“Cecilia was a surrogate—”
“Oh, shit,” Lu mumbled, her eyes widening.
“What?” Eli asked, looking between us.
“She carried the baby, but it’s not hers,” Lu said to Eli. “Safe bet it was the Warrens’.”
“Yep,” Cam said, shaking his head. “Fuckin’ Cecilia.”
“You know what, man—” I growled. I was stressed, tired, and overwhelmed, I sure as hell wasn’t in the mood to listen to Cam listing all of Cecilia’s faults again.
“Enough of that shit,” Casper snapped at Cam. “You don’t got somethin’ helpful to add, keep your goddamn mouth shut.”
“Cody,” Farrah said softly.
“No,” he replied. “I’m done with that shit.”
Jesus Christ. Finally, when Cecilia wasn’t even around to hear it, the man spoke up. I scrubbed my hands over my face.
Forrest waded into the awkward as fuck silence. “So, the kid’s after the baby, then.”
“Yeah.” I grabbed a kitchen chair and spun it around so I could sit down. “Legally, the baby is still Cecilia’s. The way it works is the parents were supposed to legally adopt her after she was born.”
We went over everything, turning and twisting it so we could try to see it from all angles. After almost an hour of talking it out, we still hadn’t figured out much beyond probable motive. We had no clue how the son had found Cecilia at my house so soon.
“I’m going to go check on her,” Farrah finally said. “Who wants the baby?”
“I’ll take her,” I replied, lifting my arms. As soon as Farrah had handed her over, I felt a weird sense of relief. Discussing her fucked up family had made me antsy as fuck, and the warm weight of her calmed me.
And wasn’t that some shit?
“We need to get her back up to Oregon,” Casper said after Farrah had gone. “We’ve got the resources up there to keep them safe.”
“We’ve got resources down here,” I argued.
“Man,” he replied, shaking his head, “you’re all in a motherfuckin’ safe house because you don’t know how they found you.”
“Wilson’s workin’ on that,” Forrest pointed out.
“You’ll be doin’ the same damn thing,” I said to Casper at the same time. “You’ll lock them behind the clubhouse gates until you end this shit.”
“At least she’ll be at home.”
“That hasn’t been home to her in over ten fuckin’ years,” I shot back.
“And whose fault is that?” he asked quietly.
“Don’t put that shit on me,” I replied, my voice just as low. “She was tryin’ to escape that place long before anything happened with us.”
Casper opened his mouth to speak, but didn’t say anything as Farrah came back in the room.
“She’s got a nasty fever,” Farrah announced. “Does anyone have something she can take to bring it down?”
“Fever?” Forrest asked.
“I’ll get something out of the med pack,” Eli said.
“It must be at least one-oh-one,” Farrah told Forrest. “She’s warm.”
Forrest looked at me.
“Go check her,” I ordered.
“Why you sendin’ him?” Cam asked.
“Because he’s a doctor—was a doctor.”
“No shit?”
“And why isn’t he one anymore?” Casper asked.
“Because in his last year of residency, he tore his meniscus,” I replied, holding his stare. “And got a taste for narcotics.”
“Clean now?” Casper asked.
“As a whistle.”
“Got a soft spot for disgraced doctors, do ya?” he said, fighting a grin.
I stood without replying and headed upstairs. I wasn’t going down that road with him. My father didn’t have any bearing on why Forrest was a part of the team. It hadn’t even been my decision when we’d been placed together the first time. The fact that both Forrest and my father had gone all the way through medical school and ended up with no letters after their names was the only similarity between the two.
“You have any other symptoms?” Forrest was asking Cec as I stepped into the bedroom.
“No, I just feel like shit,” she replied, shifting a little, like she couldn’t get comfortable.
“What about your tit?” I asked, making everyone look in my direction. “Didn’t you say it was hurting?”
“Yeah,” Cecilia said. “It’s just sore.”
“Is it hot to the touch?” Farrah asked. “Do you think you have a clog?”
“A what?” Cecilia asked in confusion.
“A clogged milk duct.”
They went back and forth discussing Cecilia’s breasts until Forrest interrupted.
“If you’ve got a fever and you feel like shit, it’s probably more than a clogged duct,” he said. “Sounds like mastitis.”
“Shit,” Farrah muttered.
“What?” Cecilia looked between them. “What’s that?”
“It’s an infection. You’ll need antibiotics,” Forrest replied.
“We need to call your—” Farrah stopped mid-sentence. “We call your doctor, there’s a damn record.”
“I can get ’em,” Forrest said.
“I’m not taking some random pill that you pull out of your pocket,” Cecilia argued. “I’m not an idiot and I’m nursing.”
“He knows what he’s doing, Cec,” I said. I looked at Forrest. “Do your thing, man.”
He nodded at me before leaving the room.
“He’s a doctor,” I told Cecilia and Farrah.
“I thought he worked with you,” Cecilia said.
“He does. Long story.”
She didn’t reply, just reached out her arm and beckoned for me to give her the baby.
“You need to try and nurse her on the side that’s hurting,” Farrah advised. “And Jesus, you need to name that child already. I’m sick of calling her the baby and her. So, what’s it gonna be?”
“I was thinking Olive, after Liv. I mean, her name was Lavinia, but she never liked that name. She always went by Liv,” Cecilia said, looking down at the baby. She looked back at her mom. “Even if her parents were complete assholes,” she cleared her throat and swallowed hard. “Even if Liv wasn’t who I thought she was—she still loved their baby more than anything and she was so excited to meet her.”
“I think Olive is the perfect name,” Farrah said calmly. “Olive Cecilia has a nice ring to it.”
“You don’t give up, do you?” Cecilia said with a watery chuckle.
“Never,” Farrah whispered, leaning down to kiss the side of Cecilia’s head.
“Olive,” I said, trying the name out. “I dig it.”
“Oh, well, if you like it,” Farrah mocked jokingly.
“Hey, now,” I replied. “Me and Olive are best friends.”
“Well, your best friend needs to eat and it’s going to be a complete shit show in here while Cecilia tries to take care of this clogged duct, so out you go.”