Chapter Thirty-Four
A whole week has passed since the whale watch and pregnancy announcement. Every morning, I remember Sophia is carrying our child, and I get excited all over again. Unfortunately for her, the reminder comes in the form of morning sickness.
I’ve been doing all the research on all things pregnancy and buying anything that I find in the lists. Sophia is going to be pissed when she sees the deliveries. I worked a twenty-four the other night to help Chief out and did a little bit of shopping.
“Wyatt. Why is the delivery driver making multiple trips out of the truck with very large boxes?” Sophia asks, standing at the front window.
“Don’t be mad…”
“Wyatt.” She looks at me with raised brows from the window as the driver makes his third trip.
“I should probably go help him.” I dash past her, not only to help him, but to avoid her scrutiny.
But she follows me.
Inspecting the boxes as they come in, she watches me deliver box after box to the storage area of our basement.
“This is so much! A crib? Dresser? Bounce seat? High chair? Wyatt!”
“I’m sorry. Whatever you don’t like, we can return and buy what you want. But I was doing research about everything we’ll need for a baby, and then I went down the rabbit hole of safety features and lists of safest baby equipment, and now, somehow, we’re here.” I shrug.
“Somehow? It’s too much. I haven’t contributed anything!” She throws her hands in the air, exasperated.
“Excuse me. If you forget, you are growing our little bug in there.” I cross my arms over my chest as I remind her she’s doing the most important part.
But before she can respond, she’s out of the garage and bent over a bush. I feel terrible she’s been so sick. She can’t get anything done without being interrupted.
Rubbing her back, I offer her a towel from the stack that I keep in here to wipe down the gym equipment and clean the sweat off my face. “When can we go to the doctor? Is this normal to be so sick? I’ve read it can go away in the second trimester.”
“Gosh, I hope so. I don’t think I can do this the whole time.” She wipes the sheen of sweat from her forehead.
“Well. I got you some stuff too. I also may have researched morning sickness.” I dig through some of the smaller boxes until I find the pregnancy pops. “Here. These are supposed to help.”
She unwraps it and sits on the weight bench.
“You know, I could really go for some fresh strawberry pancakes from Violet." She sucks on the ginger lollipop, looking like she’s actually fantasizing about the food she’s craving.
“Could you now? Weren't you just getting sick?” I raise my brow while I watch her suck the pop. Her lips popping off the same way they do when… Damn, that’s doing something to me.
How fast does she need breakfast?
If looks could kill, I’d be six feet under. Apparently the answer to how fast she needs breakfast is “faster than I can actually provide.”
“I was sick. Not anymore though. Someone bought out an entire warehouse, and now I have these wonderful lollipops that taste like ass and are spicy as hell. Although, anything but pancakes may get us round two in the bushes.”
“Pancakes it is. Let me just grab my keys.” I kiss the top of her head and jog upstairs to grab my keys from the kitchen counter.
By the time I get back down to the garage, she's already in the truck waiting for me.
“Violet just started my pancakes. What do you want?” she asks.
“Maybe a croissant with bacon, egg, and cheese?” I can’t pass up one of Violet’s croissants if she has them. They are so soft, buttery, and flaky.
“Oh! Bacon sounds delicious. I wonder if she has any chocolate chip croissants. Maybe she could make some. How hard are they?” She rambles on while I drive, and she types on her phone, presumably to Violet.
“Bad news. No chocolate croissants. But she does have chocolate chips, so I can cut it open and put some in there.”
“Good. I was worried I might have to learn how to bake. I’m good on a grill, but the kitchen isn’t a strength of mine.”
She grabs my hand resting on her thigh. “You’d learn how to make them for me?”
“Of course I would. I’d do anything for you. Including taking baking lessons from my sister-in-law.” Bringing her hand up to my lips, I kiss her soft skin.
“You’re so… Amazing seems like such an inadequate word.” Tears well in the corner of her eyes.
“Just you loving me is enough. I don’t need you to explain it.”
Putting the truck in park, she waits for me to come open the door and lift her out. Grasping her hand in mine, I lead the way to the kitchen of the inn where her food awaits her on the island. A matching set of plates sits in front of Violet.
“Girl! I am so excited to have someone to binge sugar with!” Violet pulls Sophia into a hug with my hand still grasped in hers.
One small plate holding a breakfast sandwich sits at the edge of the table. I assume it’s for me. “Thank you, Violet. We really appreciate you cooking breakfast.”
