Focus on the road.
The focus didn’t last long. He could feel her eyes on him.
“Thanks,” she said. “You were right; she didn’t care. At least not right now.” She paused, and when she continued her voice was thicker. “It was so good to hear her voice.”
Scott could imagine. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t miss his parents. He’d been furious at hismom when she’d died, but that didn’t mean he’d stopped loving her. Moms were... special.
He glanced over at Natalie, and it was as if it suddenly hit him for the first time. She was going to be a mom. Not just any mom, his child’s mom. The bump was barely visibly, but it was there.
She might not have wanted the baby, but Scott knew she would love it with the same fierceness that she did her sister and adoptive parents, and that knowledge somehow humbled him.
Suddenly he was ashamed. He’d been so caught up in his own anger that he’d lost sight of the fact that not only was she defending herself to him and trying to evade the men intent on killing her, she was doing so pregnant. A little over four months pregnant if he was counting right.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.
She looked at him questioningly.
“The baby,” he explained. “Do you need anything? We can stop for food if you are hungry. You haven’t eaten anything since lunch, which can’t be good.”
She looked confused, which didn’t make him feel any better. He hated that she thought he didn’t care.
“I’m fine. The baby’s fine. I grabbed a protein bar before we left. I can eat that if I get hungry.”
His frown deepened. “A protein bar isn’t enough. We’ll stop as soon as I see something that doesn’t have arches or a crown.”
She smiled, knowing his thoughts on fast food. He didn’t train as hard as he did to poison his body with that crap.
“I think I can survive one hamburger or taco,” she said.
He gave her a glare that said it all:no fucking way.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
He wasn’t sure yet. He needed to talk to Kate. “South. I want to get off the main roads soon to avoid cameras. So see if you can pull up a map on the phone.”
She sobered, seeming almost upset by his response, but he didn’t have a chance to follow up because at that moment he caught sight of something in the rearview mirror that made his heart pound again. A highway patrol car was coming up on him fast.
He moved over into the slow lane and heaved a heavy sigh of relief when the car sped by.
Natalie had managed to pull up a map on the small phone and directed him to a smaller highway that he should see the signs for in a few miles.
Once they were safely on the old highway, he relaxed. “You told your mom about me?”
She nodded, with an uneasy glance that told him she thought he was angry about it. “We’re close. She guessed that I was seeing someone. I didn’t tell her anything specific about what you did—just that you were a naval officer.”
“I’m not mad, just surprised.”
“If you knew my mother you wouldn’t be. I swear she can tell whether I’m happy or sad from how I answer the phone.” She shrugged. “She knew I was happy, and I told her the reason why.”
Their eyes held for a long heartbeat. He wanted to probe deeper but wasn’t sure he was ready to hear what she had to say.
Instead he turned back to the road. When he saw the billboard ahead of them, he asked, “How does Annie’s Country Kitchen sound? It’s open twenty-four hours, and I could use some coffee.”
He had a long night of driving ahead of him, and he could make his call.
She smiled. “I’m not sure Vermont qualifies as country, but I never turn down chicken-fried steak or biscuits and gravy.” He didn’t say anything, but she caught herself. “Not anymore at least.”
The smile fell from her face, and Scott knew she was remembering Mick.
