As soon as I get inside, he comes to greet me, picking me up and swinging me around.
I laugh. “You won’t be able to do that for much longer.”
He places me gently on the floor in the hall. “Nonsense. How did your meeting go?”
“Good.” I can barely contain my excitement.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yes! I mean, kind of. Damn. I was going to try and be all cool about it, but I can’t.”
He stares at me. “What’s going on?”
I hold up an envelope. “The doctor had a cancellation a few days ago, and I managed to get the paternity test done early. The results are in here.”
His eyes widen. “What? Why didn’t you tell me? I was going to go with you to the appointment.”
“I know, I know. But you were freaking out about it so much. I thought I would go and get it over with and we could do this bit together.”
He looks at the envelope as if it’s about to bite him. He ushers me through to the living room, and we sit down. “So, how do you want to do this?”
I hold out the envelope. “I want you to open it. I mean, I already know what it’s going to say, so you should do the honours.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ve said from the beginning, I want us to be up front with each other. We’ve both gone through crappy relationships, so we have to make sure we’re being as open and respectful of each other as possible.”
He reaches out and holds my hand. “Have I told you lately how amazing you are?”
“Probably. But I never get tired of hearing it,” I say, smiling.
He gently takes the envelope from me and holds it for a moment.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whisper.
He kisses me on the mouth. “I know.”
He slowly runs his finger along the side of the envelope to reveal its contents. And even though I know the outcome, it feels like everything is happening in slow motion.
This is it.
He unfolds the report, and I see his eyes quickly skim for the relevant information. I peer over his shoulder and see a table with a bunch of codes down the left, and two columns to its right—one with the baby’s information and one with Lincoln’s. None of it makes much sense except for the line at the bottom: Probability of Paternity.
99.9998%.
Lincoln stands up, whooping with delight and grabbing my hands. He pulls me to my feet and hugs me tightly. “It’s ours!”
“Ha-ha, easy, buddy. Our child is getting squished.”
He quickly loosens his grip and then kneels in front of me. I’m wearing a skirt with a black tank top, and he slowly lifts the tank top to expose my belly. He looks at it for a moment and then leans forward to cover my skin in little feathery kisses.
I giggle and ruffle his hair. “That tickles.”
He looks up at me, smiling.
“There’s something else,” I say.
He looks stricken. “Oh God. It’s twins, isn’t it?”
I cackle with laughter. “No! Jeez. Could you imagine having two sets of twins in your life? I was just going to say, you may have missed a small detail on the report.”
He looks at me, confused. “What?”
“Turn it over.”
He obliges and makes a choking sound. “The report tells us the baby’s gender?”
“And that might be…?” I gesture my hand in a hurry-up motion.
“Wait, you don’t know yet?”
“No. I told you, I wanted us to do this together. Come on. Don’t keep me in suspense!”
“It’s a boy!”
I tear up. “A boy!” I lean down and place my hands on either side of Lincoln’s face. “One more thing.”
“I don’t think I can take much more.”
“This is important. Once the baby is born, I’d like you to register the birth certificate for us.”
He looks me in the eye. “Thank you for being the kindest, most patient, and just overall awesome human being I know.”
The tears are rolling freely down my face now. “The same goes for you.”
He holds me again, this time more softly, and we stay there for a long time, lost in the moment.
But then I pull away and raise an eyebrow. “You know, I don’t have to pick up Daisy for at least an hour.”
He chuckles. “And you’re telling me this, because?”
I grab his hand and pull him towards the bedroom.
“What do you think?”
He lets me lead the way.
Today is a great day.
TWENTY-NINE
Lincoln
Life is wonderful. Not only am I soon to become a father to a little boy, but I’ve also been able to reconnect with my daughters and establish the start of an amazing relationship with Tash and her daughter. And the icing on the cake? Today, the guys and I have a meeting with Max. He’s flown up from Sydney, apparently to see JC, but he wanted to check in with us, too.
He’s asked to meet us at Brew in the Queen Street Mall, so we order beers while we wait for him to show up.
I love my guys. What I thought was something that would never progress beyond a pub band is now doing better than anything I could have ever imagined. Our recent national tour has been the highlight of our professional career so far.
And the fact that we’ve been able to transition into doing our own music so smoothly is something I could never have dreamed of.
Max arrives. He waves to us while he orders a beer and then comes to join us in the corner.
“How’s it going, lads?” he asks, sitting down and taking a sip of his drink.
“Good, thanks,” I say. The other guys nod in agreement.
“Well, that was all very limp and uninspired. I’m hoping what I’m about to say will change that tune.”
I look at him, confused. I’d thought this was just an obligatory visit on the way to see JC.
“I’ve been talking to Intergalactic and negotiated a deal for you. Three albums, plus a world tour.”
He leans back and puts his hands behind his head, a huge grin on his face.
It takes a moment for it to sink in. My brain short-circuits as I process the full meaning of those words.
And then suddenly it’s like a dam has burst and all four of us stand up and hug each other. I slap the guys on the back and shake each of their hands.
“Holy shit,” Beau says. “Is this for real?”
“Yep.” Max stands up so he’s eye-level with us. “We’re already looking at the itinerary. You’re going to be on the festival circuit as well as headlining your own shows in over twenty countries. In the US alone, we’re looking at over fifty shows.”
I can’t comprehend this. This is the ultimate. We’ve made it. We’ve really made it.
And then something occurs to me.
“Do you know the timing yet?” I ask.
“It’s all still in flux at the moment, but we’re getting you down to the studio in Sydney in a couple of weeks to start laying down some tunes. The label has some ideas for the track list…”
“Will we have any input into what goes on the album?” I check.
“Yes, yes, of course. But don’t worry about that now. This is the good part! Enjoy it!”