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The fact that he’d asked her to coistered Because she didn’t knohat it meant

“Thanks” Gage’s eyelids closed and he sed “I had to do it even though I feel like I’ to hold on to”

He accorip on her hand Hehim up and it settled quietly in her soul In his time of need, he’d reached out to her She wished she could say why thatthis challenge head-on had softened her in ways she hadn’t anticipated Ways that couldn’t be good in the long run

But what if there was the slightest possibility that theyso life altering had happened? That hadn’t felt conceivable in Dallas, but herewell, she was keeping her eyes open

He rang the doorbell and a frazzled woman answered the door with a baby on her hip

“Right on time,” the woman said inanely, and she cleared her throat

Gage’s gaze cut to the baby netically and his hazel eyes shone as he drank in the chubby little darling clad in one of those suits that seemed to be the universal baby uniform

“I’m Lauren,” she said to Cass “We haven’t met”

“Cassandra Claremont” Since she wasn’t clear what her role here was, she left it at that She and Lauren didn’t shake hands as there wasn’t any sort of protocol for this situation, and besides, they were both focused on Gage Who was still focused on the baby

“Is this him?” he whispered “Robbie?”

“None other” Lauren stepped back to let Gage and Cass into the house, apologizing for the state of it as she led the room

A square playpen sat off to one side of the old couch surrounded by other baby paraphernalia that Cass couldn’t have identified at gunpoint All of it was tiny, pastel and utterly frightening