“Well.” Bailey grabbed my hand. And Jake’s. “We have that figured out, too,” she said. “Although the plan just got a bit easier now that we’ve got Danny back with us.”
“What plan?” I was starting to feel something. I wasn’t sure what. I recognized it. And yet, I didn’t.
“Jake and I are getting married,” she said. “We figured he could adopt Mattie, and Danny will already be our precious little girl’s legal father. Then we’ll name each other as legal guardians for each other’s children so in case anything happens to any of us, our children will have biological and loving parents raising them.”
“We’ll make a pact,” Jake said.
“A friendship pact.” I nodded.
“You raise my son, I raise your daughter,” Danny said to Jake.
“I raise my son, you raise your daughter,” Jake corrected.
I held my breath, not sure Danny would be able to settle for another man’s child. Two years ago he’d been unwilling to even consider the idea.
Then he looked at me. Looked at my stomach. And that feeling I’d known, it burst into full bloom.
“We’re going to be one odd family,” Bailey announced.
“But one that’s bound together forever,” I told her.
“Bound by the children we created,” Danny said, starting to grin.
“Bound by the love that held us all together through more crap than anyone should have to live through,” Jake put in.
“But if you even think about looking at my wife naked again—” Danny began.
“Not unless you think about looking at mine,” Jake interrupted.
Danny turned to Bailey. Winked. And shook his head. “No problems, there, bro.”
The three of them laughed. I would have joined in, but I was too busy crying. I could be forgiven though. I was just being hormonal. I was pregnant.
With Danny’s baby. Didn’t matter who the biological father was.
“Everything’s going to be okay,” Bailey whispered to me.
I squeezed her hand. “I’d give you my kidney, Bail.”
“And I’d give you mine,” she said in return. “What I wrote that day—our friendship pact. It’s still true, all of it.”
“Me, too.”
This time, we both knew what we were promising.
And we both meant it.
* * * * *
About the Author
An author of more than seventy original novels, published in twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA TODAY bestselling author. She is known for delivering deeply emotional and psychologically astute novels of suspense and romance. Tara is a four-time finalist for the RWA RITA® Award, is a current finalist for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Award and appears regularly on bestseller lists. She has appeared on national and local TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning. Tara is a frequent guest speaker and is a spokesperson for The National Domestic Violence Hotline.
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ISBN-13: 9781459256163
THE FRIENDSHIP PACT
Copyright © 2014 by Tara Taylor Quinn
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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