Page 116 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

“Neither do I,” she said. “But I know I want to keep walking in the same direction as you.” She picked up his hand and put it on her heart. “This here. It beats for you. It feels for you.”

“Are you saying you love me?” he asked, lifting her chin and staring into her eyes.

If she lied and said no, he’d see right through it.

She didn’t want to lie. There was no reason to. They’d just come too far.

“I am. And I know it might be harder for you to fall, I get it. But I want you to know that I do. I’m here by your sideregardless of what decision you make when it comes to Taylor. It’s going to be hard either way.”

“I didn’t plan on falling in love again,” he said. “Or not this soon. But I know what it feels like and it’s right here again.”

He was still holding her hand on her chest and moved it to his. “It beats for you too. I don’t want to mess us up because I’m getting ahead of myself on something I always wanted because it landed in my lap. Especially knowing so much can go wrong or change.”

“You can’t get ahead if you don’t take the step,” she said firmly. “That’s my advice. Could you get everything in place and the minute Taylor gives birth, she changes her mind? Yeah, you can. And it happens. You know that. But she also might not. She also might be really grateful to know that her child is going to have a great home and wonderful father.”

“And I won’t know unless I look into it more,” he said.

“Exactly. Give it a couple of days to sink in. To me, the attorney and the agency, those are minor things. You’re a pediatrician. You have the means, the education, and the support. It really has to come down to what is in your heart on this.”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t have the support, Gabriela. I work over eighty hours in five days. I have to find someone to watch a baby during that time. I don’t know the first thing on how easy that might be on the island. I don’t have family here.”

“You have me,” she whispered. “And we don’t work the same shift. I’ll take the baby when you’re working. You know, if you trust me and all.”

“I can’t ask you to do that,” he said.

“You’re not asking. And we aren’t there yet. I’m throwing it out there as an option. I’m your backup. I’m your support. My family will be too. Is it a long-term solution? No. You will needsome kind of daycare for sure, but you know, if we did have a future together…” She gulped and went for it. “Let’s say we had a child, we’d be doing that. We wouldn’t need daycare, would we? You’re working, I’m home. I’m working, you’re home. Then we are home together. Almost like it’s perfect.”

Only they weren’t married. They weren’t a family.

And it was still early, but there was a part of her that was damn hopeful when it’d never been this strong before.

“Okay. I need to take that step. But first is just thinking it through. Deciding if it’s best for me. Then it’s talking to Taylor. She might not want that. I’m positive the adoption agency has any number of married couples perfectly suitable and waiting for a baby.”

“You know it as well as I do. So, if your first step was talking to me and feeling me out, you did and I feel pretty favorable toward it. Do I think there will be roadblocks and obstacles to climb? Yeah. No doubt. But I believe between us, we are in damn good shape.”

34

THOUGHTS RUN LOOSE

“Ihave to know,” Kate said the following Monday. “Are you dating Dr. Brewer?”

Gabriela grinned. It’d taken long enough for people to ask about this.

Way longer than she thought.

But Kate had been hinting around to a rumor she’d been hearing, just not coming out with any other details.

“I am,” she said. “I can’t believe it’s taken you so long to ask.”

Kate was all but jumping around the break room. She should have known with the way the nurse’s aide grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the rest of the staff this morning before the patients arrived.

“I heard about it almost two weeks ago but haven’t had a chance to see you. I can’t tell you how hard it was for me not to bring it up to Luca, but you know, I don’t know him as well.”

“What do you think of him?” she asked. Might as well put Kate on the spot. “Why did you think you couldn’t ask?”

“Because, though he’s funny and friendly, no one really knows much about him. I assumed he was single, as he’s nottalked about a wife and has no ring on. Though I noticed a ring mark when he first started.”

She and Luca had talked this over. She’d told him people were going to ask more specifics about his situation and he’d told her it was fine to give the information.