Logan and Caleb thought it was all hilarious. But they could also empathize. They’d both had plenty of those kinds of flings. And Logan had, actually, knocked up a one-night stand. He was now happily married to her and the father of her two girls from her first marriage and their own baby girl. But it had all started with one hot night that wasn’t supposed to be more than that.
“That’s going to be a problem,” James agreed.
“Yeah, that will raise a ton of red flags,” Caleb said. “You can’t just waltz in there with a baby you know nothing about. You don’t even know his name.”
James looked down. No, he didn’t. “What if he doesn’t have a name?”
“He needs a name,” Logan agreed.
“He looks like a Nathan to me,” Caleb said.
James frowned. “We’re not just going to slap some name on him.”
Caleb lifted a brow. “We’re not?”
“Names should mean something.” Was he channeling Harper? Yep. But if they were going to give the baby a name, then she should be a part of it.
And she’d probably kill him if she wasn’t.
And then change the name anyway.
The dog’s name meant something. Harper had even insisted on knowing the actual type of olive tree he’d brought over. She would definitely want to be a part of this. And he wanted her to be.
“Anyway, back to the ER thing,” James said, shifting the baby so he was propped up against his left shoulder.
“I guess you can waltz in with the baby,” Caleb said. “But you probably won’t waltz back out with him. Even if you try to tell them he’s yours, they’ll want proof before they let you take him back home with you, if you can’t give them any other information. A doctor’s office will be the same way. You’ll be throwing red flags up all over the place.”
“So what should I do? I want to be sure he’s okay. He seems all right from what I can tell, but I’d like to have a professional opinion. And at some point he’ll need to go to the doctor for something.”
Just then there was a knock on the door. James frowned and started in that direction, but Caleb stretched to his feet and beat James there. He opened the door for his girlfriend, Lexi.
“Hey, guys,” she said with a big smile as Caleb pulled her in and kissed the top of her head.
James’s eyes widened. “Hey.”
Her attention zeroed in on the baby, and she came toward James, holding her arms out. “Let’s see him.”
“You told Lexi?” James asked, surrendering the unhappy infant to her.
She started cooing and patting him, bouncing him as she walked.
Caleb shrugged. “Of course.”
“I didn’t really think that I’d let everyone in on this until—”
“She’s a nurse,” Caleb reminded him. “And she’s a mom. She can give you some good advice and info here. Plus she knows a pediatrician who will trust her to vouch for you and keep things on the down low until we figure it all out.”
James let all protests die with that. In fact, he felt a rush of relief. “Right. Okay.”
Lexi smiled at him. “Also, I need to swab you.”
“You need to what?”
“DNA test.”
“What is going on?”
They all swung to face the doorway, where Harper had just come in. She was staring at everyone, looking confused and a little irritated.
“Hey, Professor,” James said, stupidly happy to see her.
“What is going on?” she repeated. Her eyes were on Lexi and the baby. She looked worried and wary. “Who are these people?”
She’d met Caleb only once, when he’d stopped by to grab some tools from James. She had no idea who these people were, and the possessiveness in her eyes when she looked at Lexi made James want to smile. He didn’t know if it was because of the baby or because of him, but Harper felt like there was another woman on her turf. He liked that.
“This is Lexi, Caleb’s…” James looked at his friend. “Girlfriend?”
“For sure,” Caleb said, his eyes on Lexi.
Lexi gave him a smile that was hot and sweet at the same time. “Yeah.”
“This is Caleb,” James said with a slight eye roll. Caleb and Lexi were a fantastic couple. In fact, they’d been a fantastic couple long before either of them admitted they even were a couple.
James was envious of them. But as he looked at Harper, he realized that if he knew she was as crazy about him as Lexi was about Caleb, he’d be strutting around and making sure everyone knew it, too.
“And this is Logan,” he said, gesturing to the other man. “A couple of the dads that you suggested I call,” he reminded her.
Harper came into the room, still frowning. “I see.” Her eyes were still on Lexi. “Seems like even with all the advice, things aren’t exactly smooth sailing.”
James stifled a grin. Yeah, she was feeling possessive.
Even though Lexi was younger than Harper by probably a good eight years, she got a knowing look on her face. She came over to Harper and offered the baby to her. “He’s fussy.”
Harper took him without the look of trepidation in her eyes that had seemed constant last night. She cuddled him up against her neck, talking to him softly and rocking him back and forth, even as she continued to study Lexi.
James went hard instantly.
Damn.
And damn if the baby didn’t start to settle down as Harper stroked his back.
Lexi gave her a smile. “I’m a registered nurse,” she said. “I work in the ER, but I feel confident in doing an exam. If that’s okay with you. Then if there’s anything to be concerned about, I have some resources we can tap into.”
Harper looked over at James.
“We were just discussing that it will seem strange, and likely problematic, for the ER staff or a physician if we don’t know more about him when we take him in.”
“Well, we can’t just never take him to the doctor,” Harper said. “How old do you think he is?” she asked Lexi.
“Maybe a couple weeks?” Lexi said. “Not much over that. He’s not smiling yet, but James said he’s sleeping eight hours at night and eating well. He’s turning his head, but not lifting it. And he’s maybe seven or eight pounds? We need to weigh him.” She shrugged. “It’s hard to pinpoint, of course. Babies are different, just like adults are. But he isn’t more than a month.”
Harper frowned. “But if we don’t know how old he is, it’s hard to know if he’s on track. The sleeping thing, for instance. We won’t know if that’s normal or something to be concerned about.”
“He seems fine otherwise,” Lexi said. “But yes. It would be better if we knew when he was born, if he was premature at all. We need to monitor his weight and growth from here on for sure, though.”
“What we need is to get the information from his mother,” Harper said matter-of-factly. She looked at James. “You need to track this woman down. And have her sign over custody to you if she wants nothing to do with him. But you need to do everything you can to find her. We might want to think about hiring a private investigator. Then if you can’t find her, we need to get an attorney and look into what comes next, if there’s a way for us to become foster parents, or something. But we need to figure this out. Now.”