Page 85 of Shootout Daddies
“This is huge,” I whisper. “This is—oh my god, this is everything.”
And it is. It’s everything. Her first real stand. Proof she’s not just growing, but thriving. Our little girl.
Theirs,I forcefully remind myself.
The three of us sit there watching her, clapping when she squeals again, encouraging her even as her legs tremble. She lasts maybe twenty seconds before plopping back onto her diapered bottom with a little bounce.
But it doesn’t matter. It happened.
She did it.
I glance up through blurry eyes to find Rhett already looking at me, his expression soft and serious now. Hunter’s watching too, his jaw set. The joy of the moment lingers, but underneath it is something heavier.
This changes things.
“This,” Rhett says quietly, nodding toward Chloe who’s now clapping for herself, “is why we need to make sure everything is settled. The sooner the better.”
Hunter nods, his hand rubbing circles on the back of Storm’s head as if grounding himself. “We were talking,” he admits. “About what you said. About how custody could work. How we’d make it official.”
I sit back slowly. “Okay.”
Rhett leans forward, picking up the NDA again but not looking at it, just holding it. His eyes are on Chloe. “You were right. She deserves stability. If this is going to be her home, she needs to be protected from every angle.”
“I know that, but have you thought this through? Maybe you do this after the season has begun. I don’t want this jeopardizing your position with the team.”
Hunter’s gaze shifts to me, steady and unwavering.
“We’ll have to risk it. We can’t do that without the truth, Ivy. Not just between us, but legally. We need to know who her father is. We need to follow through with the test. Then we can build from there.”
I swallow hard, staring at Chloe who’s now gnawing happily on a teething toy like she hasn’t just changed our entire world. My throat tightens as I watch her, love and fear colliding.
I know they’re right. I’ve known it for weeks. But seeing her stand—seeing how quickly she’s growing—it makes the urgency hit harder.
She won’t stay little forever. And if we don’t lock this down now, if we don’t fight for her while she’s still small, the chance could slip away.
I nod slowly, pressing a shaky hand to my chest. “Okay.”
Rhett exhales, some of the tension in his shoulders easing. Hunter offers me a small smile, soft and reassuring.
The three of us sit there in the living room, the morning light spilling over Chloe and Storm, the sound of her delighted babble filling the silence.
The path forward doesn’t feel like chaos. It feels like a plan.
And watching Chloe, clapping her little hands, cheeks glowing with triumph, I know exactly why it matters.
She’s worth all of it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Rhett
Three days feelslike three years.
Every minute since we went in for the test has been heavy, thick in my chest. I kept pretending like I wasn’t counting, like I wasn’t listening for the phone to buzz, like I wasn’t bracing myself every time I opened my inbox.
But the truth is, I haven’t thought of much else.
Now it’s here. The envelope on the table between us feels like it’s burning holes in the wood. Ivy’s fingers are tangled in her sweatshirt hem, Hunter is leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, and me… I can’t move.
