Page 17 of Fighting Chance

Walking out onto the deck, I make my presence known by declaring, “Queen Emmy here is the best welcome party I’ve ever received.”

At my voice, Kieran’s head snaps upright. His eyes land on me, seeming to spark, before they shift to the small girl in my arms, and suddenly, he’s standing. “Did you just say Emmy?”

Sudden worry overtakes his features, Bella and Grayson wearing mirroring expressions. “Yes? This is Emmy, right?”

Kieran nods slowly, his jaw dropping, at a loss for words.

That’s a first.

I would know, the man sent me over 577 text messages.

Bella moves first. “How do you know her name?”

Now I can’t help but laugh. “Come on guys, stop freaking me out. She told me.”

Kieran sucks in a sharp breath. The look he gives me and Emmy…no words could comprehend it.

Swallowing thickly, I turn to my best friend. “Can someone please fill me in on why you’re all looking at me like I grew a second head? And while we’re at it”—I lower my voice—“who does she belong to?”

Grayson steps forward, clapping Kieran on the shoulder. “This one has to come from you.”

Ignoring his best friend’s cryptic words, Kieran musters his courage before asking, “She talked to you?”

Frowning, I hold her a little tighter in my arms, suddenly feeling cornered and defensive over our exchange. “Yes.”

He shakes his head. “She hasn’t spokento anyone…in weeks.”

I rear back before I crane my neck to try and catch Emmy’s eye, but she just nuzzles her head further into the crook, not allowing me to see her. “Cheeky queen,” I whisper, biting my tongue as she giggles.

Kieran’s eyes all but bug out of his head.

I try to find her parents on the deck but come up empty. “Where are her…” I stop myself from sayingparentsafter what happened earlier in the hallway.

Kieran rubs the nape of his neck before he rounds the table, past a shell-shocked Bella and toward me. He holds out his hands and before I can stop her, Emmy tumbles into his arms, wrapping around his neck instinctively, as if they’ve done this move before.

“We put her down for a nap on the couch. I guess she woke up when you got here,” Kieran says, his usually flirty tone gone, replaced with a certain monotone that has me steeling my heart.

Something in my stomach begins to churn, a queasy feeling as I look from the little girl in his arms to his face.

Then it clicks.

The resemblance is uncanny when they’re next to each other.

Taking a step back, I mutter, “Oh my god.”

Kieran’s eyes lock on mine and hold me in place, trapping me in the blue depths. He looks so vulnerable in this moment, so small and afraid, like the wrong reaction from me will make him crumble.

This version of Kieran is so far from the man I met over a year ago it steals my breath.

I miss the man who pushed my buttons and flirted with me endlessly.

I want the man with the light in his eyes.

And by the way he’s looking at me, he doesn’t want to say the words. So I do him this favor. Squaring my shoulders, I offer him a smile. “Is she yours?”

At my shift, his shoulders loosen, that caginess leaving his eyes as he dips his chin. “It’s a very,verylong story.”

Bella and Grayson fade into the background, as if it’s just Kieran and me here in this bubble as I whisper, “Are you okay?”