Navy Blue - A Second Chance Romance (Complete)

Navy Blue: Chapter 18

Finn stood in the hallway of the mini mansion in Ballston, a bag containing a toy sailboat in hand. The suburb was a lifetime away from his base in Washington, and he had no idea why he'd agreed to attend this birthday party.

"Welcome to my humble abode." Lance ushered Finn into a spacious living room awash in baby blue balloons, streamers, and a small crowd full of mostly women. Lance grinned at Finn. "Glad to have the extra Y chromosomes."

Lance. He was the reason Finn was here. The man's good-natured attitude was infectious and Finn found he couldn't deny the request to attend the birthday party.

In a deep, dark corner of his heart lay Finn's ulterior motive for accepting the invite. The chance to see Emily's life outside of her office. The life he might have had if she'd not decided he wasn't good enough.

Lance apparently wasn't quite good enough, either. At least not to marry Emily. Over the last few days, Finn witnessed the close relationship between Lance and Emily, but he never would have guessed Lance was the father of her child, nor that they were having a second one.

If it were his child, he'd have done anything to convince Emily to make a life with him.

The little boy was currently attached to Emily's hip as she strode toward him. "Finn." Every time she used his first name, a pin pricked at his heart. In the Navy, it was titles and last names only. He rarely heard his given name and never as sweet as from her lips. "No trouble finding the place?"

"Rideshare." The light in Emily's silver eyes dulled at his response. The pin prick turned into a needle jab. Why had she invited him if he made her sad or upset or whatever this recent reaction to him was?

The kiss had changed everything. Whatever tentative truce they'd come to since he'd returned to Washington was obliterated the moment his lips touched hers. He'd arrived early for his court prep session, hoping to use their moment in the hospital together as proof that there was still something between them. See if she'd consider giving him another chance.

Instead, she'd shut him down before he had an opportunity to say the words he'd practiced on the way over.

It won't happen again, Emily had stated matter-of-factly. You couldn't get a much more direct order than that.

"Here's the man of the hour." He took the child out of Emily's arms and kissed him on the forehead. The boy squealed with delight and grabbed at his father's nose. "Ben just loves his aunt, doesn't he?"

Aunt? Finn caught on the word and clung to it like a life raft. If Emily was the baby's aunt, then the boy wasn't her child.

Emily's head tilted a fraction. "Ben is my nephew. Lance is married to my sister."

Nephew. Finn's world rotated, and he saw the three people before him in a new light. Emily and Lance had never been together. They didn't share a child. Nor was she pregnant. The pieces reassembled. Emily wasn't a mother. She was a single woman with no romantic entanglements. Married to her work.

Lance was married to her sister.

"Mary?" He couldn't imagine this genial man committed to Emily's shrew of a sister. That woman would eat Lance for breakfast.

A hint of a smile threatened Emily's lips and the tension in his shoulders eased a shade at the sight. "No, my younger sister Beth."

"Speaking of, here comes my angel now." Lance stepped away to greet his wife. Finn recognized the very pregnant woman with short blonde hair from the hospital.

The younger woman moved into line with her sister. "We didn't get a chance to formally meet the other day." Emily's eye fell to the floor and the needle in his chest stitched again. "I'm so glad you could join us."