“Ugh. We really do. The morning sickness is so bad. I wasn’t prepared for it. But this guy”—she juts her thumb toward me“—was going to learn to bake from you if you didn’t have what I wanted.”
There go the tears again. This time from both of them.
“I think I’m going to take my sandwich to the barn and check on Liam.” Grabbing my plate, I leave them to have their moment together—tears, sugar, and all the rest of it.
When I get to the barn, I realize my brothers had the same idea as me.
Liam looks up first. “Hey. What are you doing here?”
“Sophia decided all she could stomach was Violet’s pancakes with fresh strawberries. So, here we are. They’re binging on sugar, crying, and commiserating while also celebrating going through pregnancy together? It was a safe move to come out here.”
Pops laughs deep and loud behind me. “Those cravings are killer, sons. Your mother had some weird ones that had me out at the store all hours of the night.”
Hunter asks, “Was the weirdest one pickles and ice-cream?”
Pops smiles at him. “I know you’re trying to be funny, but pickles and peanut butter had to have been the worst one. And that was with Emma.”
Hunter leans back in his chair. “Who would have ever fucking thought that Wyatt and Liam would become dads at the same time? Hell, who would have thought that Wyatt would ever settle down enough to be a dad?”
I look around at my brothers, smiling because nothing they say can get to me anymore.
I know that I’m meant to be here at this time in my life with this woman.
She was destined to be mine from the moment I laid eyes on her.
However we got to this point, it doesn’t matter to me. As long as we got here.
Pops looks directly at me. “I did. Out of all of you, Wy was the one I always knew would have children. The rest of you always made me question. Don’t any of you remember his work with the youth football leagues?”
While my brothers all nurse their hurt feelings, Dad goes back to his newspaper with a smile on his face for setting them straight.
“Wyatt, I think that you need to come see this.” Pops taps the newspaper in front of him.
His face pales as he continues to read. Leaning over his shoulder, I take in the page of the newspaper he’s pointing to.
Right there, in full-page color, are photos of Sophia around Balsam Cliffs interacting with a number of different people, including one of us kissing in my own driveway, uniform and all.
Sophia Black is not a woman you want in your town.
She’s a murderer. After attempting to murder her fiancé and putting her father in prison, she escaped to your small town in Maine, bringing her path of destruction with her.
The cops are covering for her, falling for her lies as she falls into their bed.
Your police department is corrupt, aiding a fugitive and hiding evidence pertinent to cases out of Montana.
“What the actual fuck is this shit?” I shout.
Hunter and Cooper come running over, leaning over my shoulder as I did with Pops. I watch their faces, eyes widening and mouths dropping open as they read this article and look at the pictures.
Cooper speaks first. “Where the fuck did they get all these pictures? How close has he been this whole time without us ever seeing him?”
“You need to call Kane right now,” Hunter says.
I need to call Kane and Chief at the same time. But I settle for texting Kane and calling Chief.
Me: Kane, I need you to look at the newspaper then I need to figure out how the newspaper allowed that to be printed.
The phone rings and rings, but instead of an answer, I get Chief’s voicemail. “Chief. I’m coming to the office, I need you to meet me there now. Or I can come to you, wherever you are, if you call me back in time.”
Kane: On it right now. Where are you?
Me: I’m on my way to the station to find Chief. He isn’t answering.
Kane: He’s actually with me. We are on it. You stay with Sophia.
Me: Are you sure? I want to catch this fucker.
Kane: Very sure. Cameras caught him downtown. He’s been wearing shorts and tees, blending in with the tourist crowd. Haven’t been able to find out where he’s staying though. That’s what Chief and I are working on now.
Me: Keep me updated please and send me anything as soon as you know.
I start to pace back and forth in the barn. “This fucker is in our town. I need to find him.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” Pops says. “You need to stay with your girl. I think it might be best if you guys get out of town for a bit.”
“Absolutely not. Then she’ll be alone with only Wyatt. These guys are dangerous and they’ll need back up,” Cooper says.
Cooper would know. He has firsthand experience with this crew after Aubrey. And that was just with Jack. Hugh and his crew weren’t after Aubrey. But they are after me, and James is after Sophia. The problem is we don’t know who’s behind what or where the hell they are.
“I agree with Coop. We don’t know where they are. We don’t know who they have on their side working with them,” Hunter says.