Chapter 9
Ashlin quietly processed the last thirty seconds of her conversation with Clint through her mind for the third time.
Ultrasound picture of our baby? Yes. She was positive the woman said “our”.
Then he’d scowled at her. She had never seen his face contorted into a frown, or was it more of a grimace?
Was that look actually directed at her or the other woman in his room? The pregnant one with the big boobs.
Up until that moment, she had been very confident in her B cup, but that woman was certainly a double D.
Clint was definitely a boob man, given all the attention he’d paid to hers while they were in Las Vegas.
He’d massaged her breasts so gently, then rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger before gently squeezing it, shooting temptation straight to her clit.
She almost came when he sucked on one breast and gently pulled the other nipple.
He certainly knew how to ignite every nerve ending in her body.
She’d bet her next paycheck that he would most definitely appreciate the pregnant woman’s huge breasts.
Had he touched that woman the same way he’d touched her?
Ashlin shook her head violently as if that could erase the picture she’d just painted in her mind.
The idea of her husband with another woman infuriated her.
Maybe that was jealousy, she admitted to herself.
She’d been monogamous since he’d kissed her while watching the fountain at the Bellagio on the first night their teams had been together.
She’d thought he was drunk, especially after he’d told her that he’d wanted to do that for years.
She, on the other hand, had been relatively sober.
Since all she’d eaten for lunch was a salad, she’d purposefully slowed down her alcohol consumption that afternoon.
As her team approached the well-used SUV outside the church, she touched her lips, remembering the tingle in her heart the minute Clint’s lips had met hers.
A second later, the video exploded back in her mind, replacing any tender feelings.
That other woman was most certainly pregnant.
Ashlin could easily tell when she stood after bending over to place the ultrasound picture on his desk.
Ashlin had gotten a good look at the small black-and-white picture, too. There was definitely a baby.
“Are you all right?” Kayla asked as they climbed into Father James’s vehicle, headed to their secretive helicopter, since dusk was quickly turning into night.
“I don’t know,” Ashlin said honestly.
“Did something happen to Clint?” Kira questioned as she crawled into the far back seat.
“Please don’t tell me he was an asshole and cheated.” Mia leaned forward from the rear seat and spoke right next to Ashlin’s ear.
She drew in a ragged breath. Had he cheated?
Maybe. That woman was definitely pregnant, but how far along?
Had he slept with her before they were married?
Was it cheating if they weren’t even together when they’d created the baby?
If Clint and the woman in his bedroom had been dating before he married her, did that make her the other woman?
“Earth to Ashlin,” Mia called inches from her ear. “Are you going to tell us what the hell happened?”
“I’m not sure if anything happened,” she replied as she looked at her teammates, who all stared at her.
She took a deep breath to fortify her next words.
“While Clint and I were about to say goodbye, this pregnant woman walked into his bedroom and gave him an ultrasound picture, claiming it was their baby.”
“What the fuck?” Mia blurted.
“You’re kidding, right?” Piper asked.
“Did you record the video? I’d like to see this ultrasound picture,” Kira offered.
“No, I didn’t record it. I don’t record our conversations. They’re personal.” Ashlin shrugged.
Kayla turned to face her from the front seat. “You do know that all our encrypted conversations over satellite are recorded.” It was a statement rather than a question.
A female chorus exclaimed, “They are?”
“Yes.” Their team leader nodded. “You have ten minutes before it’s deleted.”
“How can I retrieve it?” Ashlin stared at her satellite phone.
Kayla talked her through the simple steps to save her entire two-minute-forty-two-second conversation with Clint to their secure cloud. “Now you can watch it as many times as you want, slow down segments so you don’t miss the micro reactions, stop and screenshot anything you want.”
“Good,” Mia interjected from the back seat. “That means we can all see it.”
“I’m not sure I’m ready to share it just yet.
” Ashlin screwed in her earbuds and started from the beginning of her video call.
He’d been his usual sweet self until they’d been interrupted.
On the third time through, she was sure of several things.
First, she wanted another opinion of her thoughts.
Second, the woman had definitely said “our baby”. Third, she wanted a divorce.
