She chewed on her bottom lip but gave me a timid nod before I led her outside, still holding her hand. The sun was setting beyond the leafy trees that filled our backyard. Two worn picnic tables were set up in the vibrant green grass. The scent of barbecue chicken made my mouth water, but the sight of everyone’s eyes resting on us about ruined my appetite.
Mom’s granite gaze zeroed in on our joined hands while Dad’s switched between our hands and the bump, as if he were calculating something.
“It’s about time. I’m fucking starving,” Mia announced.
“Mia!” Mom gasped and Dad’s gaze jerked to her, while Ava, Cade, and Pierce shook with silent laughter.
Kate chuckled before dragging me toward the tables. The stiffness in my shoulders eased slightly. If only I had the time to have one more cigarette before the approaching conversation. “Yeah. Me, too,” she said, picking the empty spot next to Ava, across from Mia and Pierce.
That was the second time my sisters saved my ass. You would think they were the older, more mature ones. Especially since I felt like a kid caught with my hand in the cookie jar when Mom and Dad’s eyes rested on Kate and me. I remained standing with my hand on Kate’s shoulder, determined to get this over with so we could hopefully enjoy the meal. There was also the chance my anxiety had spiked, and I couldn’t handle another second of the tension.
Kate glanced up at me with giant eyes, and I could only smile at the beautiful woman. Ava patted her leg, and I knew it would be okay. We would be all right whether my parents approved or not. Somehow we would figure things out.
“Mom, Dad.” I cleared my throat. They watched me with rapt focus. “Uh, there’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to say it. Kate is pregnant, as I’m sure you noticed.” Mom’s lips pursed; Dad pressed his hands to the table. I squeezed Kate’s shoulder to keep from scratching my suddenly itching skin. “And, well, it’s mine.”
They had to have known where I was going with that. But Mom’s mouth dropped open. Dad clasped his hands together, staring at me over his glasses.
“How exciting!” Mia exclaimed, breaking the much too long silence. She was beaming at Kate with what looked like genuine delight. “Babies are pretty freaking cute, aren’t they, sugar?” She looked to Pierce, who was silently shaking with laughter before he was able to compose himself.
“Yeah, they are.” He nodded, smiling at Kate, then me. “Congratulations, man.”
“Yeah! Congratulations!” Ava exclaimed, giving Kate a side hug.
But when I looked down at Kate, her gaze was still trained on my mom, whose mouth was now opening and closing like a fish out of water.
“That’s why you reenlisted,” Dad stated, sapphire eyes pinning me to that spot. I nodded once. “I’m glad you’re handling this responsibly.” He took Mom’s hand. Her gaze jerked to his.
“But… but this is… this is impossible,” she spluttered, attention whipping back to me. “You’ve been gone over five months.”
“I’m twenty-two weeks,” Kate cut in, speaking for the first time since I made the announcement, her tone sharp. The woman was tired of the doubt, the judgment, and she had every right to be.
Mom’s mouth snapped shut while she did the math, as Dad had already done. Then she sighed, staring Kate down with her no-bullshit look. “What do your parents think of this?”
“I haven’t told them.” The way she said it was a definitive “don’t ask any more about it” answer.
Mom pursed her lips again. Everyone’s eyes were on the two of them. Then she gave me her signature look, which had me bracing myself. Me. A man who had stood in front of the most brutal sergeants in boot camp and on the field. My mom intimidated the hell out of me. Surely there were ants crawling all over me. “Well, we won’t be able to afford another wedding this year.”
I stumbled back a step at the same moment Mia sighed with an eye roll and Kate demanded, “Wedding?”
“You are getting married, aren’t you?” Mom was staring at me. It was the question I should have been prepared to answer… but absolutely wasn’t.
“Well….” I gripped my neck when Kate jerked back to gaze up at me, mouth hanging open, eyes wider than saucers. She drew in a shaky breath that told me how horrified she was by the prospect. An odd sharpness stung my chest, but I brushed it off. I could handle this better than when she told me she was pregnant. Although, a cigarette still sounded great.
“Marriage isn’t always the answer.” It was Cade who said this, and everyone’s attention shifted to him. I remembered Ava telling me about his parents. How they had married after his mom got knocked up. The marriage had been toxic until they got divorced, then remarried years later.
Kate shot from her seat, gasping, “Excuse me,” before shoving me out of the way and bolting for the house.
I hurried after her, hearing Ava mutter, “That was a good meal,” followed by Mia’s snort.
Dad snapped, “That’s enough, you two,” before I made it inside.
7
Kate
I barely made it to the upstairs bathroom, wanting to get as far from his family as possible. But that was a mistake. The upstairs brought back that afternoon in November. The walls closed in on me. I was trapped in a strange house, surrounded by a family I had to be involved with—I wasn’t a wench; I wouldn’t keep this baby from them. But the mention of marriage. Mais! I hadn’t even been there an hour, hadn’t even eaten anything, yet my body still found something to throw up.
Kai was banging on the door, hollering, “Open up, Kate.”
No way in hell was I letting him in. No way in hell was I marrying him. That wasn’t even possible. To
