“Money?”
“Ty—” I started before Katy cut me off.
“She’s sick. It’s leukemia. I need to find out if you’re her father. If you are, you might be able to donate stem cells.”
Ty looked shocked. “Wait, back up a second. So, you believe I am her father?”
Katy looked at me, then back to Ty. “I don’t know if you remember that night.”
“You were in the wedding. I remember.”
Okay, that hurt more than it should have. How many of his random hookups did he remember, or was it only certain women? I needed to stop thinking so hard about all of this.
“I only remember because you have the same name as my cousin.”
Katy smiled. “That’s right. You told me that.”
Ty seemed like he was getting impatient.
After clearing her throat, Katy went on. “I’m not the type of woman to have random one-night stands. There are only two men who could possibly be her biological father. You, and my ex-boyfriend, who unfortunately died in a car accident shortly after you and I hooked up. His family is angry with me, for a few reasons, and they refuse to do DNA testing.”
He folded his arms over his chest.
“Katy is married, Ty. She’s only looking for a donor match. If you’re Olivia’s dad—”
“I’m not.”
I sighed.
Katy went on. “If you are her father, your HLA could be a match.”
“HLA?” Ty asked.
“Human leukocyte antigens.”
“There haven’t been any matches in your family?” I asked.
“Ideally, the doctors want to match at least eight to ten HLA markers. I’m only a five. No one else in my family is more, and Olivia doesn’t have any siblings yet.”
“How do we do this?” Ty asked. I could see it in his face: his heart was breaking for this child, who very well could have been his own flesh and blood.
Katy seemed to relax slightly. “We could do a DNA test first, to see if you’re her father. That would only take two to three days. The HLA typing takes about a week or two.”
Ty rubbed the back of his neck, then glanced over to me. I gave him a reassuring smile.
He looked back at Katy, then down to Olivia. “I’d like to know.”
My stomach lurched, though I knew he’d want to know if he had a child.
Katy nodded. “Okay. I’ve already alerted Olivia’s doctor that I’ve possibly found her biological father. Her father—or, um, her stepfather—has already done the HLA testing and isn’t a close-enough match.”
“Katy, would you mind if I spoke to Kaylee alone for a few minutes?” Ty suddenly said.
She smiled. “Of course not.”
The moment she shut the door, Ty faced me. “I’m so fucking sorry. This is exactly why—”
I walked up to him and wrapped my arms around him, then lifted my hands and pulled his mouth to mine. I kissed him, and it only took him a moment to wrap his arms around me and deepen the kiss.
When he pulled back, he leaned his forehead against mine. “I thought I had problems before.”
“This isn’t a problem, Ty.”
He closed his eyes. “Did you see her eyes, Kaylee?”
I swallowed hard. “Yes.”
“How can you not see this as some sort of sign? The moment I let myself believe I can be happy, that there is a light at the end of this fucking dark tunnel, something turns it off again.”
When I stepped back and away from him, I took his hands in mine. “Do the DNA test; let’s find out if Olivia is yours. Then let’s tackle the next issue . . . but this might not even be an issue, so let’s worry about it when we have something to worry about.”
He nodded.
“Ty, if you are her father, that wouldn’t change how I feel about you.”
He shook his head.
“Don’t you dare say I deserve someone else, someone better. I don’t want anyone else. I want you.”
His eyes looked so incredibly sad, it nearly broke my heart in two. “If I’m not her father?”
“Then you need to decide if you want to still be tested as a match.”
“Isn’t this a little strange, Kaylee? There’s a random woman I hooked up with four years ago, asking me to be tested to help save her kid who may or may not be mine.”
“It’s not the way I had imagined our relationship starting off, but I’m not afraid of a challenge.”
Ty didn’t smile at my attempt at humor.
“One step at a time. For what it’s worth, Ty, even if you aren’t her father, I think you should be tested. This little girl’s life depends on it.”
He nodded. When he walked to the door and told Katy to come back in, I felt my chest pull tight. Despite what I’d said, I honestly wasn’t sure how I was going to handle it if Ty was a father. While Ty and Katy spoke about his going for the testing, I focused on keeping my breathing steady. This was not the time or the place to have a breakdown.