She waited until their helicopter was in the air and everyone was settled before Ashlin asked her teammates, “Will you please look at my conversation with Clint and let me know your thoughts before I give you mine?”
Piper and Mia were flying the leg from Juba, South Sudan, to the Riggs compound in Ethiopia via a circuitous route to retrieve the data Xena had requested.
They’d change pilots in Eden. Kayla, as the team leader, and Ashlin, as the most skilled pilot on the team, would fly the second leg and land their top-secret helicopter on the aircraft carrier waiting for them in the Indian Ocean.
“Sure,” Kira said. “I don’t have anything to do except sleep until we reach the ship. Thanks, everyone, for not getting hurt this time.”
“I’ll be glad to take a look,” Kayla offered.
“Absolutely,” Mia exclaimed from behind the controls. “Just as soon as I have this sweet chopper on the ground.”
“Same,” declared Piper. “I can tell when Kenner is lying or trying to hide something from me. Hopefully, I can see that in Clint.”
Ashlin sat nervously as her two good friends watched the private conversation she’d had with Clint.
Thank goodness he hadn’t mentioned any of the things they’d done to each other the night of their wedding, or the night before.
She could tell the moment each member of her team saw the pregnant woman’s interruption, their jaws dropped, and their eyes went huge.
She watched Kira back up certain sections and squint.
Kira, the team medic, was the first to speak. “I’d say she’s about five to six months pregnant. I’ve confirmed that two different ways, first by the size of her belly, and second by the size of the fetus in the picture.”
Ashlin quickly did the math. The woman who seemed extremely friendly with Clint got pregnant before he married her in Vegas.
The timing was very close, though. That knowledge just brought up a pile of other questions starting with: Did Clint love this woman?
Is that why he’d never told her that he loved her?
Was he married to her, too? She knew that in many African nations, like South Sudan, a man could have more than one wife.
Did that make their marriage even legal?
She saw the gold wedding band on his left-hand ring finger, but was that even the one she had given him?
Or had the pregnant woman in his room given him that wedding band?
She quickly scrolled back through the video, and sure enough, the other woman was also wearing a plain gold wedding band.
Ashlin wasn’t sure if she wanted to throw up or cry.
Or both. Her stomach hurt almost as much as her heart.
She and Clint had shared so much over the past several months, talking long into the night for her.
She’d told him about how much her half brothers’ and half sisters’ attitudes toward her hurt, especially after her parents had been killed in a plane crash.
He was the only one who knew why she’d spent so many holidays with his family.
It was because she’d never been invited to celebrate any special occasion with her half-siblings.
Not a one. She’d never once been invited to a single niece’s or nephew’s birthday party after her parents passed.
Ashlin figured her half-siblings were jealous because their parents had left almost everything to her.
Her mother had told her they’d arranged it that way because their original children had all been well established and successful in their careers, while she hadn’t finished college.
She had stronger ties with the Riggs family than her own.
Kayla finally looked up. “I don’t think he likes the pregnant woman very much. Watch how he scowls when he hears her voice.”
“Whew. I thought that scowl was at me,” Ashlin admitted.
“I agree.” Kira nodded. “It’s definitely at her.”
“What about the words he said while my phone was still on when I walked away?”
“That’s part of the reason I believe he doesn’t like her.” Kayla held up her phone and played that part.
“I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in a few hours. Stay safe.”
“I take it this woman with too much makeup and over-bleached hair is the pregnant woman’s mother.” Kira stared at the frozen picture of the two. “I can see similarities.”
“I expect you to keep your promise and take care of my daughter and her son.”
“Look at how disappointed Clint is as he stares at the screen before answering her question,” Kayla pointed out.
Ashlin hadn’t thought about it that way.
“No, he doesn’t look happy as he turned back to the other women,” Kira added. “And he certainly doesn’t sound happy and loving when he says this last part.”
“I’ll take care of Theodora and her baby as promised. I always keep my promises.”
“Clint doesn’t say our baby, he says ‘the’ baby,” Kayla noted. “To me, he’s not claiming that baby one iota. She’s distancing himself from it.”