As a successful research scientist, she was skeptical of anything that couldn’t be proven.
    â€œHe had a letter…from Olivia.”
    Megan reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “Olivia named you as Emma’s guardian.”
    â€œI know. But if it turns out that he is her father—” She couldn’t finish the thought.
    But she didn’t need to. When Ashley reached for her other hand, she knew that they understood the bond she’d formed with Emma. It didn’t matter that she hadn’t carried the child in her womb or given birth to her—she’d taken prenatal classes with Olivia,