“I won’t repeat what she said in front of a woman. My mother would beat my ass. But basically, she told me if I called your father, she’d put a curse on me.”
“And you believed her?”
Rian stared at me a moment, and then looked at the bar, then around the quarter, shaking his head. “Do you know anything about where you are? Of course I believe that shit.”
That was twice now he’d cussed in front of me, so I wondered what exactly Freyja had said to the man to make him afraid to repeat her words. Knowing Freyja, it was probably... colorful.
“You’re not going to tell the father?”
I narrowed my eyes at the man my father had assigned to follow me around. The man who, until now, I hadn’t had an issue with. My father was overprotective; I’d known that my whole life and given what they believed was a threat, I didn’t complain. But now...
“You don’t get a say.”
Rian lifted his hands in surrender. “It was just a question.”
“It wasn’t just a question. It’s never just a question. It’s a request for justification, and I don’t need to justify my choices to you or anyone else.”
I stood up and stormed inside before he could ask any morequestionsor offer any unsolicited opinions on my life.
Inside the bar, which was closed to the public during the day, I found Gator sitting in a chair, with all three babies in their infant seats on the table in front of him.
“Morning,Chérie.”
“Morning, Gator.” He didn’t look up at me, his focus on his girls as he told them a story. Three sets of eyes stared at the man as his animated voice spoke words about princesses, and dragons, and... alligators?
“Gator, can I ask you a question?”
He swung his eyes to me briefly before moving back to his girls. “Always,Chérie.”
“Did you marry my best friend because she was pregnant?”
Gator’s body stiffened. He blinked slowly at the girls but never took his eyes off them as he spoke.
“No. I married her because, despite the way she drives me crazy, I love her. I love herbecauseshe drives me crazy.”
“How did you make her believe that?” I asked. When he finally looked at me with a raised brow, I rolled my eyes. “She’s my best friend, Gator. I know her better than anyone, and I know she had doubts. She told me before you whisked her away to this place,” I said, waving my hand around the room. “How did you convince her you weren’t just here for the babies?”
“That’s not something I can answer. Only she can tell you that. I can tell you how much I was there for her. How much I love her and why. But she had to make the choice to trust my words and my actions. How she found that trust, only she knows.”
“That’s incredibly unhelpful,” I deadpanned, causing Gator to throw his head back and laugh loudly, scaring one of the babies.
He quickly pulled her from her seat and lifted her in his arms to calm her fears, and as he whispered in her ear, words I couldn’t hear, I realized that my mother was right. I had to tell Jude that he was going to be a father again.
He deserved to be a part of his child’s life.
I thought about my parents. They successfully co-parented me without being in love. They worked as a team to make sure I always felt loved and safe. My father might not have been there every day, but he was there when I needed him most.
I didn’t mean to break his heart when I accused him of being absent for certain moments in my life, and I’d need to apologize to him. Then I would tell him he would be a grandfather again.
King had called me as soon as they’d gotten the results of the paternity test, and I was so happy for them both. I would be an aunt a few weeks before I gave birth to my second child.
If I were able to give birth.
I had an appointment in a few hours, and I would know for sure.
Once I knew, and once my mother was here, I would travel to Arkansas and tell Jude about the baby. But if the appointment delivered bad news, then there was no reason to tell him anything.
A few hours later, I was staring at the computer screen, listening to the rhythmic thump of my baby’s heartbeat and watching the little bean wiggle.
