Page 117 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

It’s not like it was a secret by any means.

“He’s a widower,” she said.

“Oh, that’s so sad. And he’s so young. I’ve seen a hint of gray on the sides but not much. I don’t know his age.”

“You didn’t look into him?” she asked, grinning.

“Seeing when he went to school doesn’t always give his age, but I guessed late thirties.”

“Thirty-eight. Five years older than me. Though I’ll be thirty-four soon. Ugh.”

And her clock was ticking down and she knew it.

It was really hard for her not to get excited over the possibility of Luca adopting a baby.

Or for her to think of it as hers too.

She couldn’t be that way.

She couldn’t let any of those thoughts run loose.

He’d spent the past five days they’d had together thinking it through and how he’d approach it with Taylor.

She knew all along he was going to go for it. There wasn’t much thinking to do on his part. Unless it crossed his mind that the two of them could have a child at some point.

Might be what was crossing hers.

But like she’d said, there was no guarantee they would last. She knew those things. She’d had enough rotten luck with relationships in the past that she wasn’t about to get ahead of herself here.

Even if she wanted to.

And if the adoption went through and she and Luca went the distance, she’d love this baby as if it were hers anyway! As if it weretheirs.

“That’s not old,” Kate said. “Wait until you hit forty. I almost cried that day.”

“I’ve got time for that. I’m sure I’ll be crying, but for now, you got the information you wanted.”

“Not all,” Kate said. “Can I tell other people?”

“Sure. It’s never been a secret.”

“How long have you been dating?”

“We’ve been in a relationship over two months. Dating a few weeks prior to that.”

“Wait,” Kate said, grabbing her arm, her jaw almost on the floor. “That is almost as long as he’s been here. So you mean when you brought him to the Bond Fundraiser that was an actual date?”

She winked. “It was in my mind. Maybe in his too, but we hadn’t really gotten that far. Now we have. And we’ve got patients to see.”

“Yep,” Kate said. “I checked the schedule. Got a newborn coming in. Your cousin’s son, I believe.”

“I saw,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “Can’t wait to get my hands on him.”

Gabriela left the break room and went to her office. There was a squeal and laughter beyond the door, which meant Kate was having fun spreading the news.

Ten minutes later, her computer dinged that Wesley Harrington was screened and ready for his appointment.

She wheeled out with her computer and went into her cousin Grace Stone Harrington’s room, stopped and said, “Give me that baby.”